There was a time on American television that African American actors were relegated to playing servants and criminals. This changed on September 17, 1968 when the sitcom "Julia" premiered starring Diahann Carroll. Ms. Carroll didn't play a maid she played Julia, a nurse in a doctors office. Julia was also a widow with a young son. Her husband had been in the army and killed in Viet Nam.
On the show Ms. Carroll worked in the office of a doctor played by the always curmudgeonly Lloyd Nolan. Her son Corey was played by Marc Copage.
Julia was a hit and Ms. Carroll won an Emmy Award for her performance. It did have its critics who claimed that the show was too white and that Diahann Carroll was not black enough. It was derided in Gil Scott-Heron's song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". The show ran for three seasons and ended when both Ms. Carroll and the show's creator Hal Kanter decided they had other projects that captured their interests.
Julia has been re-run on various networks showing old shows from time to time. It is a sweet comedy and worth the watch.
Nicholas Smith aged 79 is the last living cast member of the British sitcom "Are You Being Served?"
Smith's role was that of Cuthbert Rumboldt the department manager in the fictional Grace Brothers Department Store. Know by the rest of the staff as "Jug Ears" Mr. Rumboldt was the bumbling manager who liked his power and would kow tow to the stores owner Mr. Grace. Nicholas Smith played the character for the whole 13 year run of the series and then returned for second series called "Grace and Favor" playing Mr. Rumboldt again.
He worked consistently through out the 1960's and 1970's but didn't become well known until he was cast in "Are you Being Served?" He works still to this day and was a voice in the very successful Wallace and Gromit movies. In 2008 he was reunited with two of the other actors from AYBS Trevor Bannister and Frank Thornton when he appeared on an episode of "Last of the Summer Wine".
One of the longest running television shows and the longest running sitcom was the BBC comedy "Last of the Summer Wine". The first series started in 1973 and the final show was broadcast in 2010. The series set in a village in Yorkshire is based on older people and follows the adventures of three old men and their various cronies. The three men change over time, well there was one that was in the cast for all 37 years the character of Norman Clegg played by Peter Sallis. Another long time member of the cast was Bill Owen who played the character of Campo Simmonite. Other members of the geriatric triumvirate were Michael Bates as Cyril, Brian Wilde as Foggy Dewhurst and Frank Thornton as Truly Truelove. The men older men of the village live a second childhood and get involved in weekly misadventures. These madcap and silly happenings are scornfully watched by and gossiped about by the ladies of a certain age of the village. The local ladies are equally long time characters. Kathy Staff played the battleaxe Nora Batty, Dame Thora Hird, Jane Alexander and June Whitfield all played parts for many years. "Last of the Summer Wine" was created and Written by Roy Clarke who created Britcoms like "Open All Hours" and "Keeping Up Appearances".
The sitcom on ABC "Modern Family" has gotten rave reviews and won many television awards but I don't see why. I to be honest had never seen the show until last night and I really only watched it because I knew someone who was on the show. I found the entire half an hour to be predictable, humorless and insulting. Cliche upon cliche made up the script and none of them were funny. Horny demanding housewives, mincing gay men and bumbling husbands populate the script. The kids are no better the dumb older daughter and her brainy sister are left to babysit their younger bother and two other family remembers, the geeky fat kid and irritating bratty girl. These are all people we have seen a million times unfortunately there have been much better written versions of these cliche characters.
The two gay male characters were the most offensive and cliche ridden of them all. They flit about flouncing from one gay cliche to another. These are roles that could be played by Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly if not Edward Everett Horton. I was rather shocked by the portrayal of these characters. This is not what I expected in 2013; after all the press the show has gotten I expected something remotely real life but was shone yet another hackneyed fag role.
Perhaps the episode I watched was an anomaly but I think not. I frankly didn't laugh once during the entire half and hour. The jokes could be seen coming and when they came they weren't funny but mildly amusing at best. I was very disappointed.
Set in San Francisco the 1966 sitcom "Love on a Rooftop" starred Pete Duel as Dave Willis and as his wife Julie Willis, Judy Carne. The series only lasted one season dispite of good ratings. The premise of the show was Dave an apprentice architect making $87.37 a week falls in love with art student Julie and they marry. Eccentric Judy Carne finds an apartment on the roof of an apartment building in Nob Hill. Well it isn't really an apartment; it is an unused storage unit. Think of it as a mash up of "Barefoot in the Park" and "Djarma and Greg". In this version Judy Carne's parents are the rich people and her father and husband of course but heads.
They of course have a pair of wacky best friends, Carol and Stan Parker played by Barbara Bostock and Rich Little. Stan is an oddball inventor of gadgets and Carol is naturally a housewife. Stan has a habit of walking in unannounced to Dave and Julie's apartment always to explain a new hair brained money making scheme.
"Love on a Rooftop" was mainly written by Bernard Slade a sitcom writer who went on to write such classics as "The Flying Nun", "Bridget Loves Bernie" and the "Partridge Family".
I was sent a link to a you-tube video this week and I am now obsessed with a new TV show. Mrs. Brown's Boys. Created by Irish writer and performer Brenden O'Carroll Mrs. Brown's Boys is a co-production between Ireland's RTE and BBC Scotland. Sitcoms on the BBC have more of an edge than most American sitcoms and Mrs. Brown's Boys has a sharper edge than most BBC sitcoms.
Mrs. Brown's Boys is adapted from a series of books written by Brenden O'Carroll the cast of the show is mainly made up of members of his family. Brenden O'Carroll himself plays the lead character Agnes Brown. Mrs. Brown is a tart nasty mouthed matriarch with 4 sons and a daughter living in Dublin. There is also Grandad Agnes' father-in-law her senile nemesis living in her home. Winnie McGoogan is Agnes's best friend and slow witted next door neighbor. Relationships with her children and Winnie are the basises of the plot. Agnes loves them but tortures them with her insanity. If you don't like bad language you won't care for Mrs. Brown. She is filthy mouthed but hysterically funny. Unfortunately Mrs. Brown's Boys isn't available in the US on anything other than DVD or short you-tube clips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U430rpfjIIQ&feature=BFa&list=SPB45CC9BA4B4A72BC
Click the link to see Mrs. Brown in action!
