Stephen Fry in America

I have just spent the last six hours watch a very personable (and quite funny) British television personality show me parts of America that I never knew existed. It sometime takes a person from overseas to show us things about ourselves and our culture (and our beautiful natural resources!) that we are too close to see.

Stephen Fry explains, in the first few minutes of this FABULOUS six-part BBC series, that he was almost born in Princeton, NJ where his father lived for a while. He's always had a fascination with the US and so in 2008 he brought a real British taxicab here and drove to every one of the 50 states. (Well, that's what he says he did. In reality he covered 51, because the District of Columbia - where he stopped - is not a "state", and he had to leave the taxi in Washington State and fly to both Alaska and Hawaii.. But who's griping? Not me! I don't know how long it took to film this journey but it was obviously 6 months or more. And I give lots of credit to the photographer and Directors John Paul Davidson and Michael Waldman, who are there capturing the beauty - as well as some eccentrics.

The show aired on the BBC and was aimed at UK audiences so you'll hear a few curse words once in a while. And the section on Nevada visits the famous "Mustang Ranch" (where prostitution is legal) and parents may not want to share those moments with young children. But the rest makes great family viewing.

The six hour-long episodes cover a different region. Fry starts in Maine and heads south. From the Deep South he heads to the Mississippi River and follows it all the way from Louisiana (visit to New Orleans after Katrina and to Angola State Penitentiary) to Michigan (Detroit auto industry). Then, the great Mountain States, The Southwest and finally, The Pacific. He visits famous tourist places of course but he gets to places you'd never see on your own. In Knoxville, TN there is a real "body farm". In Miami he visits a Senior Housing compound where he meets "senior male escorts". (The ratio is 10 women to one man!. He visits Kent State and discusses the massacre there, and in Chicago he gets a tour with blues man Buddy Guy.. The "Mountains and Plains" section includes a great interview with Ted Turner - who is America's largest private land owner - on one of his ranches and Fry joins him for a buffalo dinner. I really could go on and on about the highlights but that will destroy the fun! Okay, a few states are just "drive thru" moments and Fry confuses the State of Delaware with the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania when he crosses on the Cape May (NJ) to Lewes (Del) ferry and says that George Washington "crossed the Delaware here in 1776".

Within minutes of the start you can't help but like Fry and bond with him. At the beginning of Episode Three we find him wearing an arm cast (!) but he never explains why its there and by the next few states, it's gone. And he does ask insightful questions of the people he visits.

I can't recommend this set highly enough! I've even found a few new states I want to visit. This was a massive project to produce and I, for one, am glad that Fry allows all of us to join him on his journey!

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

This couldn't be a more perfect vehicle for showcasing the talents of the multifaceted Stephen Fry. Fry is such a fascinating person in his own right that his playing fictional characters often deprives the audience of his best asset, his real self. That is on showcase here as Fry takes on a journey through the United States in a British taxicab. His choices for stopping points are all his own and showcase his own wide ranging interests. Unlike most documentary fare, this plays as if you are along on a personal odyssey with Stephen Fry and, as his friend, he is relating conversationally to you his thoughts and ideas about America as you travel to and around various points. His choices for stopping points are all as unique as himself. I wish Fry would do more of this kind of show rather than playing fictional characters such as Peter Kingdom and a PR man (as he did in another BBC series). He was best in fictional roles as Jeeves and Oscar Wilde but those kinds of parts come once in a blue moon. I can't recommend this show strongly enough.

Travel shows tend to round up "the usual suspects;" you see the same places, and people are asked the same questions.

Expect something different with Stephen Fry in America. I became "acquainted" with Stephen Fry as the dignified butler in the series Jeeves & Wooster. Fry is as contemplative in this travel series as he was as a butler taking care of a youthful Hugh Laurie.

This is a six episode BBC series, and Fry travels in a British taxi through 48 states (he flies to Alaska and Hawaii). You'll see him lounging in a hottub on a houseboat on Lake Powell, touring the rooms of the Mustang Ranch, and experiencing a Tennessee Trotter, among other adventures. I found myself wincing a number of times. Is this what people in England know about America? What they want to know? Did "we" put our best foot forward?

Entertaining throughout. For the British perspective on the world, I also recommend Michael Palin's Pole to Pole and Around the World in 80 Days.