Absolutely Fabulous - General Discussion

[Bastet]

I watched the special features on the movie Blu-Ray, and cracked up at how the scene at the publisher's office when it turns out Bubble had transcribed big chunks of Eddy's telling of her life story as simply "blah blah blah blah blah" came to be:  When Jennifer Saunders said she really was going to finally write the movie script, Dawn French - in order to motivate the procrastinator - told her, "Fine; if you don't do it by New Year's, you have to pay me 10,000 pounds."  So, of course, Saunders waited until the end of the year, started pounding it out, and presented French with a script that had a basic storyline, some fully-formed scenes, some outlines, and a bunch of pages that just read "blah blah blah blah blah".

It's nice to see how much fun the actors all have whenever they reunite for an AbFab project.  And it's a random little thing, but I never thought of it until June Whitfield said it:  It's an interesting coincidence that the main actors all have J names - Jennifer, Joanna, Julia, Jane, and June.  What are the odds?

Watching it all through, it struck me again that I love how many female characters there are as compared to male in this series, and how all the primary characters are women, while the men are secondary and tertiary characters, and you have yet more women in those categories as well.  You don't often get that in comedy.

I'm bummed I don't have any more AbFab to watch! 

[Hiyo]

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Watching it all through, it struck me again that I love how many female characters there are as compared to male in this series, and how all the primary characters are women, while the men are secondary and tertiary characters, and you have yet more women in those categories as well.  You don't often get that in comedy.

Hell, the 5 lead characters are all women (Edie, Patsy, Saffy, Gran, and Bubbles).

While these are a few years old, they're from the Graham Norton Show (when they were promoting the movie), and fun to watch.

 

 

[Mindthinkr]

Someone mentioned on another thread how it might be fun to rewatch these in lieu of the housewives. I think I’ll just rewatch for the laughs and needed some entertainment during these sad times. 

[dosodog]

Thank you Hiyo for pointing us to the right forum.

It's been a decade since I've seen this and I'm looking forward to it!

[Mindthinkr]

Yes, thank you @Hiyo for the link. 

[dosodog]

"It's called colonic irrigation darling and it's nothing to be sniffed at".

Drunken foolish women!  Bitching about everything!  Lacroix is the Chanel for this show.

And Patsy!  The epitome of zero fucks to give.

 

[Mindthinkr]

2 hours ago, dosodog said:

And Patsy!  The epitome of zero fucks to give

I wish I had the guts to be like Patsy. 
 

I’m going to have to dig out that pocketbook of DVDs (the whole set came in a pink purse) and begin a rewatch. Especially for their witty comments. 

[dosodog]

I'm watching it through Amazon prime.

I want to be like Patsy, but I just cant get past caring about other people and their feelings.  Also....my liver!  I forgot about the Patsy hate faces towards Saffron.  Those are soooo good. 

Saffron.  Poor, responsible Saffron.  For some reason, Kelly from the OC and Jolie crossed my mind.......

LOL!

The first ep is a little uneven, but held up pretty well for being 20ish years old.

I think this is a good replacement for "reality" housewives.  Tacky fashion, flowing alcohol, screaming, snarky comments. It's funny!  And no one is hurt in real life.

 

 

[TurtlePower]

Soooo happy to have found this forum thanks to the person who shared the link in RHOBH. I’ve been an AbFab fan for a looong time. 

When Kyle had her first fashion show, all I could think of was Edina and Saffron’s comment of “Just get some people who have thrown up everything they’ve ever eaten and chuck them down a catwalk.” 🤣

[dosodog]

Hello!   I'm on my 2nd cinnamon pineapple margarita so.....🤫.  I know it should be Stolis.

Tonight's episode is called Fat.  It aired 11/18/92.

There is this moment when Eddy is weighing herself, on 3 different scales, goes to the bathroom, comes back, weighs herself again.   I do that.  Not the 3 scales, but the other part.  And sometimes I do weigh less.

Maybe it's because I'm now 56, but I have a whole new appreciation for Patsy.

