Will watching them add to or diminish the lust I feel toward Hugh Laurie as House?
Excellent series. It’s the best work that Hugh Laurie has ever done. And Hugh Laurie is the best Bertie Wooster that has ever been portrayed.
I have some complaints about Fry’s Jeeves, though. He does way too much eye rolling and such. Jeeves should be played perfectly straight. No eye rolls, no hint of sarcasm or double meaning in the voice. Still, he’s good enough.
There are two major points in the series when they absolutely violate the terms of Wodehouse’s world. One is when the two (especially Jeeves) go in drag. The other is when they jump ship and months later find their way back home with long beards and sunburned faces.
The music is fantastic.
There are some problems with the secondary casting. There are frequent cast changes, with uneven skill at portrayals – I think Madeline Bassett is played by three different actors. And one of the Madeline Bassetts returns as Florence Craye. Very theater-house like, but minor violations of the rules of television series portrayals.
I watched the episodes on VHS tapes from the library and on Netflix, and am definitely considering purchasing them on DVD. As C K Dexter Haven states, they have a high rewatch value.
One of the things that struck me with each episode was how much I appreciated when Fry’s Jeeves was on-screen – the productions effectively capture the impression that Bertie would be absolutely and irrevocably lost without his gentleman’s personal gentleman.
I’m pleased with the production values of the episodes as well – sets, scenery and costumes simply add to the overall impression. If you’ve read the books, it’s great to see the Drones Club and Brinkley Court come to life.
Highly, highly recommended!!! I haven’t seen any in over a decade, but I still chuckle just thinking of them. Delightfully understated and daft. I still fondly remember the characters’ visits to the Drones Club, and Jeeves’s advice to Bertie for playing “Puttin’ on the Ritz” with proper syncopation. To say nothing of the fearsome Aunt Agatha.
If you don’t want to buy, get 'em from your local library through interlibrary loan. You’d be surprised what you can get through ILL.
The music thing was one aspect that didn’t make sense to me.
Of course, Wodehouse’s Wooster is much too uncoordinated and daffy to be able to play music with skill.
However, given the talented and funny Hugh Laurie in the role, I don’t blame the producers from wanting to give us a show. Laurie’s Wooster is an accomplished pianist and an okay singer. He even shows an aptitude for other musical instruments. Wooster shows an avid liking for the jazz of the era and hoofs a sound foot on the dance floor.
Jeeves, on the other hand, is tone and rhythm deaf, and shows it. Okay, fine.
So then how is it that Jeeves is explaining the rhythm of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” to Wooster? The skill set as portrayed otherwise is the other way around. Very inconsistent.
There are many signs in the books that Jeeves off-duty is a very different person than Jeeves on the job. He can sing and play, all right–he just never does when he’s being the perfect gentleman’s personal gentleman.
Well, sometimes butler. Even in the books Bertie says something about how Jeeves can buttle with the best of them when called upon to do so.
Mr. S noticed that after Bertie asked him to stop, and they sang it again, you can see Jeeves mouthing the “Sir.”
I downloaded and ordered, respectively, the sheet music for those songs. Great stuff!
I do like Jeeves’s eyebrow lifts and the cant of his mouth. I agree that Fry is much more animated than the Jeeves of the books, but I think he carries it off well.
As for the different actors, it does get ridiculous. I wonder why they had to do that? Our favorites are the first Aunt Agatha, Aunt Dahlia, Bingo Little, and Barmy, and the last Madeline Bassett. Oh, and the second Gussie; they were both good, but the second one was so much better.
Stephen Fry is rhythm and tone deaf (which pains him a great deal, as he loves music). Yet on at least one occasion he is shown playing four-hand piano with Bertie.
On the other hand, his description of the “Puttin’ On the Ritz” rhythm to Bertie is entirely wrong. Perhaps an in-joke by the writers.
There are lots of snippets of both Jeeves and Wooster and A Little Bit of Fry and Laurie available at youtube, just in case you want a preview. I just looked at a couple and laughed out loud.
If you are attracted to House’s brilliance then yes, you’ll never be able to look at him the same way. What little brain God gave Bertie is addled by strong drink. Yet he’s the smart one of the Drones! Jeeves is supposed to be brilliant but as Fry plays him he’s only brilliant by comparison and he may be sampling the sherry before lunch, too. The comedy comes out of how NOBODY is better than a halfwit, nor are they sober.
