Stressed Eric - Original UK version - Britcom Comedy

Yet another wonderful Britcom from the TheBoxDotBZ (Some trackers will not allow you to post competing URLs). I encourage everyone reading this to sign up over there and get more quality UK programming onto the scene. The information below is from Wikipedia.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149525/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stressed_Eric

http://www.stressederic.com/

Stressed Eric is a cartoon series that was produced by the UK's Absolutely Productions for the BBC Two TV channel in the United Kingdom. The series revolves around Eric Feeble, a middle class man who is always stressed, because of his family, work, co-workers, etc. The animation for the first season was carried out by American studio Klasky Csupo.

Overview

Eric Feeble is 40 years old, still upset over his divorce two years ago, lives in a middle class London flat, and is always being kept under extreme amounts of pressure and stress from all aspects of life, represented by a throbbing vein in his temple. His two children, Claire and Brian, plague him with fear and worries every day. Claire is a frail six-year-old allergic to ponies, spices etc., while Brian is a nine-year old with learning problems and has been kept back three years running in school. The family's au pair housekeeper, Maria, is an eighteen-year-old Portuguese woman with a serious drinking problem. Despite Eric's frequent attempts to keep her under control and focused, she seems to find herself passed out on the couch intoxicated for hours at a time. His ex-wife, Liz, left him for a Buddhist, but she always wants to get back together with him, calling him constantly on some occasions, which merely adds to his growing stress level. The next-door neighbors, the wealthy, successful and snobbish Perfect family, provide him a constant and painful view of what his life could have been.

Going to work is no escape from his everyday problems either. His boss, Paul Power (known as PP), is loud, rude and demanding of him, and Eric has been demoted from Assistant Manager to a low-level clerk in an office sandwiched between the janitor's closet and the men's washroom. His secretary is of no use and does not help him in anyway and spends her time on the phone to friends. At the end of almost every episode, the throbbing vein emerges from his temple and wraps itself around his neck, strangling him.

List of characters

• Eric Feeble - Stressed out divorced father of two children.
• Claire Feeble - Daughter of Eric and allergic to just about everything.
• Brian Feeble - Son of Eric who has yet to learn to talk and is always putting things in his mouth.
• Maria Gonzalez - The Feeble family's live-in au pair; she is Portuguese and always drunk or hungover.
• Liz - Eric's eccentric ex-wife.
• Ray Perfect - Snobbish and "perfect" next-door neighbor of Eric. Shares Eric's workplace but is senior and consistently praised for his fine work.
• Mrs. Perfect - Snobbish wife of Mr. Perfect. Catchphrase: "How art thou, Eric?"
• Heather Perfect - Snobbish daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Perfect.
• Paul Power, a.k.a. P.P - Boss of Eric who is usually very angry. Catchphrase: "Double arseburgers, Eric!"
• Alison - Eric's useless secretary who spends all her time on the telephone gossiping to friends.
• Doc - Eric's dementedly relaxed doctor, more interested in chasing women than treating Eric.
• Mrs. Wilson - An old lady who slowly tries in vain to post a letter, whereupon it always falls from her hand and into a drain, sometimes with Eric to blame. Catchphrase: "Morning, Mister Eric. Just off to the post..."

Voice cast

Mark Heap as Eric Feeble (UK)
Hank Azaria as Eric Feeble (USA)
Morwenna Banks
Rebecca Front
Gordon Kennedy
Doon Mackichan
Geoffrey McGivern
Paul Shearer
Alison Steadman

TV History

NBC bought the rights to broadcast it shortly after its initial airing in the UK, but ceased broadcasting the show after just three episodes, despite changes being made for American audiences: cutting 4 minutes from each episode due to the 8 minutes of commercial time required and giving Eric an American accent (voiced by Hank Azaria) to make the story revolve more around an American living in England. The American version ran on NBC from August 12, 1998 to August 26, 1998, after which Stressed Eric was never seen again in any form in the United States.

The show's original publicity claimed that it was the first British animated show that could challenge American shows such as The Simpsons and South Park. Some critics felt that this claim was undermined by the fact that the show was animated by an American company.

The original unedited version was broadcast in Canada on YTV beginning with "Nativity" in December of 1999, and the rest of the series shown on Friday nights the following year. It proved a reasonable success, and series two was broadcast in 2001.

The series was also shown on Australia's The Comedy Channel.

The series has since been repeated in full in the UK on both BBC Choice and UK Play (both of which are now defunct). There are no plans to release the series on DVD.

List of episodes

Series 1
• Nativity - April 20, 1998
• Sex - April 27, 1998
• Pony - May 11, 1998
• Hospital - May 18, 1998
• Potato - June 1, 1998
• Tidy - June 8, 1998

Series 2
• Cricket - August 31, 2000
• Bursting - September 6, 2000
• Team - September 13, 2000
• Tent - September 20, 2000
• Crush - September 27, 2000
• Au pair - October 4, 2000
• Drool - October 11, 2000