The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle

This is a really, really good comedy. We tend to live in a culture where if something isn't making us laugh every few seconds, it gets overlooked. Such is the case with this show. The target is the repugnant daytime chat shows that exploit misery and anguish for cheap light entertainment through armchair psychology and stereotypical prejudice. There's a very tangible anger running through this show that elevates it from satire into something very biting and raw.

Saunders and Richardson are magnificent, Richardson particularly. Theirs are intelligent performances, superbly delivered. The show is co-written by Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist and the show itself is largely about the manipulation and exploitation of emotion and vulnerability in the name of greed and media status. Will it make you laugh hysterically for 30 minutes a time? No. Is it designed to do so? No. Is criticism of it for not doing so therefore an epic failure of understanding and appreciation of dark comedic satire? Absolutely.

I love Jennifer Saunders, and as others have indicated, I think people were probably expecting Ab Fab going into this and were disappointed when they didn't get it. If you simply view this show with no expectations, it is genius... Saunders and Miranda Richardson are absolutely hilarious in this cynic's wet dream... I love a show where the heroes are vile villains. I'm American, and I have to sometimes google things to make sense of the Britishisms scattered here and there, but the same can be said for Ab Fab or any British show. But it's worth it. I just got the DVD. Eagerly awaiting series 2. and 3+....

I love Vivienne Vyle!

Basically I think people is expecting "a new Ab Fab" which is just ridiculous. I mean, I LOVE Ab Fab and bought all the episodes and I'd be the first to scream and cry with happiness if Jen decided to do Ab Fab again, but come on! We can't expect Jen to do the same thing forever! I think it's brilliant of her to do something so different, and not just get stuck in the Ab Fab-y sort of comedy. I watched the pilot of Mirrorball and I'm glad it didn't get picked up. Sure, it was entertaining, but it was also practically the same as Absolutely Fabulous, with the same types of characters. Vivienne Vyle is something completely different and has a darker style of comedy and may therefore not be appreciated by all the Ab Fab fans, but I really loved it! V.V. is not even supposed to be a comedy actually, but a sort of a dark drama containing comedy. It's advertised as a comedy only because Saunders is in it, and therefore people will watch it. I think this show only proofs to us that Jen has several talents ad not just in comedy. She's like an onion! Not that she smells bad and makes people cry, but she has layers. Terrific layers. Either you only love her for her hilarious ones, or you can appreciate her for her deeper sides as well, as I do.

Hurrah for VV!

This so called comedy is probably one of the unfunniest that I have ever had the misfortune to watch. For a start off it is years too late to parody trash talk shows. Anyone going to do it should have done it years ago when they were relatively new. Secondly, it seemed to rely on the use of obscene language throughout to try and get laughs. Absolutely Fabulous was a genuinely funny classic piece of TV, but is this puerile nonsense the level that Jennifer Saunders has sunk to? Similarly Miranda Richardson, what on earth was she thinking taking part in this garbage? There wasn't a single thing in the half hour that even made me smile let alone laugh. How on earth it was ever commissioned is beyond comprehension. Truly, truly awful and definitely not worth watching again.

When the first episode of Vivienne Vyle premiered in the UK in October 2007, the critics knives were out for Jennifer Saunders latest venture into sitcom territory. A sharp shock for anyone expecting Absolutely Fabulous or Jam and Jerusalem, Vivienne Vyle is a disturbing, all too real insight into the world of TV talk shows and celebrity culture.

Jennifer Saunders relishes her role as the ambitious, uncompromising Vivienne Vyle - host of a trashy morning talk show. Miranda Richardson excels as the heavy drinking, manic editor of the show who, after a fight breaks out on the show, decides to take the programme in a new direction.

Over six thirty-minute episodes, The Life And Times Of Vivienne Vyle perfectly balances comedy, tragedy and a disturbingly authentic view of the celebrity culture in which we live.

Ignore the critics and give it a chance - this is Jennifer Saunders at her very best.