Yet this is the generation of English upperclass twits that went on to win WWII? 
Actually, Wodehouse was inspired by the guys he knew in Edwardian days, so this would be the generation of cheerful optimists and game fellows lost in 1914 and 1915. 
Actually, Jeeves’s schemes (in book and on TV) are exactly as idiotic as Bertie’s. The only difference is that the former are successful and the latter not.
My years of appreciation of Laurie’s comedic ability leave me absolutely unable to watch even one minute of his constipated performance in House, so take that as you will.
If you’ve ever thought “what would House be like if he were polite to a fault, a generally nice guy, and dumb as a post?” you get to find out.
You’ll like the characters for entirely different reasons and become in absolute awe of Hugh Laurie’s ability to pull both off.
Bertie Wooster may inspire affection, but not lust, I think. He’s a snappy dresser (thanks to Jeeves) and Hugh Laurie is perfectly built to wear those clothes, but the character is goofy and nearly asexual. I’ve been watching Hugh Laurie in TV shows and in movies for a long time, but I never thought of him as hot until he played House.
I watched the show before I read any of the books, and I was a bit surprised to find out that in the books Jeeves is handsomely tipped (by either Bertie or his friends) whenever his schemes succeed - on top of winning his way in matters concerning Bertie’s wardrobe.
Most definitely Yes and Yes. I’m usually quite critical of TV adaptations of books when they fal short of my standards, but this series is very, very good indeed.
It’s made clear in the books that Jeeves is definitely working in his own interest, not necessarily in Bertie’s. He keeps Bertie unmarried because that way he can run Bertie’s life and he gets to enjoy, as a servant, nearly an identical level of comfort as his master.
While I whole-heartedly recommend the first two sets, the third dragged and I couldn’t finish it. I think it was the third (an extended stay in America?).
Love it, love it, love it! Just one more reason to love PBS!
Yeah, the ones in America aren’t quite as funny.
But our absolute favorite one is the first ep on the second disc of Season Three: “Right Ho, Jeeves,” in which Bertie and Gussie have to impersonate each other. The dinner when he first arrives* had us peeing our pants, as did Gussie’s musical entertainment. And Madeline Bassett was at her soppiest. Brilliant!
*Now whenever one of us is late for something, the other says very sternly, “You’ll have to forgo the soup and the fish!”
“What’s this about unseemly anecdotes?” Oh, and Catsmeat – I wish we’d seen more of him! OK, I’d better stop gushing.
I loved the “Jeeves Saves the Cow-Creamer” episode – especially the character of fascist leader Roderick Spode! “Fellow Blackshorts! The British knee is on the march!” 
Regarding Fry’s eye-rolling…
I’ve never read the books - does Wodehouse explain Jeeves’s internal reaction using words? Because it’d be very hard to express that Jeeves thinks Bertie is a nincompoop on film, without narration, unless Fry is acting it out.
In fact, I was showing my buddy this series the other day, and we watched the first episode. I was explaining to him how Jeeves is usually appalled at Bertie’s choice in wardrobe when a scene came on that SHOWED how he is appalled - by Bertie telling Jeeves what suit he was going to wear and exiting, and then Jeeves rolling his eyes.
Since I’ve never read the books I would never be clued in to the hilarity of how Jeeves views Bertie if I wasn’t able to see it played out by Fry.
Whoever asked if you can enjoy the series w/o having read the books - YES!
<snort> Toward the end of summer, Mr. S decided he needed a pair of black shorts. A few days later, I was picking up around the house, found the bag, and handed it to him, saying, “Here, put away your Spode shorts.” 
Re Jeeves’s/Fry’s eye-rolling: Notice that he never lets anyone (but the viewer) see him do it. That is the discretion that is Jeeves. The only times I can think of that he really loses it is in matters sartorial: when he learns that Rocky Todd lives in his jammies and often doesn’t get dressed until about five in the afternoon, and when he sees Bingo Little’s tie with the little horseshoes on it, a gift from his sweetie. Jeeves’s knees actually buckle.
One thing we can’t figure out is in the very first episode: Jeeves is such a stickler for fashion, yet at the Glossops’ he dresses Bertie in a brown tweed jacket, that ugly mustard-colored sweater-vest, and gray trousers. What the hell is THAT all about??
I rented one DVD and after watching it I immediately ordered the complete 4 season series.
It’s that good.