Televisual Advent Calendar #24 – Friends

We were on a break…..

friends logo

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

The last in this series is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary that year, and that series is Friends. Though I have posted in no particular order I was tempted to have 24 as my 24th entry, however I realised that I only ever made it through the first season of 24 and then stopped watching it. So this entry is not about 24, but about Friends.

Friends

Friends was a comedy series which started in 1994 and went on for ten seasons.

I am the same age as the Friends characters, and I certainly empathised with their challenges and issues, though I never lived in New York. I was never a Joey, but could certainly identify with Chandler.

Chandler Bing

Another reason I guess I like this series, as with Fraiser, is that there is a fair amount of time where the action takes place in a coffee shop, this was in a time before coffee shops became the staple of the UK high street. I think there was an yearning to have a local coffee shop like Central Perk, even if you didn’t want Gunther to be the manager! I remember when they opened a version of Central Perk in London, going out of my way to have a look (and hopefully a coffee) alas, the queue was horrendous so I never even got into the place to have a coffee and sit on *that* couch.

I think after Friends finished, I stopped watching as many American comedies that I had before. It was like they were all trying to be Friends, but were nothing like it. I think that’s the reason I didn’t even look at or attempt The Big Bang Theory, as it felt like a nerdy version of Friends, and I didn’t see how it could even come close. Of course The Big Bang Theory is nothing like Friends, and was never trying to be Friends, and I think the passage of time helped too. So when I came around to watching The Big Bang Theory, my affinity for Friends had passed.

Friends

I have been amused by my eldest son (and his friends) discovering Friends for the first time, now the whole series is on Netflix. They really seem to enjoy it and seeing all the Friends merchandise in shops such as Primark, shows how popular it is.

So there we have it, that’s my televisual advent calendar for this year. It was hard to narrow down the list to just twenty four, but I am pleased with those I have chosen. I could certainly have done another twenty four…. hmmm maybe next year!

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Televisual Advent Calendar #23 – Blackadder

As cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?

Blackadder goes Forth
Blackadder goes Forth BBC

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

I never saw the first season of Blackadder until much later, so really only started watching from the second season.  This was a wonderful piece of comedy writing and excellent acting from Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson. 

Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder BBC
Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder BBC

The second season was set in the Elizabethan era and Miranda Richardson played the part of the Queen superbly. I loved the machinations of Blackadder only too often to be foiled at the last moment.

The third season saw Blackadder as butler to the Prince Regent. Hugh Laurie was wonderful as the bumbling mad prince, though this time more often than not the machinations of Blackadder ended in disaster.

The fourth season saw our “hero” as Captain Blackadder in the horror of the trenches of the Great War. Could a comedy set in that period work, I think it did. The escapades  of our heroes as they try to avoid going “over the top” often worked, but not in the way they thought it would. I really enjoyed seeing the bumbling general staff looking at war as a game of cricket, Stephen Fry was particularly good at the, in some ways, horrifying, General Melchett.

Stephen Fry as General Melchett BBC
Stephen Fry as General Melchett BBC

That poignant final episode of season four, one of the most moving pieces of television ever, nothing more to be said.

Get Blackadder on DVD.
Get Blackadder on Amazon Video.
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Televisual Advent Calendar #22 – X-Files

The truth is out there!

X-Files

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

I was recommended to watch the X-Files and I was so glad I gave it a go, as this was a magnificent series, well for the first seven seasons anyhow, as then I stopped watching it. I have started to re-watch the series again and I am looking forward to seeing the seasons I missed as well as the new season which was broadcast in 2018.

The truth is out there...

This is one of the few series in this advent calendar in which I have not seen all the episodes. The same can be said for The West Wing, which I am also not a completist. I think it was only with services such as iTunes, Netflix and Amazon Prime that has made it, not only possible, but also much easier to see all the episodes of a television. 

I am not usually a fan of horror, and there are some downright scary and horrific episodes in the X-Files, however the alien conspiracy arc kept me watching. I loved the interplay between Mulder and Scully.

