Rita (Seasons 1 & 2) - 4-DVD Set ( Rita - Seasons One and Two ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Denmark ]

Love this show, but there are inconsistencies with Rita's two outfits, which becomes a distraction in Season 2. Is it the blue plaid or the red plaid? It changes from scene to scene - even within a scene. Sloppy direction?

Season One is brilliant and worth every second of attention it requires. Season Two, alas, is a little less brilliant. The original series (One) was quirky, funny, painfully poignant and fundamentally truthful. Season Two, perhaps under the influence of Netflix, is a little bland in comparison.Rita is a teacher by profession and a rebel by temperament. It's a version of the old "story of a whore with a heart of gold" but in this case perhaps more of "an anarchist with a heart of gold." She's an adult, which means she owns her own sexuality unashamedly, but that's about as much as we need to know. She makes poor decisions by the standards of society (even Danish society, which we see is becoming increasingly Politically Correct, alas) but she's alive, she is her own person, she follows the beat of her own drum. The conflicts and tensions that arise as a result of the interplay between her impulses and society at large are what make Series One so satisfying. That and great dialog.Series Two focuses more on her Heart of Gold, which means she's necessarily less of a rebel so there's less dramatic tension. And the dialog isn't as assured as before. Maybe because Netflix knows that to get maximum appeal in its largest market (the USA) you need to follow the trite conventions of story and character arcs, dumb things down so the viewers can follow the story, and kill the clever dialog. Whatever the case, Series Two just isn't as fun as the original series. But it's still worth watching and still doubtless better than anything available from Hollywood. Apparently there will be a Series Three but on the basis of what's happened post-Netflix I'm not holding out a lot of hope. I do appreciate Netflix investing in original content but maybe the company needs to have a little more faith in its audience(s) and let the writers write good stuff rather than asking them to write stock schlock? Or maybe Hollywood is right, and there's no way to under-estimate the dim-wittedness of a typical American audience.But personally I don't agree. I think if you give people good things they acquire a taste for them. Hershey versus hand-made chocolates, for example. Taste the latter and you could never again bear to put the former in your mouth. So please, Netflix, help American audiences to become more astute and mature consumers of entertainment, rather than assume automatically that everyone who watches TV/streamed video/movies/etc. is brain-dead and needs to be fed simple mental mush.

Juvenile humour , aimed at teenagers.

Milles plays a great young teacher with a lot of growing up to do (although) shes not aware of it.She is sexy,modern wired in to her students and three kids.She does not let her job and motherhood curb her sex life,she is active and more.Her smoking and wine drinking adds to her wild persona.This is a very fast moving,well written series.All character actors parts are well written and well played.Rita does steel the show.Netflix needs to put part two online ASAP

Hated having to read subtitles, but after getting used to that we realized that this was one of the best made shows we have seen in a long time and it was worth it doing all that reading. Disappointed that the US never took up doing a US version with Anna Gunn, but who knows how that would have panned out after the horrible version of RAKE (originally from Australia) that the FOX network did! But I digress...the character development throughout is great, and the topics they tackle are very relevant, and some that I wish our US TV folk would...or at least in the light-hearted way RITA did...would try. The great thing about watching shows from overseas is the way they approach the things that otherwise in the US would be 'PC' - just put it out there and make a stance. Mind you, more shows on the regular networks and cable ones are getting there, and I think they 'went to school' on this show. Enjoy it! Not all seasons are great, as it started strong with Season 1 and kind of went limp on Season 2, but 3 and 4 are great.

Rita is a caring but very outspoken schoolteacher, her motives are always good but her judgment sometimes questionable; her personal life is a bit of a mess, but her priorities are in the right place. Mille Dinesen is enormously appealing in the lead role, perfect for the part and very believable. The supporting cast is also terrific, in particular Lise Baastrup as Hjørdis, a younger and slightly awkward teacher who sees Rita as a mentor. If you remember the old series Judging Amy, Hjørdis will remind you of "Donna" from that show. (Hjørdis was popular enough that they later created a spin-off miniseries for her). Ellen Hillingsø is also a standout, as coworker Helle who eventually becomes Rita's supervisor. The tense relationship between the two of them is nuanced and authentic, and the way this relationship evolves is one of the most interesting parts of the drama. (This is nothing to do with the drama itself but do take note of Helle's WARDROBE. A preponderance of.....bat wings? Someone must have had fun with that.)Many of the events in this show would be a bit too daring and edgy for American TV.....Rita is having sex with her boss, but also has the occasional quickie with the (married) father of a student, in the school restrooms no less, and later a drunken romp with the man who turns out to be the adult brother of another student. She smokes and drinks a bit too much, and she sometimes makes wildly inappropriate remarks in front of the worst possible audience. And yet we like her, we root for her, she's absolutely the sort of person you'd want to have a beer with. While these things might happen on American TV, they would never be the behaviors of someone we are supposed to like and approve of.