# Monty Python's Personal Best on PBS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683 "2006-02-22T21:01:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/1 "2006-02-22T21:01:36Z")
And now for something completely (and delightfully) the same… Starting tonight, many PBS affiliates will begin airing “Monty Python’s Personal Best,” a series of programs featuring the Pythons’ own hand-picked choices of their best work (Graham Chapman’s show was compiled by the five living Pythons). More info is available here: > **[PBS Newsletters Signup | PBS](https://newsletters.pbs.org/)** > > Stay connected with the best that PBS has to offer. From broadcast favorites to food to black history and culture. Sign up now. I will be watching, ensconced in my Comfy Chair, my cheeks stuffed with Anthrax Ripple, while carefully not expecting the Spanish Inquisition. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/2 "2006-02-22T21:12:42Z")
[Pepperpot] So what’s that on the television then? [/Pepperpot] ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/3 "2006-02-22T21:20:43Z")
[Pepperpot] Looks like a penguin. [/Pepperpot] ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/4 "2006-02-22T21:27:27Z")
The link says: > [@](#): > > The episodes will air over a three week period in two-hour blocks on PBS on February 22, March 1 and March 8. Thanks **pinkfreud**. The Larch! ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/5 "2006-02-22T21:36:07Z")
Bhurma! In the NYC are, it’s on **Thurdays** ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/6 "2006-02-22T23:06:48Z")
Don’t watch too much or you’ll start foaming at the mouth and falling over backwards. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/7 "2006-02-22T23:11:27Z")
I’m interested to see each Python pick their favorite skits (you know they’ll prefer mostly their own, and/or their favorite writing partner’s). And I mourn the fact that Graham Chapman is no longer with us to pick his. How could I miss this - even though I have the series on DVD? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/8 "2006-02-23T01:11:35Z")
How did I miss this thread until right now? I just heard about the special from my mother an hour ago… then I was convinced it was on tonight, and now I hear it’s tomorrow. Ag. Anyway, I look forward to seeing this at such time as I see it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/9 "2006-02-23T01:17:42Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > I’m interested to see each Python pick their favorite skits (you know they’ll prefer mostly their own, and/or their favorite writing partner’s). And I mourn the fact that Graham Chapman is no longer with us to pick his. > > How could I miss this - even though I have the series on DVD? Funny, I have the entire set on DVD also and yet I plan to be watching this tomorrow and I set the ( brand new) DVR up to record the programs in case I forget. Jim ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/10 "2006-02-23T03:35:27Z")
Tivo programmed and ready to go! ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/11 "2006-02-23T03:44:10Z")
I still crack up when I see the bit about the 100 meter dash for people with no sense of direction. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/12 "2006-02-23T03:47:11Z")
I read about this in _The Globe and Mail_ over breakfast today, and panicked because they often list eastern times and I miss stuff – so I switched on KCTS, the Seattle PBS organ, thinking that I might be missing it _right now_. Turns out there’s a sedate American travelogue about Vancouver Island on right now, and the very first thing that I heard was “The trees are big in British Columbia. _Really_ big.” It was all I could to refrain from screaming _“Say it! SAY IT!”_ at the box. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/13 "2006-02-23T04:01:50Z")
They’ve just finished showing Eric Idle’s and Graham Chapman’s episodes here. I taped them both, but seeing as how I work at the radio station on the other side of the building from the TV station that aired them, maybe tomorrow I can arrange to get some pristine dubs…! ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/14 "2006-02-23T04:24:20Z")
I’m watching the Graham Chapman episode, and it is absolutely fascinating. I’ve got to get them all on my DVR. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/15 "2006-02-23T04:24:25Z")
\*And the first questions goes to Karl Marx! The Hammers, the Hammers are the nickname for what British football team?\* Bollocks! I missed the first minutes, I just noticed this thread and they are playing it right now on the local PBS station, recording… ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/16 "2006-02-23T04:38:20Z")
Meh. I like MP as much as anyone (well, except perhaps my wife… and some of her friends…) but 1) I’ve seen all the sketches and all the shows and all the specials and the German show and so on and on and on… and B) most of the previous attempts to do funny intros for Python compilations (and for that matter, most of the boys’ individual attempts at funny stuff since MP), have been painfully unfunny. Let’s face it, MP was greater than the sum of its parts. With few exceptions, the guys apart just weren’t as funny as they were together. And it’s just a little sad to see how old they look now. (Not that I look a lot better today than I did in 1972.) I watched most of Eric Idle’s intro tonight, and it had a few chuckles, but mostly it was forced and predictable. And as soon as they started into the sketches, I switched over to _Mythbusters._ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/17 "2006-02-23T07:42:01Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I’m watching the Graham Chapman episode, and it is absolutely fascinating. The sketches selected in tribute to Graham Chapman are striking me as rather alarmingly free of Chapman’s presence. Dead Parrot, Pantomime Horse, Ministry of Silly Walks, he wasn’t in any of these. The reminiscences are nice but the actual sketchwork is lacking. Well, here’s Penguin on the TV which at least has Graham in it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/18 "2006-02-23T07:45:36Z")
I don’t know about the others, but Chapman did co-write Dead Parrot. Maybe they chose it for that reason? ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/19 "2006-02-23T08:40:10Z")
I’ll be getting DVDs of these programs in the mail. Give PBS enough money and they treat you right. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683/20 "2006-02-23T15:04:02Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > I’ll be getting DVDs of these programs in the mail. Give PBS enough money and they treat you right. 🆒 that may be worth it - I’ll check on that [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-pythons-personal-best-on-pbs/345683.md?page=2)