Mulder and Scully
Mulder and Scully

I was a bit like Scully and slightly sceptical about some of the plots, but I think that was the point. She rarely saw the paranormal, the alien or the weird. So was what we saw, and what Mulder believing he saw, real, or just in our and his imaginations? Could we explain the unexplainable?

From a production perspective, I liked the look and feel of the X-Files. The way in which it was filmed, the look of the final broadcast, the costumes, the cars, the buildings, it was all so cleverly developed to create the atmosphere of the series.

Get X-Files on Blu-Ray.
Get X-Files on DVD.
Get X-Files on Amazon Video.
Get X-Files on iTunes.

Televisual Advent Calendar #21 – Quantum Leap

Oh boy…

Quantum Leap

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

I really liked Quantum Leap, yes some of the stories were downright silly, but most were really good and it was enjoyable television.

Sam Beckett finds himself trapped in time due to an experiment gone awry, leaping into the body of a different person each week. Al Calavicci, at first known only as The Observer, is Sam’s holographic adviser — he provides Sam with some details about his new identity and gives him guidance on how to help the people affected by his presence. But with little memory to help guide him, our hero is forced to bluff his way through many a wacky situation.

Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci
Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci

The science behind the series left a lot to be desired, but if you could suspend your disbelief for a while then there were some really good stories in the series. The premise was very much about changing the past, putting right, things that were wrong.

Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home…” 

There was a limitation that Sam could only travel back in his own lifetime, which I think limited the stories, though there were a few exceptions when he did travel back further. Having said that the series did try and address the challenges society was facing in his lifetime, from inequality, racism as well as political upheaval.

I remember when they released the series on VHS, I was so pleased and then really disappointed that the release wasn’t the whole thing, but just some selected episodes. Obviously the distributors didn’t think it would sell, so only released a “best of” release. In today’s era of story arcs, you couldn’t get away with that.

Get Quantum Leap on Blu-Ray.
Get Quantum Leap on DVD.
Get Quantum Leap on Amazon Video.
Get Quantum Leap on iTunes.

Televisual Advent Calendar #20 – The New Avengers

You should be more like him, Him I could believe, you know, with the crazy hat and that flashy umbrella, what else could he be but an agent? You should all be like that, makes my job easier.

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

I was not around when the original Avengers was broadcast, but I do remember watching the New Avengers. It was broadcast originally in 1976 and 1977, so I wasn’t that old. It was a sequel to the original 1960s series, something which I have seen, but not a great fan of to be honest. It’s fun, but I can take it or leave it.

In The New Avengers there were three stars, Patrick MacNee returning as John Steed from the previous series, Joanna Lumley as Purdey and Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit. Did Purdey have have a surname?

You never really know who the New Avengers were, were they British Intelligence? A special police unit? Regardless, each week they would be undertaking some dangerous mission or stopping some fiendish plan from taking place.

Unlike some older series I have in the calendar I do remember some of the stories, the first episode the Eagle’s Nest, where a scientist with the ability to resuscitate frozen bodies is kidnapped by Nazis hoping to revive Hitler’s frozen corpse, was one I remember well. As was 

Target where vacationing agents die after attending a training centre, they got hit by the “fake” weapons and had. a red dot on them. The series was about what happens after Purdey attends the training centre.

Another aspect of the series I remember was the Corgi models, and they probably reinforced the memory of the series, though I never actually had any of the toys, I did see them in the Corgi catalogues of the era. Purdey had a yellow Triumph TR7, Steed had a Range Rover and Gambit a Jaguar XJS. Though today this does appear to be reinforcing both class and gender stereotypes, which was probably something prevalent in the series as well.

That’s the thing these days with being nostalgic about old television series, often those series reinforced the inequalities of their day, with stereotypical portrayal of gender, class and ethnicity. You can sometimes feel guilty about enjoying an old TV series, this was something that Friends has had to deal with when it became popular again after being available on Netflix. I do think though that the fact we now recognise that these series got it wrong, is a good thing. Imagine if we though it was all okay!