Eddy justifying why she has never exercised:

In the 60s we were too stoned

In the 70s we had platform shoeing

In the 80s darling, turns to ex husband What happened in the 80s darling? Ex replies Her brain cells were destroyed in the 60s Eddy gets annoyed ex says The age of punk.  We were too busy putting pins through our noses!

She has a nightmare where she gets lip injections the size of Lisa Rinnas.

All of this because a model who made fun of her when they were younger is coming to visit.

The end is Patsy coming down the stairs. 

Patsy:  Great news!

Eddy:  She's fat?

Patsy: No.

Eddy:  she's dead?

Patsy:  No! She's blind!

And everyone is happy.

[Hiyo]

Edina: "I mean what you two don’t seem to realize is that inside of me, inside of me, there is a thin person just screaming to get out."

Gran: "Just the one, dear?"

[Hiyo]

Just some funny moments if you need a pick me up...

 

[Mindthinkr]

I’ve been watching some now that it’s on Amazon (I have the DVD’s).

I’m laughing so hard. 

[Hiyo]

a 60 Minutes segment on the show from 1995...and a good reminder that this show is a satire, something that sometimes does get lost on some people...

 

[Hiyo]

Something you don't usually see: a special from 1998 called Edina Monsoon: A Day in My Life. It features Eddie and her mom, and takes places at the charity shop her mom works at. Not a classic, but still has funny moments.

 

[Mindthinkr]

@Hiyo I loved seeing that 60 Minutes clip. I wonder if you know if Roseanne Barr ever did anything with the rights to produce this here in the US? I can’t imagine any actors that would do it the justice that Jennifer and Joanne do. It was so fresh and highly amusing when I first watched it, and again now. I’m also ticked that it is on Amazon so I didn’t need to pull the DVDs out. Some of the first episodes were the best and that trip they took to France where they stayed in the wrong place had priceless humor. This show is a gem and always a treat. 

[Hiyo]

I think the Roseanne show ended up going nowhere. I do know that the show Cybil was inspired a bit by Ab Fab, as was a short lived show called High Society.

But yeah, Ab Fab might be a bit hard to turn into a US show, and it isn't just because it would be near impossible to cast actresses to fill the roles and do them justice, I also feel the satire might be a bit too biting for a US audience as well.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Hiyo

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I think the Roseanne show ended up going nowhere. I do know that the show Cybil was inspired a bit by Ab Fab, as was a short lived show called High Society.

I loved both Cybill and High Society; the characters were a bit AbFab-ish, but they weren't "American AbFab" like Roseanne was hoping to produce.  Roseanne put Patsy and Edina in an episode of Roseanne she wrote and directed (one of the post-lottery episodes, so the characters are all at some rich socialite's party in NYC; the AbFab gals give Roseanne drugs, and she has a trippy dream), but never developed the American version.

7 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Something you don't usually see: a special from 1998 called Edina Monsoon: A Day in My Life. It features Eddie and her mom, and takes places at the charity shop her mom works at. Not a classic, but still has funny moments.

That's among the special features on the DVD and Blu-Ray sets.  I think it drags on too long, but, indeed, there are some funny moments.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Bastet

[Hiyo]

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the characters were a bit AbFab-ish, but they weren't "American AbFab" like Roseanne was hoping to produce

Oh I know that, the influence or inspiration of Ab Fab is definitely there, though.

Patsy and Eddy showing up in that episode of Roseanne was probably the highlight of that season.

Personally, I hope we never see an American version of Ab Fab...

[LemonSoda]

On 5/7/2020 at 5:44 AM, Hiyo said:

Something you don't usually see: a special from 1998 called Edina Monsoon: A Day in My Life. It features Eddie and her mom, and takes places at the charity shop her mom works at. Not a classic, but still has funny moments.

 

This has always been a favourite!
 

On 5/9/2020 at 1:51 AM, Hiyo said:

Personally, I hope we never see an American version of Ab Fab...

