Christopher J. Olson - The Greatest Cult Television Shows of All Time

Creator: Jennifer Saunders

Cast: Jennifer Saunders (Edina Monsoon), Joanna Lumley (Patsy Stone), Julia Sawalha (Saffron Monsoon), June Whitfield (June Monsoon), Jane Horrocks (Bubble)

Genre: Comedy

Aging party girls Edina and Patsy engage in madcap misadventures while Edinas straight-laced daughter Saffron struggles to maintain order in their dysfunctional household.

In 1978, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders met while attending the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. The rest of the cast fell into place soon after, and the show debuted on November 12, 1992.

Ab Fab initially aired on BBC2 because network executives expected the series to appeal to a small audience.

Aging party girls Edina (Jennifer Saunders, left) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) hatch their next wacky scheme. BBC Enterprises/Photofest

Throughout its various incarnations, Absolutely Fabulous uses its fame-hungry, style-obsessed, developmentally stunted central characters to critique media culture and privileged lifestyles. Patsy and Edina regularly stumble into wacky situations that would leave them feeling humiliated and defeated if they had any sense of shame or self-awareness. In that regard, as Paul Flynn noted in 2011, the show predicted the twenty-first-century pop cultural landscape with its vapid celebrities who go to great lengths to remain relevant in a media ecology marked by short memories and fickle attention spans. Ab Fab first emerged in the 1990s during the infancy of both reality TV and the Internet, but if the show debuted today Patsy and Edina would no doubt occupy the roles of catty reality TV stars or past-their-prime social media influencers. As it stands, Ab Fab holds up quite well thanks to its prescient outlook and sidesplitting humor.

The show introduced many American viewers to British comedy thanks to its near-constant presence on Comedy Central during the mid- to late 1990s. Ab Fab delighted viewers with its uproarious dialogue (Oh, shes so cold, sweetie! Ill just bet she has her period in cubes!), riotous physical comedy (a drunken Patsy slowly topples into an open grave), and delightfully silly characters (including Jane Horrockss charmingly addle-brained Bubble). At the same time, Ab Fab portrayed middle-aged women as funny, sexy, and neuroticthat is, complexand therefore struck a chord with women and gay men. According to critic Guy Lodge, Ab Fab was anarchically feminine,Ab Fab appealed to viewers of all persuasions, but queer fans turned the show into a true cult phenomenon.

With its clever satirical humor, over-the-top situations, and multifaceted female characters, Ab Fab is now justly recognized as a pioneering comedy that remains beloved long after the party ended.

See also The Golden Girls (19851992), The Young Ones (19821984)

SPOTLIGHT: DAWN FRENCH AND JENNIFER SAUNDERS

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders met at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London in 1977, and soon after the duo performed comedy sketches together at the Comic Strip Club.

Creator: Pendleton Ward

Cast: Jeremy Shada (Finn), John DiMaggio (Jake), Tom Kenny (Ice King), Hynden Walch (Princess Bubblegum), Niki Yang (BMO/Princess Rainicorn), Pendleton Ward (Lumpy Space Princess), Olivia Olson (Marceline)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Synopsis

Finn the Human and his adoptive brother Jake the Dog embark on adventures in the Land of Ooo, a surreal, post-apocalyptic kingdom populated by numerous weird and wacky characters.

Production History

In 2006, shortly after graduating from CalArts, animator Pendleton Ward made Adventure Time,

Jake the Dog (left) and Finn the Human defend the denizens of Ooo from all sorts of evil. Cartoon Network/Photofest

Adventure Time became a surprise hit, shocking both Ward and executives at Cartoon Network, who had no idea how to handle the shows newfound success. meaning the show retained his quirky sense of humor.

Despite the shortsightedness of Cartoon Network executives, Adventure Time spawned numerous popular ancillary products including a video game, an ongoing comic book series, and action figures. It also changed the landscape of animation as animators who worked on the showsuch as Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), Kyle Carrozza (Mighty Magiswords), and Matt Burnett and Ben Levin (Craig of the Creek)have produced new shows that keep Adventure Times adventurous spirit alive. Sadly, Cartoon Network canceled Adventure Time in February 2017 after nine seasons though new episodes continued to run until 2018.

Commentary

Adventure Time appealed to both kids and adults because it boasted a heady mix of surreal weirdness, nonsensical humor, and heartbreaking tenderness. Series creator Pendleton Ward crafted a series in which anything could (and usually did) happen, and those things are often either laugh-out-loud hilarious or just downright bizarre. This sort of off-kilter silliness appeals to kids, whose own imagination and sense of humor tend to work in a similar way. At the same time, the show frequently tugs at viewers heart strings, as when it reveals the connection between Marceline and the Ice King (S4E25, I Remember You), or when Flame Princess leaves a besotted Finn heartbroken (S5E30, Frost & Fire). Amid all the ridiculousness, the shows creative team developed fully formed characters and placed them in some genuinely touching and heartrending stories, making the whole series far more involving and emotionally resonant than the average kids show.