Televisual Advent Calendar #19 – Jeeves and Wooster

You bally well are informed, Jeeves! Do you know everything?

Jeeves and Wooster Title

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

This was one of the first series I watched having purchased it from iTunes having missed it when it was broadcast on ITV. One of the nice features of purchasing it from iTunes was no adverts. I think having being really spoilt with boxed sets, iTunes, and today Netflix and Amazon Prime, when I watch live commercial TV I feel the advertising is really intrusive. I do realise that advertising is essential for commercial TV, as it pays for the programming, so I really shouldn’t be precious and complain, but…

I really enjoyed A Bit of Fry and Laurie when it was broadcast on the BBC, a classic comedy series with some really sketches. I have since then been a real fan of Stephen Fry and what he has done. Hugh Laurie, probably less so. It was first broadcast from April 1990, when I was still at university, so didn’t watch it “live”. I actually watched very little TV at university, mainly as I only had a small portable black and white television (remember those) and generally didn’t have the time to sit down and watch a TV series on a regular basis.

Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves in an episode from ITV's 90s series 'Jeeves and Wooster' ( Rex Features )
Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves in an episode from ITV’s 90s series ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ ( Rex Features )

Jeeves and Wooster was one of the first things I bought from iTunes when it was launched. We watched Jeeves and Wooster on a regular basis, trying not to binge watch the series in one go… restricting ourselves to a single episode only.

It was a marvellous period piece, beautifully acted and very funny. The interaction between the bumbling Wooster and the rather suave (and clever) Jeeves combined with excellent stories (from the pen of P G Wodehouse) made for an engaging and delightful television series. 

Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves in an episode from ITV's 90s series 'Jeeves and Wooster' ( Rex Features )
Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster and Stephen Fry as Jeeves in an episode from ITV’s 90s series ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ ( Rex Features )

I stopped buying iTunes videos, well we moved house and I lost my fibre broadband. You couldn’t really use iTunes films and TV programmes on a slow 1Mb/s ADSL connection. Even when I got a 4G contract, because it wasn’t wifi, iTunes wouldn’t let you download or stream content. In the end I moved over to Amazon Video and Netflix, because they would work over 3G and 4G. Now I have fibre again, I have started to buy videos again from iTunes, mainly when they are on special offer. As I like to stream stuff over 4G when I am on the move or staying away, I have started more to purchase films and TV shows from Amazon. Trouble is I now have a film library in iTunes, one in  Amazon and due to the demise of Flixster I also have a film library on Google Play. This along with the physical film library (DVD and Blu-Ray) means it can be challenging to remember what I have already, but also where it is. As a result I have duplicated purchases more than once.

One of the challenges with digital purchases are when titles are withdrawn, are you still able to access your films and TV programmes. As it happens at the time of writing Jeeves and Wooster is no longer available on iTunes to purchase, nor is it available on Amazon Video or Google Play. It’s not on the new Britbox service either. I have checked my iTunes library and it is still there and I am able to download it, so I haven’t lost it.

So if you want to watch Jeeves and Wooster you’re going to need to buy the DVDs…

It’s the bally ballyness of it all that makes it all seem so bally bally.

Get Jeeves and Wooster on DVD.
At the time of writing Jeeves and Wooster is not available to buy on Amazon Video.
At the time of writing Jeeves and Wooster is no longer available on iTunes.

Televisual Advent Calendar #18 – Doctor Who

EXTERMINATE!

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

My doctor was Tom Baker.

Tom Baker as Doctor Who. Credit: BBC
Tom Baker as Doctor Who. Credit: BBC

I do remember watching some of the Jon Pertwee episodes, but I remember watching Robot, which was Tom Baker’s first episode as the new Doctor Who and was about a Giant Robot. The special effects were both amazing and terrible, the big robot was awesome, but when they sent in the British Army, the tank they used was an Action Man tank, I had one of those. It was pushed into shot with the appropriate sound effects.

I think that was one of the things with Doctor Who in the late 1970s, having seen the amazing Star Wars at the cinema and various TV shows such as Buck Rogers and Star Trek, the special effects that the BBC used with Doctor Who were both sometimes awesome and sometimes laughably bad!

