Post by Perfect Pseudonym on Oct 4, 2022 18:13:59 GMT
Anyone have any memories of this, or maybe have the DVD box set?
I brought it a few years ago on the strength of finding one episode at the time it was broadcast extremely funny - which turned out to be late-run episode While The Cat's Away.
A slightly odd sitcom in that each episode was virtually stand alone. David Jason was always Peter Barnes, who did some sort of unspecified white collar job (or jobs - not always necessarily the same one), and Jacqueline Clark was always his wife Sheila (except in the pilot when she was played by Patricia Brake). Every episode had at least one fourth wall breaking, which was when Jason would look at the camera when encountered with the reaction as per the title of the series. But some of the earlier ones actually had Jason in character addressing the audience in a sort of stand-up way, and some had him doing voiceover intros, until all of that was dropped by the time it got the start of the fourth and last series.
For the first two series, Alun Armstrong and Richard Wilson would feature, always playing different roles which were there to cause Peter the frustrations that he encountered with bureaucracy and tradesmen, which was the raison d'être for the show. Bryan 'Tiger' Pringle had fulfilled that purpose in the pilot episode. Armstrong dropped out for the very short run third series, and Wilson would also be gone by the fourth series. By which time, and with Vince Powell taking over the writing from Ronnie Taylor (who had passed on), it became a fairly traditional sitcom, albeit still self-contained episodes and still with very tentative sharp intakes of breath to justify the name of the series! The very first series 4 episode (Wheels) was in fact a reworking of a Powell scripted Bless This House episode.
It does have some good moments and I'm quite pleased that I shelled out for the DVDs, but there are the odd clunkers. There is some excellent physical comedy from Jason and his performance throughout as the hapless Barnes does make you sympathise with him. The Sheila character seems a little inconsistent though, sometimes simpering wife, sometimes Girl Power prototype. But then as they're self-contained that can possibly be ignored.
As for the one I laughed at back then, yes, still good in terms of the physical comedy, as long as you don't worry too much that it basically holds the episode storyline together.
I brought it a few years ago on the strength of finding one episode at the time it was broadcast extremely funny - which turned out to be late-run episode While The Cat's Away.
A slightly odd sitcom in that each episode was virtually stand alone. David Jason was always Peter Barnes, who did some sort of unspecified white collar job (or jobs - not always necessarily the same one), and Jacqueline Clark was always his wife Sheila (except in the pilot when she was played by Patricia Brake). Every episode had at least one fourth wall breaking, which was when Jason would look at the camera when encountered with the reaction as per the title of the series. But some of the earlier ones actually had Jason in character addressing the audience in a sort of stand-up way, and some had him doing voiceover intros, until all of that was dropped by the time it got the start of the fourth and last series.
For the first two series, Alun Armstrong and Richard Wilson would feature, always playing different roles which were there to cause Peter the frustrations that he encountered with bureaucracy and tradesmen, which was the raison d'être for the show. Bryan 'Tiger' Pringle had fulfilled that purpose in the pilot episode. Armstrong dropped out for the very short run third series, and Wilson would also be gone by the fourth series. By which time, and with Vince Powell taking over the writing from Ronnie Taylor (who had passed on), it became a fairly traditional sitcom, albeit still self-contained episodes and still with very tentative sharp intakes of breath to justify the name of the series! The very first series 4 episode (Wheels) was in fact a reworking of a Powell scripted Bless This House episode.
It does have some good moments and I'm quite pleased that I shelled out for the DVDs, but there are the odd clunkers. There is some excellent physical comedy from Jason and his performance throughout as the hapless Barnes does make you sympathise with him. The Sheila character seems a little inconsistent though, sometimes simpering wife, sometimes Girl Power prototype. But then as they're self-contained that can possibly be ignored.
As for the one I laughed at back then, yes, still good in terms of the physical comedy, as long as you don't worry too much that it basically holds the episode storyline together.