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Okay, I dare American television executives to remake this one. I double-dog dare ‘em! Pulling, the BAFTA-nominated 2006 BBC Three series, is the brainchild of writers Dennis Kelly and Sharon Horgan (who also stars), comes straight to us from the U.K. courtesy MPI Home Video, and it is a major change of pace from the usual crap we see on TV in the States.
Let me take a quick poll here… have any of you ever suffered extreme mental anguish from visiting the fantastic fairy-tale yuppie-scum land of Sex And The City? Or felt your IQ dropping from watching even five minutes worth of that Friends show people still brag about? Maybe you tuned into the CW Network or possibly TBS one day (at any given point in time) and quickly found yourself lying comatose on the floor in a puddle of your own saliva? Well, then you should pick Pulling: The Complete First Season up and immerse yourself in the hilariously raunchy (but still believable, strangely enough) dark comedy that it has to offer.
On the morning of her hen night (bachelorette party), Donna (Horgan) begins to wonder if her impending marriage to slobby Karl (Cavan Clerkin) is what she really wants in life. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. Instead, Donna makes a decision to dump Karl and enjoy life to the fullest before she winds up living with misery. Unfortunately for Donna, misery is very persistent, which she soon discovers when she moves in with her friends. Karen (Tanya Franks), a preschool teacher, is the alcoholic slut of the group (there‘s one in every bunch) while her flatmate Louise (Rebekah Staton) hasn’t had sex in two years — and has a habit of stalking men who come into the restaurant she works at.
MPI Home Video brings all six episodes from Pulling: The Complete First Season in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and 2.0 Stereo Sound. Neither the audio or the video will disappoint viewers: the image is very crisp and clear and the sound comes through vividly. Special features on the disc begin with audio commentaries on the first two episodes featuring director Tristram Shapeero, producer Phil Bowker, and writers Horgan and Kelly. A handful of deleted scenes and three featurettes (“A Look Behind The Scenes,” “Interviews With Cast & Crew If You Liked Pulling,” and “Interviews With Cast & Crew If You Didn’t Like Pulling”) round out the bonus materials.
It’s a pity that the BBC canceled the series following the second season (which I’m sure we’ll be seeing on DVD soon), as Pulling: The Complete First Season shows a lot of potential — covering all of the “pleasures” of living single in your twenties: the drinking, the foolishness, and the coyote ugly moments the day after the drinking and foolishness. There are so many outrageous low-brow moments that you may need to wire your mouth shut to keep it from hanging open in shock. Recommended.
