Anybody else watch this show? I’m comes on our loacal PBS channel every weeknight & for an hour on Saturdays. The more I watch it, the better I like it. It’s funny, smart & sweet.
I used to watch it when I lived in Minneapolis. The PBS station carried it for several months. When Dame Judi really started coming into the American attention-span, I was kind of smug because I’d “discovered” her a couple of years before.
I want a custard tart now…
I used to watch it weekly, but about the third run-through I got really, really annoyed with pretty much all the characters - especially Jean. She lies at every opportunity, and he’s a cranky old fart. I finally realized I didn’t like these people, and quit watching.
And I know I’ll be banished from CS for a fortnight for even whispering this, but I don’t get the adoration for Dame Dench. In the decades-old A Fine Romance she seems exactly the same character. Yes, I’ve seen her in film and she does a respectful job, but not one that, to my untrained eye, seems remarkable. Is it her longevity that people respect?
(FWIW, there are numerous BritComs that I love; just not ATGB)
I’m not going to exile you. I’ll admit that, though I have a soft spot in my heart for it, it WAS a bit…dull? It’s just such a cozy little thing, no explosions or huge dramatic moments, but very comfortable.
Also, not to be an AA (Anal Anglophile), but it’s Dame Judi. Dame is the female analog to Sir, and you wouldn’t call Elton John “Sir John” or Paul McCartney “Sir McCartney”. The title goes with the Christian name.
I liked the series and have a couple of seasons on DVD. No, the pace wasn’t exactly brisk, but I was okay with that. In some ways I thought the show was a greater facsimile ofr real life that way, as was the relationship between Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer’s characters. I appreciated the fact that they each had foibles, they would bicker, but that there was the obvious deep affection between the two.
That’s why I liked it, too. I don’t watch so much anymore…it’s not really the kind of thing I miss if it’s not around, but I do feel a great deal of affection for it. It’s sweet and rather clever but not in a knock you over the head way…more of an old, comfortable show, as you say.
I’ve watched the whole run. Uniformly good acting, writing, pacing, characterization, and plotting all the way through (with a couple minor minor exceptions). I loved that show, and agree with others that it is also comfy and companionable. My favorite Britcom of all time due to the quality.
I agree with this 100%. I’ve seen episodes 2 and 3 times and they are still entertaining. I love the byplay - banter, sidelong looks, spats and all - between the two main characters.
My favorite character, though, is Judy, played by Moira Brooker I think. I love her face, it’s so expressive and actually quite beautiful, even if she was a bit larger than convention dictates for most of the run. The Sandy character is conventionally much prettier, but not nearly as interesting.
Roddy
I think that her reputation is due more to her theatrical work than her television and film stuff.
Yes. The comfortable-ness is just what I love about it… That, and the fact that it has an episode where Alistair strips.
Damn, I want in on some hot Alistair lovin’.
It’s one of my favorite shows. Just sweet and cozy, and I like most of the characters, even with their foibles.
Love it too. For me, it is the interplay of Lionel and Jean. Superbly written and acted.
Blimey, she’s hardly a great heffer.
I could watch anything Judi Dench does. It’s a wonderful show. Subtle and funny.
You can say that again.
I like this show, too, particularly the early seasons. My Life in Kenya, heh.
Ok, since there is at least a modicum of a following here (and I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Dope) I can get more specific without boring anyone to tears.
The humor, for me, is often laugh-out-loud funny, but without a trace of contrivance or artificiality… the humor is the genuineness of the characters’ true [er…] character coming out in a realistic situation. (e.g.: Jean throwing a carrot at Lionel, very deadpan)
I also thought that Alistair, the most “cartoony” of the characters, if you can call it that, had many, many, many scenes/instances where he was portrayed with human foibles, which made him much more dimensional. This was due, IMO, to both good writing of the character and good acting (don’t recall his name… Bretherton?)
No, I agree, but she is (or was in the show) larger than is strictly fashionable. My point was that it didn’t matter.
Compare the writing and acting in this show with the execrable Keeping Up Appearances, which is cartoony, predictable, and utterly devoid of anything resembling real human beings. In this market KUA shows right after As Time Goes By, making the contrast that much more obvious.
Roddy
Ugh, you guys are so lucky. Where I am, you can’t turn on PBS in the evening without running into Keeping Up Appearances and Are You Being Served? (Which I do enjoy every once in awhile but there are only so many, “Mr. Humphrey, could you feed my pussy?” jokes I can take half an hour.) But As Time Goes By and Waiting For God are on late at night if they’re on at all and I can never seem to keep track of which days they’re on.
(This reminds me, I need to order those seasons of My Hero.)