I really don't like the new Blandings series.
PG Wodehouse is one of the most supreme moulders and crafters of the English language, and the best creator of lightly humorous characters, that has ever existed. But this series just seems to be wrong. The actors qua actors are great - who could ask for a finer cast? But they seem to have the balance all wrong. Jennifer Saunders seems OK as Connie, but the Earl of Emsworth is too un-boneless, and too clever by half. Beech is hamming it up too much. Freddie is, incredibly unlikely as it may sound, too much of an upper-class twit.
I'm no expert on pigs, but I hear that the Empress of Blandings is in fact the wrong breed. Plum would shudder.
Doesn't work for me either. I watched half and episode and that was enough. A pity.
ReplyDeleteHow they have the cheek to write their own dialogue instead of using the Wodehouse original beats me.
ReplyDeleteThinking you can improve on the Master takes some confidence.
Delete