Comments on: Yes, Prime Minister

By: Nabakov

Nabakov — Mon, 15 Sep 2003 15:16:23 +0000

If what you say is true, D2, then I’m appalled, and retreating to the secure communications room to consult further about this with General Haig…and the teachers. Returning to look at the original post (in Black & White), the obvious difference between ‘Yes Minister/PM’ and ‘The West Wing’ is of course the difference between the Westminster and US systems – where one has an apolitcial and professional civil service up to PUS level and the other sees even post office jobs as political appointee opportunities – hence the varying kinds of conflicts in each show – ‘Spy vs Spy’ in ‘Yes M/PM’ vs the “the world’s pouring in on us while we can’t get laid” in ‘The West Wing’. At least that’s how it used to be. You couldn’t do anything working off the same central ‘Yes Minister’ premise now under a Blair Government.

By: dsquared

dsquared — Mon, 15 Sep 2003 08:43:13 +0000

“Complete” is not quite true here; I understand that my favourite episode (dealing with how Hacker and Sir Humphrey deal with the terrible prospect of a visit to a dry Arab country by arranging to smuggle booze in diplomatic bags) has been redacted as it relied to a significant extent on humourous conventions no longer considered acceptable in these more sensitive times.

By: Elina

Elina — Sat, 13 Sep 2003 16:44:56 +0000

Very good Michael. I have them all on video as it happens. I was just alarmed that in the UK you could not get, in one easy package, all the Yes Minster episodes and all the Yes PM episodes as you can on amazon.com and at a much cheaper price.

By: Michael Comiskey

Michael Comiskey — Sat, 13 Sep 2003 16:24:24 +0000

Elina I just checked amazon.co.uk and found all 3 series of Yes Minister. All 3 are complete. Series 1: ASIN B00005M6OI cat no. BBCDVD1047 Series 2: ASIN B00006G9VL cat no. BBCDVD1120 Series 3: ASIN B0000AISI5 cat no. BBCDVD1188 (Series 3 is not released for a couple of weeks). I bought series 1 and 2 some months ago from HMV. They made for great viewing this summer, even more so when compared to the language used by the witnesses in the Hutton Inquiry. I bought my girlfriend the companion books to series 1 and 2, which are worth reading, as they are not just the scripts. They are cast as extracts from official files, memoirs and newspapers of the day. She enjoyed them immensely.

By: Ophelia benson

Ophelia benson — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 23:14:41 +0000

Greg, well, you may be right. Only the assignment was to compare cultures, so…I was reaching. Nevertheless I think there may be something in it. It’s harder to take the value of being thoughtful and clever for granted in the US than it is in the UK, so there’s a temptation to hammer the point.

By: greg

greg — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 22:36:36 +0000

I suppose one difference is that anti-intellectualism is so deeply ingrained in US culture that WW has to exaggerate the articulacy and wit of its characters beyond plausibility to make its point. I would chalk that up more to Aaron Sorkin’s writing style than anything else. Sports Night had similarly stylized dialogue. Sure, the characters don’t talk like “real people”, but I kinda look at it as Mamet-esque and leave it at that.

By: elina

elina — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 19:52:20 +0000

Yes Mark, but none of them the complete series. I hope you’re not just trying to dampen down my pro-americanism!

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 18:31:39 +0000

Elina – You must have made a Typo – DVD search “yes minister” returns 4 entries.

By: Elina

Elina — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 18:13:52 +0000

The question has to be asked why these DVDs aren’t available on amazon.co.uk, given that it’s a British sit-com. The US is clearly more civilised than we Europeans had dared hope ;.)

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:26:46 +0000

Dang, what an interesting question, comparing the cultures that produced Yes Minister and West Wing. I suppose one difference is that anti-intellectualism is so deeply ingrained in US culture that WW has to exaggerate the articulacy and wit of its characters beyond plausibility to make its point. It is not so in the UK, so part of the joke on YM is the way Sir Humphrey and his colleagues in the civil service use their brains and Oxbridge educations to obstruct as much as possible.