If there is one thing I love, it's a campy, snarky, fashionable character. And as we are aware I watch very little American tv offerings, but one I fell in love with was Wednesday, a take on the life of Wednesday Addams. The first season was incredibly done. Plus, it had Gwendoline Christy. As if it could get any better, Burton went this season and added a Patron Saint of mine, the stunning Joanna Lumley to the cast as Hester Frump! A huge fan since the days of Jam and Jerusalem and, of course, Absolutely Fabulous...the actress can do no wrong. She has given a new life and purpose to a character we knew little of from previous incarnations of the show and movie, and grandma was basically nothing more than a bumbling mumbling side piece that time forgot in a gothic mansion. Lumley at 79, joined the cast at Tim Burton's request and so she lends her talents across this side of the pond playing Hester Frump as the wealthy and fashionable matriarch of the Frump family, and the owner of the largest outcast business in America, Frump Mortuaries. She is snarky, insulting, cold and sharp tongued, and is also the mother of Morticia Addams and Ophelia Frump. And while she has a good strong understanding relationship with her granddaughter Wednesday, she as a ghastly one with her own daughter Morticia. Staring with her disapproval of her marriage to Gomez. Needless to say, she is the first character in some time I have loved on a program. I dare say Absolutely Ghastly!
Her first appearance of the season was excellent! The only way to make me orgasm would be to add Helena Bonham Carter to the cast yet.
It does look, dare I say it, absolutely fabulous, and I love Lumley and Christie who can almost take away the stench of Zeta Jones.
ReplyDeleteLoL! Each time Zeta Jones was appearing on the screen I couldn't help but waiting for Zorro to appear :-))
DeleteI usually do not like Catherine Zeta-Jones, but I will admit she has played a pretty good Morticia. Although I'm not sure how much of a stretch that is.
DeleteI concur and couldn't agree more with all you wrote.
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with her since she took over the role of the female character and. played Purdey in The Avengers series in the 70s - an absolute must in British TV series at the time. Then-after, each of her appearances in TV movies was worth watching, and of course there was the terrific duo with Jennifer Saunders in the 90s series AbFab.
You made me fancy re-watching this series, so I went looking for it and in the process discovered that there was an AbFab movie from 2016 I wasn't aware of. Currently downloading it, hoping they'll provide me with the giggles I need as I reach the end of my holidays. Next Thursday is back to work day, and it will sure help if I dive into it with some Patsy-like sharp replies :-p
Hug you,
Laurent
A little known fact about her was she also had a guest stint as a perfume representative on Are You Being Served in her early days.
DeleteJoanna Lumley was also in the movie "Shirley Valentine" where she played a high-class call girl.
DeleteLaurent, you made me laugh with thoughts of one episode of where Patsy forgot where she worked and Edina asked if she even knew what she did for a living. Friends of mine joke with me the same when I go on vacation and take time off. They are like, Do you even remember where you work or what you do? LOL!!!
DeleteWednesday was super good this season, and Hester? She was so tastefully dry and simply, utterly fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI may have to give this another try. Watched the first season and then never picked it up again. Lumley would make it worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteOutside of sports, the only show I stream in RDR. I'm glad to see she's still around. I loved her in AbFab.
ReplyDeleteCan't say I've seen Lumley in anything apart from a few snippets of Ab Fab decades ago, but then I don't watch TV. I think I'm allergic to it, if for no other reason that it seems to get stupider as every year goes by.
ReplyDeleteLove Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, season one was fab and season two? Love!
The universe they have created is fantastic and it's thank to the actors playing full-fleshed characters. Grandma is a riot and oh so fashionable!
Recommend.
XOXO
The show really up the ante and the quality when they introduced Lumley. Of course Gwendoline Christie was a magnificent cast last year. I generally love anything Burton does.
DeleteThis looks like something I need to investigate.
ReplyDeleteShe really stood out in that role I watched the season already. Though I thought it would have been more on point to have casted Angelica Houston in this role but she might have been too tired or didn't want to do it
ReplyDeleteI adore Angelica Huston, but I think she got so typecasted as Morticia, I'm not sure anybody would buy her as Hester. I'm also surprised we don't see Angelica Houston in more things.
DeleteJoanna Lumley is good in every show I've ever seen her in.... now I wish I had NetFlix!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE HER and I LOVE THE ROLE!!! Marvelous! Just MARVELOUS!!!
ReplyDeleteI would just love to see Burton bring Jennifer Saunders in as a cameo in the next season; just to play off Lumley! "...do... do I know you...?"
Oh my God wouldn't that be iconic. And somehow I could see a one-off character, say in one episode played by Saunders. And like I said I'm shocked Burton didn't incorporate Helena Bonham Carter either.
DeleteI love Joanna’s look
ReplyDeleteShe is utterly fabulous in this role and looks amazing! And I agree...she brings so much to a character we knew very little about or for that matter even seen much. I had to go back and see who she was in Jam and Jerusalem. I had no idea she was Delilah Stagg!!!
ReplyDeleteJoanna Lumley is an absolute dream in this!!!
ReplyDeleteI always loved her in James in the Giant Peach. SO good at playing evil. I am familiar with her in the show AbFab but never saw the show, it was before my time when the series was out, but from scenes I saw she was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteToo young? Oh my God, I was in the beginning of my party days when I came out.
DeleteI'm another one who is over the top happy about Joanna Lumley joining the cast. She is BRILLANT as Grandmama
ReplyDeleteJoanne Lumley’s Performance as Hester Frump truly reminded me of Barbara Hershey’s Performance as Cora Mills in Once Upon a Time.
ReplyDeleteOh Once Upon a Time, now that was a show I loved watching. That was so creatively done how they did that.
DeleteI'm a huge fan of the Addams Family and of the talented Lumley. I love Joanna Lumley, and I love her for this role!
ReplyDeleteVery different from the Hester Frump in the 1960s TV series. There she was played by Margaret Hamilton (best known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.)
ReplyDeleteI think that's why I love this incarnation of her. They did very little with grandmama back then and very little backstory. I don't even recall seeing her used much.
DeleteWell, anything Addams and I'm All In. *Winks*
ReplyDeleteOhmygod I love Helena Bonham Carter. I want to marry her. She was so good as Bellatrix LaStrange in the Harry Potter movies. I keep thinking I should watch Wednesday and I haven't gotten to it. I must try harder.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Helena is another one of those actresses that seems to do no wrong. I have yet to see her a movie I did not enjoy her in. She does everything from elegant to completely bonkers so well. But she's not in Wednesday just to let you know.
DeleteI know she's not in Wednesday but you mentioned her name so it sent me off on a tangent.
DeleteHester Frump = Alexis Carrington meets Cruella deVil :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with every single word. This series just keeps on being fantastic!
ReplyDeleteA role model to aspire too!!!!
DeleteI love the show...and love Joanna Lumley and LOVE the new header!!!
ReplyDelete