I like the Onslow character-he’s working class and likes it! Plus, I like how Onslow’s dog lunges out of their wreck of a car everytime Hyacintha nd Richard come to visit).
Speaking of the show…has Hyacinth’s son ever made an appearence?
I can’t see how he ever would. His distant presence is the linchpin that keeps at least some connection between her artificial world and the reality of the Buckets.
She is, but the Prime Minister is head of government.
I knew that, which is why I used the term “head of state.” And yes, I know she has no power, but please don’t say the symbolism isn’t important. How a nation chooses to symbolize itself is very important.
The nation may symbolise itself by the monarch, or by Britannia herself, but the point about Prime Ministers was absolutely correct and the two do not contradict each other. There is nothing remarkable about the most powerful person in the country coming from a modest background. We do not use that person as a symbol to represent the country (excepting retrospective cases, as with Churchill).
Pay attention when Onslow’s reading in bed. I think it’s usually some arcane physics text.
This is totally off topic, but as a fan of AbFab, another great show from across the pond, has Edina’s son, Serge, ever made an appearance–or is that part of the running joke, that he’s never there?
I didn’t realize there were so many Hyacinth bashers LOL
I think Patricia Rutledge made that role. I am certain without her the series would’ve been no where as successful
I watch it because as one poster said it’s fun to see Hyacinth get what she deserves. In our own world we all know someone like her, of course in real life they’re not that over the top.
As for repeating, well
“I Love Lucy,” (Lucy tries to get in the act)
“Betwitched” (Endorra or other relatives cast spell on Darrin, in the end love wins out)
“Gilligan’s Island” (Resuce or whatever Gilligan ruins it)
“Laverne and Shirley” (Poor girls try to make good, do physical comedy)
I could go on but you get my point, and look at all the catchphrases from Fonzies “ayyyyy” to Flo’s “Kiss Mah Grits.” Most shows are repeat.
But that is another thread 
I really just wanted to know where Hyacinth would fall if she was an American. How can Daisy and Onslow be working class when they don’t work. I guess they live on welfare right?
I never claimed there was.
And we do. Believe me, at times I don’t think it’s such a good idea. If we elect an idiot to the highest office of the land, than he’s the idiotic face of America for the next four to eight years. But only by virtue of his office, not by birthright.
So, how about that Keeping Up Appearances, eh? Does anyone know what happened to the first Rose? Or what the disagreement between writer Roy Clarke and director Harold Snoad was about? Or why Routledge hasn’t participated in any of the reunions? Did Emmett’s wife divorce him because of a homosexual tryst? Was Elizabeth keeping her dismembered husband in a keg in the cellar? Lots of good stuff to talk about here.
Steady on there.
I think you are being overly unkind to shit.
There is far too much respect given to the cheap spacefilling polls which Channel 4 and 5 in the uk have been filling Saturday nights in the last few years.
Anyone with any interest in the subjects covered (best comedy moments, films) can barely watch such shows without wanting to kick the television in. The people who vote have clearly only seen a small amount of the things they’ve been asked to poll on, so they’ll vote for the ones they’ve heard of.
Classic example, three seperate Little Britain jokes made the top 20 comedy moments, including number 1 being a running joke about the bloke in the wheelchair. Its clear to me that the reason why Pythons Dead Parrot Show (say what you will of it, its certainly better than the LB sketch) didn’t get number 1, because a large quantity hadn’t seen it…
Star Wars also features heavily in the Films. Ok, on that one you could argue that its popularist (never been a big fan of the movies myself), but its being voted best movie is my problem…
I personally reckon that some polls are more valid than others… TV Polls are especially invalid.
I think Benny Hill is long overdue a re-evaluation in the UK, the same way The Two Ronnies did a while back (though the monologues will never be loved).
I caught some while living overseas, and it seemed to me that the problem with Benny Hill is that it lasted longer than its time. The last few years of his shows were very weak and running the hoary old headslapping and women chasing sketches into the ground, but the earlier shows were very heavy on clever wordplay and good well written sketches which suprised me when I caught them…
However, in the uk, they don’t show it much and the few I’ve seen tend to be the final years of his shows…
I find it weird that you like Peep Show but don’t like Spaced as although they are different styles of comedy I think they have a similar feel to them. I love Peep Show but Spaced is far better IMHO, perhaps it’s just a bit too British? Nighty Night on the other hand started off ok but went rapidly downhill in the second series.
She is the head of state of the U.K. Also Canada. That doesn’t really say anything about class in Canadian society, though. I wouldn’t speculate about class in Jamaican society based on her position, either.