Doctor Who was one of those series I remember making time for. Part of the reason was I liked it, but also a whole season was often made up of a series of stories told in a number of episodes. If you missed an episode it was not always easy to work out what was going on.

I really loved the Tom Baker years, what with Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Romana and Leela. There were some stories which I remember vividly and still resonate with me today. Genesis of the Daleks has always struck me as probably one of the greatest Doctor Who stories. This was where they introduced Davros, but also asked that huge philosophical question, about time travel, should the Doctor stop the Daleks at the moment of their birth?

Genesis of the Daleks. Credit: BBC
Genesis of the Daleks. Credit: BBC

Then there was The Seeds of Doom, the story when the plants fought back. I also remember the robots from Doctor Who and the The Robots of Death, these seemingly docile robots, who are anything but docile. The Pyramids of Mars was a great story and I loved the Egyptian connection and the paradox of time travel that confounds Sarah Jane Smith. The Talons of Weng-Chiang scared me silly back then and I probably wouldn’t watch it now because it still scares, and the fact that they used stereotypical representation of Chinese characters and an unconvincing giant rat!

When Tom Baker regenerated into Peter Davison, I kind of lost interest in Doctor Who, and stopped caring if I saw it or not, maybe it was linked to the fact I was growing up.  Though having said that I did enjoy Sylvester McCoy’s interpretation of the Doctor and Remembrance of the Daleks is probably one of my favourite stories of all time, up there with Genesis. I also loved the Curse of Fenric story set during the second world war.

Initially I didn’t really miss Doctor Who when it was axed by the BBC. Even so when it was brought back to our screens in 2005 I did start to watch it again. I really liked the new production values and I have enjoyed many of the stories. One thing I didn’t like about the new relaunched series were the stories which we know could never have happened, like the whole Dalek invasion of earth or when the earth was moved in “The Stolen Earth”. What I remember about the classic Doctor Who was that these things could have happened in our world, just that they were hushed up by the authorities. Remembrance of the Daleks could have happened, but it was just never reported. I really liked the idea that the Doctor was “real”, so was UNIT, but all the things that happened just never made the news. If the earth was moved across the galaxy, it would probably be on wikipedia!

I do like the quintessential Englishness of the Doctor, even if now and again he speaks with a Scottish accent. I like his non-violent approach to problems, even though if now and again by his actions things don’t go right for the bad guys. I love the Tardis, just a bizarre concept and even now when I see an old Police Box (usually on the streets of Glasgow) I think there’s a Tardis.

The Tardis. Credit: BBC
The Tardis. Credit: BBC

I not only remember Doctor Who, I am fond of the new series too.

So who was your Doctor?

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Televisual Advent Calendar #17 – Frasier

Hey baby, I hear the blues a-callin’
Tossed salads and scrambled eggs

Fraiser Logo

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

In yesterday’s entry I discussed Cheers, well today I am talking about the more successful spin off of Cheers, which was Frasier. It’s one of those peculiar traits of a successful series to have a spin off, which can sometimes be a sequel or a prequel or in the case of Cheers, take a character from a successful series and give them their own series.

You can think of spin off series which haven’t worked, did we really need Joey after the success of Friends? Is Young Sheldon really as good as The Big Bang Theory? 

With Fraiser, they took the weird psychiatrist from Cheers, that Doctor Fraiser Crane, moved him from Boston to Seattle, gave him his own radio show, allowed us to meet his neurotic brother, Niles and then dumped his retired police officer father on him.

Doctor Fraiser Crane
Doctor Fraiser Crane; Credit: Paramount

Six months ago, I was living in Boston. My wife had left me, which was very painful. Then she came back to me, which was excruciating. On top of that, my practice had grown stagnant, and my social life consisted of hanging around a bar night after night. You see, I was clinging to a life that wasn’t working anymore, and I knew I had to do something, anything. So I ended the marriage once and for all, packed up my things and moved back here to my hometown of Seattle. Go Seahawks.