About ten years ago a pilot was made. I was scared it was going to get picked up. Some remakes just shouldn’t happen! 
 

I’ve been wanting to watch The Last Shout lately but it didn’t come in any of my dvd sets.
I still have the vhs versions I paid a fortune for in the nineties. I can’t bear to get rid of them because they’re sentimental. 

[One Tough Cookie]

When my son was little {around 4-5) I would use the "Romanian baby.  So my MIL  took it seriously and asked when thee baby would arrive.

When he was in college he got a job at one of those Chilis in the area and a co-worker heard me call him Sweetie and was told, not too politely that there was only one person in the world who was allowed to call him that and he wouldn't be too polite if he heard it again.

Some people have no sense of humor.

[Hiyo]

Good thing you didn't tell him “You only work in a restaurant you know, you can drop the attitude." 😉

[Hiyo]

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I’ve been wanting to watch The Last Shout

Enjoy it while it's still available then...

 

 

[One Tough Cookie]

Last week end I spent about an hour on Youtube watching all the bloopers and outtakes from all the all series and movies and forgot how funny the show was.  I especially like seasons 1&2-especially-the Open Day Temper Temper tantrum. Freaking hilarious. Unfortunately my DVR is broken and I can't find my VCRs.

[lasu]

I saw AbFab mentioned somewhere else, and was delighted to find this thread.  My old college roommate turned me onto the show in about '96.  We would go out on Friday nights, and convene on the couch on Saturday mornings to watch the double eps of AbFab on Comedy Central.  If we were truly lucky, we might even have a bowlpack to help get us through.  I think I really only watched the first three seasons, and sporadically other ones, but I've never even watched the movie.

I know I say a lot of things from the show, but I just learned TODAY it was the "car clamp club."  I always thought it was the car club club, which was funny to me in its redundancy, but I have been misquoting this my entire adult life and I see no reason to stop now.  I will continue going to the comedy club club or the dance club club.  And now I've used the word club too much.

As I've crept into middle age, I have sometimes looked in the mirror and thought "great big pendulous breasts," followed by "fuck you bubble." lol.  Also, I even sometimes seriously talk about things being a false economy, even though it came from the car club club episode.  And if I meet someone with the last name Stone, I secretly think to myself, "Stone. Patsy Stone."  

What a fun show.  I'm going to need to watch it again now.

[Hiyo]

Fun with Patsy...

 

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I especially like seasons 1&2

Seasons 1 to 3 are probably the best.

[Hiyo]

Was re-watching Death, and damn, some funny lines in this episode...

 

Gran: Edwina dear, your father is dead.

Saffie: Well done.

Eddie: "Well done"? Did she finish him off or something?

 

Eddie: Family? Family? God, I hope you're not inviting that bloody, bollocky, selfish, two-faced, chicken, bastard, pig-dog man have you?

Saffie: You could just say Dad! I'd still know what you meant.

 

Eddie: You only work in a shop you know, you can drop the attitude.

 

Eddie: This is...this is a, sort of...corpse...in an open, oaken, oblong coffin...silky lining. It's a dead body, Pats.

Patsy: Yeah, but is it art, Eddie?

Eddie: No, sweetie, it's my father.

Patsy: Are you sure?

Eddie: Yeah, I think so. But I've just never seen him in a suit before.

 

Eddie: I'm dying!

Patsy: You can't!

Eddie: Well I am!

Patsy: Well what am I supposed to do if you die?

Eddie: Get cabs!

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by Hiyo

[Keywestclubkid]

Can I just say something? Uhh, Umm, You can never have enough hats gloves and shoes... 

[Bookish Jen]

I love this show, especially the first few seasons. I wasn't too crazy about the film. Perhaps, I wasn't in the right mood to watch it. But seriously, these ladies are comic geniuses. I still quote their lines today. The Real Housewives of Whatever can't compare to the AbFab shenanigans.

[Hiyo]

Congrats to Joanna, who was knighted earlier this year and is now Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley.