End of an Era

[Nicole Marie]

So its over... Sex in the City is no more. Did any one catch the last episode? Great ending to a great series.

And now the Sopranos are coming back! Yahoo! Any fans of that series?

[Marye]

Yes to Sopranos and I adore Six Feet Under!!

[treebeau]

Haven't missed a single episode of either.

Regards,
Tim "haven't seen it and haven't missed it" B.

[piqaboo]

SitC was hilarious. Didnt see it much (dont watch TV much).
Desperately wanted to see 6ft undr, but dont want to pay for HBO.

Piqa-tightwad-boo

[barfle]

The problem with SitC for me is that I didn't find out about it until way too late, then didn't want to bother catching up.

Same thing with The Sopranos, but since they actually produce so few episodes, it's easy to catch up.

-6' never really rang my chimes.

Has anyone seen The Office on BBCA?

[dai bread]

I liked "6' Under" for the first 2 series, but the third got just too far out for me. The characters just got too unbelievable for words and in some cases the action got too predictable, such as Claire's boy-friend having sex with the predatory art teacher.

"The Sopranos" almost went the same way, but luckily the series ended in time. A new series is due to start here soon and I shall see what happens.

Both, BTW, screen on free-to-air State-owned TV. I don't know if they're cut or not. Probably not, as no-one's squawked.

[barfle]

Dai, I don't know what passes on TV in NZ, as I've never watched any there (I barely was able to get off the plane and buy a T-shirt in the airport, so I get to say I've been there, but little else).

The Sopranos has a few scenes in nearly every episode that take place in a strip bar, and the activity in the background shows considerably more than what Janet Jackson showed during the Super Bowl half-time show. Also, there is quite a bit of profanity, including the famous "f-word" about every five minutes or so. The major advertising supported networks would undoubtedly receive severe fines in "the land of the free" for broadcasting that.

It airs on HBO, which is a premium cable channel in these parts. You pay extra for it, in addition to normal cable fees.

[dai bread]

Yes indeed, quite a bit more than Janet showed. As I said, I don't think it's been cut for showing here. Somebody always says if a show has been cut, because there's always somebody who has seen the original.

I don't suppose you people saw the "bugger" ad for Toyota? You'll know instantly what I mean if you have.

Apart from the language, it's quite antipodean and I don't think it would travel well, but it's one of the most entertaining ads I've ever seen. Much better than most of the programs.

[Marye]

Barfle,

I have seen The Office... and howled. What about Curb Your Enthusiasm ... This show kills me.

I don't think any of you get to see Canadian Televison but there are some honest to God great shows that poke fun at our government, at our court system and ourselves. Come to think of it, maybe you would have to be Canadian to think it this hilarious. Never mind.

What type of comedy shows do New Zealanders produce, Dai?

[dai bread]

Poor ones generally, Marye. We don't have much of a gift for comedy, though we laugh happily enough at others' shows. Ours tend to be heavy handed and laboured.

We did have one absolute genius though. His name was Billy T. James, and he was not only a first-rate comedian but a good ballad singer, script-writer and raconteur as well. His death from heart failure about 10 years ago caused national mourning.

If you type his name into Google you'll come up with quite a few things.

I'm not sure how well his humour would travel. Much of it is firmly NZ-based, but if you fancy splashing out about CD30 you could try his dvd. I recommend it thoroughly, but then, I know what all the jokes are about.

[haggis]

My wife and I watch a lot of the Brit Sitcoms and mysteries on BBCA.

We lived in England in the late '70's, early '80s and fell in love with almost every program we saw. The funny thing was the Brits were madly in love with “Dallas” at the time and couldn’t get enough of J.R. Go figure

We particularly like "To The Manor Born," which is a regular fixture on PBS. I've been surprised that "All Creatures" hasn't been widely seen in the U.S. It’s based on the James Herriot Books about a country vet practice in the '30s, '40s, and '50s. I bought the first three seasons on DVD for my wife at Christmas, and we still love them as much as the first time we saw them.

For just good fun, I love "Are You Being Served" and the "Good Life." There are some other little known comedies like "Solo" and "Butterflies" that I've never seen on U.S. TV.

( Ed. “You were just in love with Felicity Kendall on ‘The Good Life’ and ‘Solo’”

Oh boy howdy, yes I was!!! Sigh)

The Brit mysteries are still the best of the genre (IMHO), especially the Inspector Dalgliesh series, and who could ever believe that Jeremy Brett could be a better Sherlock Holmes than Basil Rathbone, but he was.

There were some that I never could get interested in, such as “The Young Ones.” “The Office” is also another one that I can’t get interested in.

[Marye]

"To The Manor Born," which is a regular fixture on PBS. "All Creatures" "Are You Being Served" and "Butterflies"

Love these shows (and the Heriot Books)... I think I saw Butterflies on PBS years back though -if it is the one with Geoffrey Palmer.

Haggis, you must have loved As Time Goes By and Keeping up Appearances then... Wonderful television.

There was the an Aussie television show with a son and his old mum - Mother and Son. It was a scream for me....

