The Young Ones: Every Stoopid Episode

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Despite the benign-sounding title, this rave British sitcom is anything but. Vyv, the punk; Rik, the social activist; Neil, the hippy; and Mike, the smoothie. Each has a distinctive persona, but taken together, in their squalid North London digs, they share a similar anti-establishment lunacy. During its too-brief run in the mid-1980s, this groundbreaker attracted diehard fans who'll happily welcome back the guys from Scumbag College. See what's so funny, and marvel at such glittering guest stars as Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and Griff Rhys Jones. Over 7 hours on 3 DVDs. .com ---- "Anything could happen!" declares Rik Mayall, co-writer and co-star of British TV show The Young Ones--and he's right. Though this manic comedy series centered around the petty bickering of four layabouts living in a communal house in London--paranoid, hyperactive new waver Rick (Mayall), dense punk rocker Vyvyan (Adrian "Ade" Edmondson), lugubrious hippied Neil (Nigel Planer), and would-be sharp guy Mike (Christopher Ryan)--at any moment the show could switch to kibbitzing rats or romantic vegetables, or Buddy Holly could be discovered hanging from a parachute in the attic. Bands (as varied as Madness and Motorhead) suddenly appear in their living room and pound out a pop hit. It all seems a bit spastic at first, but the frenzy grows infectious, becoming funnier the more you watch it (in sharp contrast to most sitcoms). The Young Ones aspires to have the elastic energy and surreality of a living cartoon and comes pretty close to the mark. Guest stars include Emma Thompson, Terry Jones of Monty Python, and Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous. This compilation also includes a few documentary features and a couple of episodes from other sitcoms starring Mayall, Edmondson, and Planer (Filthy Rich & Catflap and Bottom). --Bret Fetzer