Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Coupling

Coupling aired from September until October 2003 on NBC.

One of the most hyped new shows of the 2003-2004 season, and one of its biggest flops, was this sex-drenched British import. It revolved around 6 young singles who hung out at a trendy Chicago bar and talked about all sex all the time-panties, genital sizes, performance issues and the like. There were Susan ( Rena Sofer), a smart, stylish professional ( it was never clear what most of these people did for a living), who formerly dated Patrick ;Steve ( Jay Harrington), her rather jumpy current boyfriend; Jane ( Lindsay Price), Steve's clingy former girlfriend who wouldn't let go; Patrick ( Colin Ferguson), the pompous " player" of the bunch who considered himself God's gift to women; Sally ( Sonya Walger), Susan's vain best friend , who was terrified of aging; and Jeff ( Christopher Moynihan), Susan's wimpy co-worker and Steve's best friend, who offered awkward sex advice.

Although the British version was highly successful , this one wasn't. It was pulled from the schedule after 4 episodes due to plunging ratings. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the series was the seductive theme song , a bolero called " Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps( Quizas, Quizas, Quizas)" made popular in the 1940's by Bob Eberly, Desi Arnaz and others.

A Review from Variety

Coupling
(Series -- NBC, Thurs. Sept. 25, 9:15 p.m.)
By PHIL GALLO

Taped in Los Angeles by Reveille and Universal Television in association with NBC Studios. Executive producers, Ben Silverman, Phoef Sutton, Beryl Vertue, Sue Vertue, Steven Moffat; co-executive producers, Andrew D. Weyman, co-executive producer; Danny Zuker; producers, Michael Stokes, Liz Astrof, Brad Walsh, Paul Corrigan; co-producer, Robert Peacock; director, Weyman; writer, Steven Moffat.

Susan - Rena Sofer
Steve - Jay Harrington
Jane - Lindsay Price
Patrick - Colin Ferguson
Sally - Sonya Walger
Jeff - Christopher Moynihan

Mercifully re-edited since it was premiered for TV critics in the summer, "Coupling" has reduced the crassness and now has a fighting chance to become a successful British import. It won't come easy, though, as the cast has no likable characters, motivations for every act are sexual, and the moronic men vs. wily women theme has been played out.
While it sounds like it's in need of a complete revamp, "Coupling" does fits into the small window that celebrates titillation over character development, but does so with a smart blend of brash and innuendo. What made it startling to Brit auds is certainly not discernable in the domestic version -- there's nothing here that hasn't been seen or heard on "Friends." In fact, a quick glance at "Friends" shows how this formula is worked successfully; a look at any highly sexual episode of "Seinfeld" -- the one that explored "moves" for example -- shows how far down the creative pole sexual humor has slid.

"Coupling" is led by three men and three women who, halfway through the pilot, should be going their separate ways. But in a convoluted world that finds a big-city dating pool limited to one bar and one restaurant, no matter who may be broken up with whom is bound to run into each other. As one says at the end of the pilot: we all have baggage -- let's take it to dinner.

The goal of "Coupling" appears to be getting Steve (Jay Harrington) and Susan (Rena Sofer) to hook up, the first obstacle being Jane (Lindsay Price), who refuses to accept Steve's attempts to break up with her. She lures him back by mentioning her interest in bisexual experiences and threesomes. Steve, in turn, has no will power to stick with his plan.

Susan's ex is Patrick (Colin Ferguson), who's confident he can get any woman he wants, including Susan's best friend, Sally (Sonya Walger), whose greatest care, and fear, is aging. Jeff (Christopher Moynihan) provides the thread -- he works with Susan and is best friends with Steve. He's also so unlucky in love, the bulk of the jokes are at his expense.

In the time span and circumstances that only a sitcom can provide, everyone plays nice and the sextet winds up in the most unlikely of places, a funeral. Proof that the writers have begun to add a little depth to the series, a routine based on the suppression of laughter plays out decently in front of the casket.

By the end of the second episode, too, the women are full of good intentions, the men are strictly lustful. It limits the males to shtick, making it difficult to decide if Harrington, Ferguson or Moynihan are bringing anything distinct to their roles. They're all numbskulls when it comes to romance, and this show has little use for any locale beyond the bedroom. Oh, and that corner bar, which is far more believable in London.

The women fare a bit better, even if Price's Jane is strictly flighty. She's got a malicious side to her that could be wonderful to watch if something substantial is made of it. Credit Sofer for, if nothing else, creating a real, believable character. Walger was the one good thing about HBO's "Mind of the Married Man," which makes it troubling that her character is "Coupling's" most one dimensional. Fretting over the effects of age has a limited shelf life.

Andrew D. Weyman's direction involves the shuffling of a large number of characters and getting points of view from a range of views. "Coupling," oddly enough, is funniest when the characters are standing still.

A Review from The New York Times

TELEVISION REVIEW; Two Nations Split by a Sense of Humor

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: September 25, 2003

NBC's racy new comedy, ''Coupling,'' about the tangled sex lives of six single men and women is shameful, but not because it is so singlemindedly focused on sex.

