Keeping Up Appearances - Hyacinth Springs Eternal Set (Vol. 5-8)
American sitcoms usually have a bland, likable central character who has  to cope with obnoxious acquaintances--who usually provide most of the  actual comedy. The British smartly put the comic personalities front and  center, andKeeping Up Appearanceshas one of the best: The petty,  pretentious, tyrannical Hyacinth Bucket (played by the impressive Patricia  Routledge), a dowdy middle-class social climber with a piercing voice and  an unshakable faith in herself. Upon learning that her mailman has seven  children, she declares disapprovingly, "Quite an achievement when you have  to be up so early." Whether she's scheming to invite a minor local  celebrity to a garden party or scowling at an enormous dog left in her  driveway, Hyacinth terrorizes all around her, particularly her  long-suffering husband Richard (Clive Swift), who takes a small delight in  subverting her efforts from time to time; her trembling neighbors  Elizabeth and Emmett (Josephine Tewson and David Griffin), who scarcely  leave their house lest they be invited in to coffee; and her  sexually frustrated lower-class sisters Daisy and Rose (Judy Cornwell and  Mary Millar) and Daisy's layabout husband Onslow (Geoffrey Hughes), who  longs to be left in peace to eat chips and watch the races.Though  Americans aren't as class-conscious as the Brits, snobbery is universal,  andKeeping Up Appearanceshas developed an appreciative cult  following on this side of the Atlantic. The boxed setHyacinth Springs  Eternalcontains the third, fourth, and fifth series; but Hyacinth  lives in a bizarrely unchanging universe, so you can start with any  episode and soon be caught up in her titanic struggle to be the envy of  her peers.--Bret Fetzer