[haggis]

Marye,

My wife and I love "As Time Goes By" and we've been trying to get into "Keeping Up..." but other than Onslow, most of the show leaves me cold.

It's probably because we saw Patricia Routledge in the “Hetty Wainthropp” series and were so taken by her character that when we saw “Keeping up…” we were put off by her vain character, Hyacinth.

It was on Hetty that we first saw Dominic Monaghan, Hetty’s teenage sidekick, Geoffrey. Dominic Monaghan, of course, played Merry Meriadoc Brandybuck in the LOTR trilogy.

Another one of our favorites we see on PBS (but not BBCA, go figure) is “Waiting For God.”

Wow! High marks for remembering “Butterflies” and Geoffrey Palmer! That’s probably my wife’s all-time favorite. She really identified with Ria.

One of the most riveting series we saw in the U.K. was “Danger UXB.” Alas, that’s one that will never show up on BBCA or PBS and the DVD’s are all region 2.

My wife watched Aussies soaps when we were in the U.K. and I was kind of shocked at the relaxed Aussie standards re: nudity

(Ed. “but not offended, right?”

Not so as you would notice, no”)

But as Dai pointed out, most of the “down under” stuff is not; well, very good, even for soaps!!

But what the heck, maybe it seemed that way because I don’t live there or have a better grasp of the cultural nuances.

I have to say that the high (and sometimes so low that you cried) standards of British television have pretty much killed our appreciation of most American TV.

We really liked “Buffy” for the first few seasons but then it got too weird and dark and we quit watching.

I don’t believe we watch anything on American TV these days other than the occasional “Junk Yard Wars” and even the best of those were the earlier Brit ones.

[dai bread]

Then there's "Inspector Morse" with John Thaw, and the "Midsomer Murder" series with John Nettles. Very fine dramas, both of them, and each episode is of a very high standard, including the stories.

The Aussies had an excellent series in 1999/2000 called "The Games", about the administration of the Olympics in Sydney. It was one of those deadpan, tongue-in-cheek things which proved to be embarrassingly accurate. For instance, in the program, the running track was built too short. In real life, people wondered why athletes' times were so good for the 100 metres. Then someone measured the track. It was short.

[Rudy2toot]

Both All Creatures Great and Small AND Danger UXB were run in the states in the early 80's. I can't remember the guys name that starred in Danger UXB but I was in love with him at the time.
All Creatures was a regular at my house.

[Marye]

Danger Unexploded bomb yeh?

We have TVO -Television Ontario and they do many joint ventures with BBC... (TVO and BBC did the cooking show Two Fat Ladies) so I have seen DUXB. Good show indeed.

Oh and you are right, Hyacinth can only be endured in small measures but it shows you what a fine actress she is...

Did you ever see the Hamish Macbeth series? Highland television, more like, the series is based on the MC Beaton books "Death of a Gossip.. Death of a Dentist" (there are probably 30 Deaths of something books). Robert Caryle was just great as Hamish.

And your wife identifies with Ria....???

As Time Goes By, my partner Brian and I just adore... our favourite of all shows, really. Geoffrey Palmer is in everything.

[barfle]

We have every episode of All Creatures Great and Small on tape, including the feature length movie.

We actually met Carol Drinkwater and Christopher Timothy while we were on vacation in Cabo San Lucas one year. It was very strange going into a place that was so remote (this was probably 1983 or so), and seeing someone you (thought you) knew.

The books had different names in England, which we discovered when we were there, and bought some, finding out that the stories were the same ones we had at home already. And here we thought we were going to get a little more of James Herriot. Rats.

[haggis]

I bought first editions of the Herriot books when I was in the U.K. (just luck, didn't know they were 1sts until years later)

I recommend the books when someone asks me for a good read. Mark Twain and James Herriot are the only two authors I have read and had to put the book down because I was laughing out loud.

I read the Hamish McBeth books (some of them) and had a hard time reconciling the book Hamish (lazy, scrounging, poaching) with the cleaned up TV Hamish.

And that reminds me of MY all time favorite BBC semi-comedy, “Lovejoy.” I loved the TV series and when I read the books I was surprised how hard and venal Lovejoy and Tinker are in the books, plus Tinker was a full blown alcoholic in the books while on TV he was a goodhearted lush. I guess they had to clean them up for family ratings.

Dai, I like all those BBC mysteries –well, maybe not the “Singing Detective” – never could quite figure that one out.

“A Touch of Frost” is another favorite for two reasons:

1. I’ve always liked David Jason (“Fools and Horses” and another favorite, the Un-PC one that’s only on late at night, “Open all Hours”)

2. I worked very closely with British Cops from 1978 – 1984, and for the most part Frost portrays the classic Detective Inspector from my experience. They weren’t always the nicest of people.

"Two fat Ladies" Didn't one die recently?

"Identifies with Ria" is probably not correct, "Empathize” is more accurate

[BigJon]

Danger UXB used to make my toes curl from tension when I watched it. Few shows can do that.

BigJon

[BenODen]

I remember the butterfly bomb episode of UXB... Fascinating but high tension, yep yep...