''Coupling'' is the Milli Vanilli of network television: the sitcom equivalent of lip-synching someone else's song.

The series was cloned from a popular British sitcom that is also shown on BBC America and is also called ''Coupling.'' NBC bought the rights to the British series and transported it, script by script, to Hollywood, a little like Robert P. McCulloch, the chain-saw magnate who bought London Bridge and rebuilt it in Arizona in 1971.

NBC's folly is not nearly as innocent as McCulloch's. There was something bold and bizarrely American about the reassembly of a condemned bit of European history -- London Bridge was about to fall -- in the open desert of the New World. What NBC did, with the help of Ben Silverman, an agent turned producer who helped import European reality shows like ''Big Brother'' and ''The Weakest Link,'' is less inspired. ''Coupling'' is a spasm of insecurity by a network desperate to find a potent successor to ''Friends,'' which tonight, at long last, begins its final season.

America invented the sitcom; it is as indigenous as jazz. ''Coupling'' in fact was a more ribald British riff on ''Friends.'' The American ''Coupling'' is just a pale imitation. American actors were cast, some jokes were rewritten, and the laugh track is far more manic, but there is little evidence of homemade wit, even the jaunty title music is the same.

At a time when some of the brightest Harvard and Yale graduates are choosing to intern on ''Saturday Night Live'' rather than to clerk for the Supreme Court, there must be some domestic talent for NBC to exploit. ''Coupling'' suggests that the network of ''Cheers,'' ''Frasier,'' ''Friends'' and ''Will & Grace'' has lost its nerve.

None of that would matter of course if ''Coupling'' were truly funny. It is instead sort of funny. It is not as winsome as ''Friends,'' and it does not come close to the madcap originality of ''Will & Grace,'' the hit that ''Coupling'' has the good fortune to follow. But the new series's sheer tenacity -- its creator, Steven Moffat, once said he wanted to pull off a series in which the only topic of conversation was sex -- is amusing. Not all the jokes made the trip across the Atlantic, and the American version omits words like ''daft'' and ''knickers.'' There is plenty of likably loopy material and old-fashioned farce, though less in tonight's episode than in others down the line.

The real problem with the Americanized ''Coupling'' is that the best jokes wilt in translation, particularly when viewers can so easily compare the NBC version with the original. British wit is not always dry or inventively droll. (For every ''Monty Python'' there are several ''Benny Hills.'') But British humor about sex is highly idiosyncratic. Like bathroom humor, it works by playing havoc with the English cult of good manners and reticence.

Some British pundits have said that Americans are too puritanical to accept so risqué a show. The real problem is that Americans are too nice. Rudeness, the ultimate British taboo, is at the root of ''Coupling,'' set loose in the characters' cavalier, even callous, attitude toward sex.

The catharsis of discourtesy is not as vital to the American psyche.

And NBC did not help matters by casting generic, bland actors in the six roles. The story, based on the lives of Mr. Moffat and his wife, Sue Vertue, a writer and producer of the show, revolves around a couple, Steven (Jay Harrington) and Susan (Rena Sofer), who are also part of a sextet: each comes to the romance with a best friend and an ex-lover attached. Steven's best friend is his porn buddy, Jeff. (They have pledged that should one die suddenly, the other would go straight to his apartment and remove all pornographic videos before any parents arrive.) Jane, a vapid seductress who won't accept their breakup as final, is Steve's ex. Susan used to sleep with Patrick, a vain, handsome Don Juan who is now dating her best friend, an age-obsessed beauty expert. (''A woman's breasts are on a journey, and her feet are the destination,'' she warns in tonight's pilot.)

The American version is set in Chicago instead of London, but for no apparent reason. None of the characters have Chicago accents or Midwestern quirks; they are all homogenized Hollywood actors with plastic good looks. On the British ''Coupling,'' Jeff is a sex-addled, doltish Welshman, a little like Hugh Grant's roommate, Spike (Rhys Ifans), in the 1999 movie ''Notting Hill.'' The American Jeff has no regional accent or eccentric flair. He just has messier hair.

NBC hoped it could minimize risk by duplicating the reality show situation: recreating at home a show that is already a proven hit abroad. But ''Coupling'' is not a perfect clone. It is a weaker twin.

A Review from Entertainyourbrain.com

"Coupling" Review

By Shawn McKenzie 10/22/2003

NBC has been desperately trying to find a replacement for �Friends� ever since they realized that they couldn�t keep the show around forever. One show they started out with their hopes on is the American version of the hit British show �Coupling.� I�m afraid they are going to have to keep looking.

Susan Walker (Rena Sofer) and Steve Taylor (Jay Harrington) are a new couple still dealing with the baggage of their exes. Susan used to date Patrick Bateman (Colin Ferguson), a playboy who thinks he�s the hottest man alive. Sally Harper (Sonya Walger) is a beauty therapist who is Susan�s best friend, and is now dating Patrick. Steve�s ex-girlfriend, Jane Christie (Lindsay Price), is a bisexual woman who refuses to be dumped unless she�s the one doing the dumping. Jeff Murdoch (Christopher Moynihan) is Steve�s best friend and his �porn buddy� (they each agree to take the other�s porn in the event of their death before their parents see it.) Jeff works in the same office as Susan, and had an unsuccessful one-night fling with her once, but backed out because of nerves.