Could this series be as successful as Cheers? At first it didn’t sound like it would be a success, but the end result, it was a huge success and in the end more successful than Cheers and went on for eleven seasons. I think the reason behind this was because they went with a minor character rather than one of the main characters. I also think the fact they rarely mentioned the bar in Boston and the characters there also helped with allowing this series to grow and mature by itself rather than resting on the laurels of the previous successful show.

This series was a joy to watch, as generally in each episode Fraiser is drawn into a scenario in which he thinks he will come out on top, only for something to go wrong and our hero is left licking his wounds. I really liked the characters of Ros, Niles, Fraiser and his father Martin. I did feel though that the character of Daphne Moon, who was charged with looking after Martin felt a bit false, but I guess they were trying to create a stereotypical British character that wasn’t posh! I did enjoy how Niles attempted to woo Daphne, and his failed attempts, it was almost disappointing when he finally managed to summon the courage to date her and then marry her.

Interestingly there are (quite solid) rumours that there may be a reboot of Fraiser next summer (2020). No longer set in Seattle, as Friaser had moved to Chicago, he may be in a new profession. Will it work, who knows?

Another reason I guess I like this series is that there is a fair amount of time where the action takes place in a coffee shop, this was in a time before coffee shops became the staple of the UK high street.

Get Frasier on DVD.
Get Frasier on Amazon Video.
Get Frasier on iTunes.

Televisual Advent Calendar #16 – Cheers

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came. 

Cheers

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

Cheers ran from 1982 to 1993, though I think I watched it when it had its first run on Channel 4, I am not 100% sure on that, I know I watched it when it was repeated on Channel 4.

As a concept this wasn’t a series that really taxed the brain. However I enjoyed the interplay between the different characters. It was about a bar in Boston, the main characters were the staff and customers of that bar, and that’s about it. 

Cast of Cheers
Cast of Cheers

It was one of those American comedy programmes that you could pick up, watch and then put down. Though having said that, you did make some kind of emotional investment in the programme and some episodes were quite moving, especially that final episode…

When I look at Cheers I am reminded that for quite a few years I really enjoyed American comedies such as Cheers. I can probably blame Cheers for making me watch not just the spin-off Frasier, but also probably Friends as well.

Get Cheers on DVD.
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Get Cheers on iTunes.

Televisual Advent Calendar #15 – The Professionals

Anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I’ve got special men – experts from the army, the police, from every service – these are The Professionals.

The Professionals

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series for London Weekend Television (LWT) that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983.

It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon Jackson as agents of the fictional “CI5” (Criminal Intelligence 5). I remembered the character names of Bodie and Doyle, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember the character name of Gordon Jackson. Thank you internet, it was of course Cowley.

The Professionals

I did think for many years that CI5 was a real organisation that this series was based on, though I never saw it in the news. The concept of CI5 was that it would deal with crime and activities that the regular police did not have the capability or capacity to deal with, but not so much that the military or the secret service (MI5) would be involved.

The “fake” premise of CI5 allowed the makes of the series to deal with a whole range of villians, from foreign agents, terrorists to serious criminals. You couldn’t nitpick the series and say, that isn’t in the remit of CI5… as CI5 didn’t exist!

This was also the era of the standalone episodic drama, each episode was an individual story which wasn’t linked to any other, no story arcs here. This meant you could drop in and out of the series. 

I remember being enthralled watching the antics of Bodie and Doyle, but apart from car chases, firearms, I don’t recall many of the plots… 

Like some other series in the Televisual Advent Calendar, I am discussing series which I really like, or as in some cases have a nostalgic fondness for. The Professionals certainly falls into the latter camp, along with series such as C.A.T.S. Eyes, later Bugs, and others that I remember watching regularly, but really to be honest were quite shallow in many ways. I don’t think they would work today, and I am not sure I would want to watch them again now.

Get The Professionals on Blu-Ray.
Get The Professionals on DVD.
Get The Professionals on Amazon Video.
Get The Professionals on iTunes.