Boston Legal
大牌律师，心高气傲，诠释巧舌如簧；
精彩庭辩，妙趣横生，笑侃世态炎凉。
横批： 练习英文辩论的好材料。

Skins
英剧，一杯颓废、叛逆、残酷，混杂人性光芒的威士忌。
P.S. “18＋”，当初就是冲着这个才看的。

    前些天忙着看美剧，从Friends, CSI, 24 Hours, 到目前在美国正热播的Lost, Prison Break, Out of Practice(sitcom)..., 加上一些动画片American Dad, South Park, 十几GB的内容基本上足够使一个人对美剧产生的审美疲劳：基本上，美剧都是边排边播映，一般虎头蛇尾，剧情片越拍剧情越拖沓，悬念越离奇，越发胡编乱造，拍到最后冗长无聊得和韩剧、国产剧有的一拼；喜剧片水准下降的速率也很惊人，笑料越来越勉强，演员的表演越来越夸张做作，最后原先很正常的演员也会变得歇斯底里。

    偶然开始看Coupling, 一部英国BBC拍的情景喜剧(sitcom), 早就听说英剧的制作水平比美剧高上几个档次, 的确如此. 此部Coupling一年才拍六集，每集半小时不到，结构紧致，构思精巧，而又笑料十足，估计是因为它的主题比较敏感--Sex, 所以笑料都很新鲜，而且都很挑战你的底线，毕竟和性有关嘛。

    故事是围绕英国伦敦一群30岁左右男女的感情生活展开的。是不是似曾相识？因为Coupling的主要演员是3男3女共6个人，很多人会很容易的联想到NBC的经典情景喜剧Friends。但你如果就这样下结论：Coupling就是英国版Friends，那就大错特错了。套用德国TVtoday网站评论该剧的一句话”Three men, Three women, One theme: Sex” （三个男人，三个女人，一个主题：性）。 谁说英国人保守? 比起美国人, 英国人在性这个话题上走得比老美远多了. 当年Friends仅仅因为含有谈论性的内容而在大陆遭禁播, 那么这部Coupling要引进大陆的话，估计就要被禁播一万次了，它的主题就是性。其实这部电视剧没有任何黄色镜头，连裸露的镜头都很少，所有有关性的内容都是演员用充满英式幽默的对话suggest出来的．本剧也不着重于对性本身的描述，而是主要讨论人与性的关系，朋友关系和性关系的关系，种种诱惑（如一夜情，黄带，性幻想）和对朋友，对恋人的忠诚之类，所以绝非下流或是类同与酒席上得荤段子，相反，比好些电影以床戏作卖点高雅多了．

    作为喜剧，Coupling的优秀之处不仅在于它滑稽的和演员略带夸张的表演，最令人叫绝的，是它对镜头还有不同人物视角的独特运用，可以说，这创造了一种特殊的镜头幽默。 Coupling一播出就在英国大获成功，得了很多奖，继而打入北美市场．由于Coupling的成功，美国人曾尝试翻拍美版的Coupling，但终因照搬剧情和缺失了原先的英式幽默而遭骂声不断，只拍了一集便草草收场。的确，nothing beats the original.

    在VeryCD上有这部sitcom的下载，可是源不是很多，下载稍慢一点，我已经下到了第三季，可是射手网上的字幕只更新到第二季的第五集，英文字幕也找不到，无奈以后的剧集只好裸看了，虽辛苦一点，但和得到的愉悦相比，还是相当值得的。顺道说一句，个人很喜欢里面的英式发音，Jeff的威尔士口音（可能是吧，不太肯定）和极其夸张的大卷舌音的也相当有趣。

Download Click Here http://lib.verycd.com/2005/10/28/0000071800.html

官方网站: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/coupling/

下面是我选的几个Memorable Quotes from Coupling, 很牛的英式幽默, 先睹为快:

Sally: I hate having sex at home. I've got a listening flatmate.
Jane: Oh no, I hate those. Do you have to be really quiet for her?
Sally: No, I have to be really loud. We're very competitive.

Sally: Remember, every morning your face has slipped a little bit more. Since thirty, I've had to put a daily limit on facial expressions. I only ever smile at single men so I can justify the loss of elasticity.

Sally: Is there any form of female behavior you don't interpret as finding you attractive?
Patrick: It's never really come up.

Sally: Mary Kelly thinks you're a complete idiot.
Patrick: Then why does she keep looking at my ass when we're talking?
Sally: She's lip-reading.

Sally: You know what "I'll cook" says? It says, "Let's have sex."
Susan: No, that would be, "Come and spend the night with me."
Sally: "Come and spend the night with me" says, "Let's have sex." "I'll cook" says, "Let's have sex and I'll cater."

Jeff: When God made the arse, he didn't say, 'Hey, it's just your basic hinge, let's knock off early.' He said, 'Behold ye angels, I have created the arse. Throughout the ages to come, men and women shall grab hold of these, and shout my name!

[Susan has removed the lock from the bathroom door, and doesn't understand why Steve is so upset about it]
Susan: Men and toilets, the love that dare not speak its name. What's that about?
Steve: [slams hand down] We are men! Throughout history, we have always needed, in times of difficulty, to retreat to our caves. It so happens that in this modern age, our caves are fully plumbed. The toilet is, for us, the last bastion, the final refuge, the last few square feet of man-space left to us! Somewhere to sit, something to read, something to do, and who gives a damn about the smell? Because that, for us, is happiness. Because we are *men.* We are different. We have only one word for soap. We do not own candles. We have never seen anything of any value in a craft shop. We do not own magazines fill of pictures of celebrities with all their clothes *on*. When we have conversations, we actually take it in turns to talk! But we have not yet reached that level of earth-shattering boredom and inhuman despair that we would have a haircut *recreationally*. We don't know how to get excited about... really, *really* boring things, like ornaments, bath oil, the countryside, vases, small churches. I mean, we do not even know what, *what* in the name of God's *ass* is the purpose of pot-pourri! Looks like breakfast, smells like your auntie! Why do we need that? So please, in this strange and frightening world, allow us one last place to call our own. This toilet, this blessed pot, this... fortress of solitude. You girls, you may go to the bathroom in groups of two or more. Yet we do not pass comment. We do not make judgment. That is your choice. But we men will always walk the toilet mile... alone.
[audience applauds]
Susan: Would you like me to put the lock back on the toilet door, dear?
Steve: Would you mind?
Susan: You should have asked.

第一季的开头一集作为人物关系大洗牌，情节设置相当巧妙，笑料也很逗，梗概如下(摘自 BBC America):

Steve is attempting to break up with Jane, but she won’t accept it. In the same bar, Patrick is trying to dump Susan, but he is humiliated to learn that Susan never thought they were even dating. During Steve and Jane's short-term and physical reconciliation in the ladies' toilet, Steve stumbles around the bathroon to get a condom and lands at Susan's feet. They recognize each other from a party at her office, which Steve attended with his best friend Jeff (Susan's workmate). Neglecting to tell her that his "unflushable" girlfriend is locked in the cubicle, Steve asks Susan out.

On Steve and Susan's first date, both their best friends and exes find a reason to tag along: Jeff is terrified they may talk about his previous premature experience with Susan; Jane is still operating under the illusion that she is Steve's girlfriend; Patrick and Sally, Susan's best friend, are on a rebound date. Somehow they all trick Susan into showing them one of her breasts, and then they sit down to dinner.