In the first episode, Steve and Patrick are trying to dump their girlfriends. Steve says that every time he tries to dump Jane, they have sex. This time, she played the �bisexual card� (she mentioned having a girlfriend in the past, which turned him on.) When Patrick dumps Susan, he finds out that she never really considered it a relationship. Steve and Jane almost have sex in the bathroom, but when he goes to get a condom, he runs into Susan. They realize that they�ve met before, and he asks her out. Before he ran into her, he called Jeff on his cell for a condom. Jeff gets a condom from Patrick, and gives it to Steve at the wrong time. Steve tries to break up with Jane again when he goes back into the stall, but I think they end up having sex. Steve calls Susan to confirm a date, and then calls Jane to break up with her finally. He gets her answering machine, and starts out with a compliment, but the tape gets full, and the compliment is the only thing on it. Steve goes to the restaurant for his date with Susan, and Jeff shows up. Jeff had told him earlier that his non-fling with Susan was due to her nerves, and he didn�t want the truth to come out. Jane then shows up, thinking that they are still together. Susan arrives and meets Jane, which makes Jane dump Steve. Patrick arrives with Sally, because she says she�s lowered her standards. Jeff gets all huffy about the nervous thing, but agrees to leave if Susan flashes a breast. Everyone else is interested too, so she does it. They all then sit down together and have dinner.

In the second episode, Steve attempts to ask Susan out again, but gets nervous. He does it anyway, and she invites him to her place for dinner. All of their friends assume this means that they are going to have sex. Sally turns down Patrick�s advances, and then finds out why Susan always called him �the donkey� (he has a gifted manhood.) He�s a Republican though, and Sally doesn�t like them (though she�s still curious about �the donkey.�) Jane claims to be moving on by dating Howard (Paul Satterfield), a gay man (she figures that it is okay, since she is bi.) Steve goes to Susan�s apartment for their date, and she says she�s running behind. She tells him to watch TV while she takes a shower, but she has to get the batteries for her remote out of her vibrator. Before she takes her shower, she tells him what she told Sally, which makes him uncomfortable. Susan tells Steve that he is getting lucky, because she thinks it will take the pressure off. Both Steve and Patrick want Jeff to go to the bathroom with Patrick to confirm his size. Steve and Susan have sex anyway.

In the third episode, Jeff is afraid he will say an inappropriate word during a job promotion interview. He explains the �giggle loop� to Steve and Patrick, which is when a laugh builds up to the point when you can�t help laughing at the worst possible time. Jane comes over to Steve�s place to tell him that her Aunt Min has died. The giggle loop builds in him. She wants him to go with her to the funeral. He doesn�t want to go because they broke up. Later, he talks to Susan, who convinces him to go. When he calls Jane to say he�s going, she asks him if they can pretend to still be together, because she hasn�t told them about the breakup yet. Susan insists on going with them to the funeral. He�s in trouble, because Susan and Jane don�t want the other to be represented as his girlfriend. Susan invites Patrick as her decoy date, and Patrick invites Sally as his decoy date. Jeff is going as well, since he is the only one who actually knew Min. Patrick helps Jeff with his nerves during the funeral by telling him to picture women naked, which works. Sally realizes that she is getting older and will be wrinkly someday. Susan and Jane share sex-with-Steve notes. During a moment of silence, the giggle loop builds in all three men. They resist it, but Jeff ends up shouting an inappropriate word. The next day at Jeff�s promotion interview, he tries the picturing-naked thing to calm his nerves, but sees his naked reflection in the mirror behind the promotion panel.

Why isn�t this show the next �Friends?� It�s not like this is the first sitcom to ever be imported from Britain. Everything from �All in the Family� to �Three�s Company� to �Cybil� has done the same thing. The difference is possibly that those shows realized that Americans have a different sense of humor. These three episodes were taken directly from the scripts of the original UK series, and just placed in an American setting. I heard that the fourth episode was going to be the first original script, but they may be too late. The fourth episode will air this week, but then it goes on hiatus until after November sweeps.

I love a good show filled with sex jokes, but they actually have to be funny and not just lewd. This show is so off the mark with their sex jokes that it made Howard Stern�s old sitcom �Son of the Beach� look like comedy genius. I can�t believe Sofer is wasting her time with this show.

I will admit, I�ve never seen a single episode of the original �Coupling,� so I don�t know if I just don�t like the show in general, or just the Americanized version of it. I do know that the most successful transitions to America just take the core idea and do their own thing. Take �Cybil� for example: it was lifted from the hilarious British show �Absolutely Fabulous,� but they changed it so much that it definitely became its own show. If that means adding or subtracting characters not in the original, so be it. We have BBC America, so it�s not like we can�t check out the original anyway. As for NBC needing a replacement for �Friends,� I guess they will have to place their hopes on its spin-off, �Joey.�

1/2

For a webpage dedicated to Rena Sofer go to http://www.rena-sofer.com/

For 2 webpages dedicated to Lindsay Price go to http://www.lindsayprice.org/ and http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/4584/