shakatany | Friday Night TV

On Friday nights I often watch a couple of Britcoms Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By on PBS. The former features Hyacinth Bucket (she pronounces it Boo kay) as an infuriatingly pretentious social climber. I sit there picturing a postscript story where her husband Richard will finally break and strangle her and all the people he used to work with will say "But he was such a quiet man" and wonder what drove him to do it while all those who knew the couple would wonder how he was able to restrain himself for so long. Ideally Hetty Wainthropp would investigate with her Hobbit. BTW anyone else think think that Geoffrey Shawcross might have changed his name to Charlie Pace?
I adore "As Time Goes By" which stars Dame Judy Dench and a cast of actors who look amazingly like real people. It's a sweet little series made up of moments in the lives of these endearing characters focusing on a couple in their 60s and their relatives, none under 30 and some actually over 80.
I believe that unlike "Till Death Do Us Part" which became "All in the Family" and "Steptoe and Son" which became "Sanford and Son" these shows are untranslatable just like "Absolutely Fabulous" (I hear that Roseanne bought the rights years ago and to this day there's no sign of an American version). American shows tend to focus on the young and/or gorgeous so it's refreshing to see something a bit closer to reality.

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