[TVwoP] Why Absolutely Fabulous Lived Up to Its Title

[Ubiquitous]

by Nic Dris

Did anyone really believe this pair of gin-soaked women was gone for good?
Jennifer Saunders recently announced that she will be penning a few more
Absolutely Fabulous episodes for the BBC this summer, which can't come soon
enough. We're dying to know what Saffy and (not so) baby Lola have been up to.
And Is Gran still around? What's Bubble wearing now? What religion are Bo and
Marshall this year? One thing is for certain, though: Eddy and Patsy will be
exactly the same -- drunk, drugged and fabulously deviant. Here's our fond
look at the signature AbFab traits we can't wait to see make a return to
television.

Cocaine, Gin, a Spot of Vodka
The AbFab duo was known for their copious amounts of alcohol and drugs, while
food is a foreign concept. It was so rare that Patsy eats something that she
celebrates the New Year by ingesting solids, while Eddy never grocery shopped.
Instead of stocking up on milk and fruit, she built a mechanical specialized
refrigerator to carry and dispense large amounts of incredibly expensive
champagne. And these aren't the kind of women who take Tylenol when they feel
a headache coming on; they drink cheap vodka. And their affection for pills
was most hilarious when Patsy thought the police were coming to invade Eddy's
home - she was seen flushing cocaine down the toilet, ingesting tons of
illegally prescribed pills and accidentally sitting on a few loaded injecting
needles. How can you just no to all that?


Darling! Sweetheart! Parralox!
Much credit is due to Jennifer Saunders for the witty and clever banter that
Patsy and Eddy volleyed back and forth. For example, Patsy upon spying Eddy
asleep: "Look at her... like a beached whale in designer sheets." Or Patsy
after she thought she has a bug bite: "The last mosquito that bit me had to
check into the Betty Ford Clinic." The dialogue plays off of their characters
and their characters play off of each other. Even AbFab's supporting
characters got plenty of hilarious moments of their own, like Bo and Marshall,
famous for switching religions every time we saw them, deciding to become
Orthodox Jews and suddenly singing "Papa, can you hear me?" from Yentl.

Bubble!
Jane Horrocks practically stole the show as Eddy's assistant, Bubble. This
zany character was always sporting some outrageous and tawdry fashions, even
once getting compared to a Teletubbie. She was so dedicated to her job that
when the ladies went to France, Bubble dressed as Napoleon. Of course, no one
ever confused her for smart - she didn't know what New Year's was and had to
be taught how to take notes with pink fairy star pen. Bubble also had strange
obsessions and random bursts of energy, like when she fell in love with the
musical production of Disney's The Lion King and started chanting in Swahili.

Saffron vs. Eddy
These two had to have one of the most heated mother/daughter relationships
television has ever seen. Eddy depended on Saffron for basic needs... like
food, water and shelter. Eddy couldn't even work a can opener when her
daughter headed off to school. Meanwhile, Saffy could depend on Eddy if she
ever needed to let loose and drink a bottle or four of champagne. Their
dysfunction culminated hilariously when Saffy wrote a play about her childhood
and it ended up becoming a hit comedy with drag queens playing Patsy and
Eddy's characters.

Low Brow High Fashion
Part of the comedy of this hit show was built on how much the women believed
that they represented the epitome of high fashion. With hairstyles that hadn't
left the 1980s, Patsy and Eddy sported the most gaudy, tired-looking, trashy
outfits in almost every episode. (In the famous Paris episode, Eddy sported a
sweater with bunches of bananas over her chest.) It's no wonder frumpy and
frugal Saffy looked down on her mother for wearing a tight-fitting orange
jumpsuit with the designer name "LaCroix" in gold letters chained across her
neck. Of course, Saffy, who dressed as a schoolmarm, was no match for Eddy and
Patsy's leopard top hats, poufy hair and denim jackets, accompanied by smeared
makeup and red lipstick, naturally.

What do you think? What do you want to see return to Absolutely Fabulous?


--
"If Barack Obama isn't careful, he will become the Jimmy Carter of the
21st century."