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Guest
Guest
I love this show, only began watching it last season (the second season in the states, don't know how far along it is in the UK). It is utterly fine trash TV. Lots of larfs, ludicrous plots, regular T&A showings (male and female). This review gets it [highlights mine]. - Perdita
Sleazy Brit import 'Footballers Wives' a kick in the pants - SF Chronicle - Tim Goodman - February 17, 2006
Footballers Wives: Drama. 7 and 10 p.m. Sundays. BBC America.
The third season of the giddily ridiculous soap opera "Footballers Wives" on BBC America takes less than a minute to throw the whole thing into a kind of sublimely great upheaval when, almost without trying, it tops itself yet again. That's the beauty of this sex-and-soccer drama, which starts Sunday. It makes competitors -- namely "Desperate Housewives" -- seem dowdy and creaky by comparison.
You can do that when you're fearless. And when you're not acting at art. Oh, and when you're on the riskier and more risque BBC America channel. Hard to imagine any primetime soaps here -- "Grey's Anatomy" included -- attempt something like this: A new star on the soccer team turns to his hot Bollywood wife in a sexy moment and asks her, coyly, what happens to boys who are bad. She, in turn, pulls out a huge strap-on. "They get punished," she says.
OK then.
... But "Footballers Wives" has a much more intoxicating, over-the-top take on the genre. The guiding principle seems to be outrageousness and sex duking it out with glamour and wealth. Take "Dynasty" and "Melrose Place" and a whole bunch more kink, run it through the story arcs of the daytime soaps, add British accents and soccer and a fearless kind of enthusiasm for trying anything different, and you've got "Footballers Wives," a wildly popular British hit now available in DVD for the first two seasons and starting -- with two deaths, a marriage, a strap-on, naked male butts and naked female breasts, booze, gangs and a trip to Thailand -- a new season on Sunday.
None of this who's-in-the-basement nonsense for "Footballers Wives." They've got death by anorexia, a hermaphrodite baby, cheating spouses and scheming galore. Never mind waiting around for a big plot revelation or a shocking twist. Blink and three cast members are gone. You never get the sense that the writers are shy about anything -- including killing off popular characters. In short, what's not to like?
If you're wondering if it's too late to jump on the bandwagon, the answer is no. Tune in Sunday. But by all means use the BBC America Web site dedicated to the series as your road map to the characters, their dirty secrets and hidden ambitions. It tells you how everyone is related Besides, if you've ever read a cheesy summer beach novel and liked it, this is your show. You'll get the DVDs within days and be all caught up.
Here's the very basics of the series: The footballers -- soccer players to you Americans -- play for a club called Earls Park. The players are either devious themselves or have devious wives (or girlfriends). The team owner is evil. The soccer-ball-busting agent for many of the players is a power-mad, sex-crazed lesbian. Clothes fly off. Situations become ridiculous. Add Champagne. That's pretty much all you need to know. full article + pic
Sleazy Brit import 'Footballers Wives' a kick in the pants - SF Chronicle - Tim Goodman - February 17, 2006
Footballers Wives: Drama. 7 and 10 p.m. Sundays. BBC America.
The third season of the giddily ridiculous soap opera "Footballers Wives" on BBC America takes less than a minute to throw the whole thing into a kind of sublimely great upheaval when, almost without trying, it tops itself yet again. That's the beauty of this sex-and-soccer drama, which starts Sunday. It makes competitors -- namely "Desperate Housewives" -- seem dowdy and creaky by comparison.
You can do that when you're fearless. And when you're not acting at art. Oh, and when you're on the riskier and more risque BBC America channel. Hard to imagine any primetime soaps here -- "Grey's Anatomy" included -- attempt something like this: A new star on the soccer team turns to his hot Bollywood wife in a sexy moment and asks her, coyly, what happens to boys who are bad. She, in turn, pulls out a huge strap-on. "They get punished," she says.
OK then.
... But "Footballers Wives" has a much more intoxicating, over-the-top take on the genre. The guiding principle seems to be outrageousness and sex duking it out with glamour and wealth. Take "Dynasty" and "Melrose Place" and a whole bunch more kink, run it through the story arcs of the daytime soaps, add British accents and soccer and a fearless kind of enthusiasm for trying anything different, and you've got "Footballers Wives," a wildly popular British hit now available in DVD for the first two seasons and starting -- with two deaths, a marriage, a strap-on, naked male butts and naked female breasts, booze, gangs and a trip to Thailand -- a new season on Sunday.
None of this who's-in-the-basement nonsense for "Footballers Wives." They've got death by anorexia, a hermaphrodite baby, cheating spouses and scheming galore. Never mind waiting around for a big plot revelation or a shocking twist. Blink and three cast members are gone. You never get the sense that the writers are shy about anything -- including killing off popular characters. In short, what's not to like?
If you're wondering if it's too late to jump on the bandwagon, the answer is no. Tune in Sunday. But by all means use the BBC America Web site dedicated to the series as your road map to the characters, their dirty secrets and hidden ambitions. It tells you how everyone is related Besides, if you've ever read a cheesy summer beach novel and liked it, this is your show. You'll get the DVDs within days and be all caught up.
Here's the very basics of the series: The footballers -- soccer players to you Americans -- play for a club called Earls Park. The players are either devious themselves or have devious wives (or girlfriends). The team owner is evil. The soccer-ball-busting agent for many of the players is a power-mad, sex-crazed lesbian. Clothes fly off. Situations become ridiculous. Add Champagne. That's pretty much all you need to know. full article + pic