I seem to recall Jay-Z announcing a boycott of Crystal champagne when he found out that the makers were actually kind of horrified that he was mentioning it in his songs.
Going back to Keeping Up Appearances. I grew up in the immediate area of “Onslows house” (Mitchell Close, Coventry). My aunt and grandmother lived literally just round the corner, and our house was a couple of hundred yards further away. This was sixty years ago, and the area seems to have got more run-down in the intervening years !
Yes, he did in the AbFab special “Gay”, but turned out to be a male version of Saffy and Edina prefered his boyfriend as her son.
The actress who played Rose died. Routledge ended the series because she didn’t want to be typecast as Hyacinth Bucket. I always though Emmett was gay, but nothing was said on the show and I don’t know if we were actually intended to think that. Sheridan was gay (& living with his lover Tarquin) and Hyacinth was the only one who didn’t realize that. Elizabeth’s husband was always working “overseas”.
If it’s of any interest, here are the British programs (whoops, programmes) that my local PBS stations (WETA and WMPT) like to air nowadays, on Saturday nights:
[ul]
[li]Keeping Up Appearances[/li][li]Are You Being Served?[/li][li]As Time Goes By[/li][li]Last of the Summer Wine[/li][li]The Vicar of Dibley[/li][li]Waiting for God[/li][li]To the Manor Born[/li][li]Fawlty Towers[/li][/ul]
Nothing very good there, except Fawlty Towers, which I’ve seen too many times now to watch again. The sad thing is that in the 90s these stations used to mix it up a lot more from season to season. That’s how I got to see One Foot in the Grave, People Like Us, Chef, and Red Dwarf, among others. They also offered some obscure shows sometimes like My Hero and Open All Hours — which, though I didn’t find them all that funny, at least brought some welcome variety.
But that was ages ago. Now it’s just the selection you see above — over and over and over again, year after year. Sometimes, they go nuts and change the time slots. That’s about it.
Someone up-thread has already taken a dig at BBC America, and justly so. Here are the comedies BBCA serves up for us at various times during the week:
[ul]
[li]That Mitchell and Webb Look[/li][li]My Family[/li][li]Coupling[/li][li]The Catherine Tate Show[/li][li]Little Britain (now gone actually)[/li][/ul]
I’ve seen a couple episodes of Mitchell and Webb, and liked it enough to go back for more. And, they were showing The Office last year, for one run. The rest I can take or leave.
And there you have the dismal selection of British comedy that’s accessible to most of the American public. Apparently, there’s a rule of only one good show per network at any given time, or something like it.
One difficulty is trying to use the short lengths of British series and spread them thinly across an American season. Fawlty Towers only ever had two series, each of six episodes. Modern shows will also typically consist of 6-8 episodes, and then another lot a year or so later. So actually, there isn’t that much good stuff at all. Nor even that much bad stuff, hence the endless repetition of antiquities.
Last of the Summer Wine seems to go forever. I’m waiting for the day when we get Last of the Last of the Summer Wine
Almost everything on this list (there are one or two I haven’t seen) has senior citizens in leading roles. I think that reflects the demographic that the powers that be feel is (a) more likely to be watching PBS at night and (b) more likely to give money. One of our local stations airs Lawrence Freakin’ Welk, and I don’t think it’s because of any artistic or educational value.
I’m dating myself here, but I remember watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus on TV only a couple of years after they aired in Britain. Yeah, it’s old hat now, but this was pretty wild and daring stuff, even with some of the naughtier bits deleted, and certainly appealed to a young audience.
Not that anyone’s dying to hear my opinions, but I put Are You Being Served? in the category of stuff I know is indefensible crap but find myself watching anyway. As Time Goes By was pretty good as long as it kept things real and focused on the relationship between the leads, who were both fine actors. The episodes where they try to be zany are the worst, and the ones where they go to Hollywood made me wonder if anyone involved with the show had ever even met an American. (One episode tried to squeeze humor out of the “fact” that Americans don’t know what it means to take a leak.) Last of the Summer Wine is sappy, unfunny tripe redeemed only by an occasional scenic glimpse of the English countryside. Next time someone starts going on about how British tastes are superior to American, ask them what the longest running British sitcom is – and why? Waiting for God has a certain appeal to me just because the lead character is so irreligious. You don’t usually see that on US TV. Fawlty Towers is the only series that I have on DVD (maybe because the whole thing fits on two DVDs), but I would still gladly sit down and watch Basil the Rat or The Kipper and the Corpse should they pop up on my TV.
For some reason, PBS does much better with dramatic series. Just between Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery!, we get a lot of variety.