Are You Being Served – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

TV Draft Round 10 – Pick 6 – Paula Selects – Frasier

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Paula at http://paulalight.com

FRASIER

Frasier is a spin-off from Cheers, starring Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane, a psychiatrist who leaves Boston (where Cheers was set) to return to his hometown of Seattle as a radio show host. Costarring is David Hyde Pierce as Frasier’s brother Niles, also a psychiatrist, and it’s amazing how much the two actors resemble one another. They’re both drolly hilarious as well and play off each other superbly ~ though the writers didn’t originally intend for Niles to have such a large part, they reconsidered after discovering how much Niles added to the show. John Mahoney (RIP) plays their father, Martin, a retired cop, who frequently argues with his sons, and there are two funny women on the show in recurring roles ~ Peri Gilpin as Roz (Frasier’s producer) and Jane Leeves as Daphne (Martin’s caretaker/physical therapist). The show won 37 Primetime Emmy Awards, which was a record at the time. It also won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series for five consecutive years. Supposedly there is a “revival” coming at some point, starring the brothers. The original ran for 11 seasons, beginning in 1993 and ending in 2004.

If you recall, during Cheers Frasier was married to fellow psychiatrist Lilith (wonderfully played by Bebe Neuwirth), and they are divorced when Frasier begins, with Lilith having primary custody of their son Frederick. Immediately thwarting Frasier’s plans for a wild single life is his father, injured on duty, and requiring 24/7 assistance. Frasier brings Martin and his annoying dog Eddie to live with him, and they hire Daphne, a British caregiver. Niles makes frequent appearances, and one recurring motif is that his wife Maris is an impossible person, whom he constantly complains about, yet we never see her face (same as Norm’s wife on Cheers). Niles falls in love with Daphne, and eventually he leaves Maris and marries Daphne. Frasier and Niles are snobby intellectuals (though endearing in their inability to solve their own problems while helping others), and Martin is more of a “regular guy,” so that dichotomy generates clashes. Lilith makes several appearances on Frasier under various premises, from calling in to his radio show to sleeping with Niles due to despair that her next husband left her for a man.

One amusing piece of trivia is that Frasier had announced on Cheers that his father died. That had to be retconned into the Frasier universe by revealing that Frasier had lied about his father dying. The fab theme song “Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs” was composed by Bruce Miller and sung by Grammer. Though the show is very Seattle-centric, only one episode was actually filmed there; the rest were shot at Paramount Studios and around Los Angeles. (All info from Wikipedia.)

~*~

Paula Light is a poet, novelist, flash fiction fan, cupcake connoisseur, mom, grandma, cat mommy, etc. Her blog can be found at http://paulalight.com.

TV Draft Round 10 – Pick 1 – Max Selects – Are You Being Served?

A fun British sitcom that aired from 1972-to 1985. This comedy is not subtle…it’s obvious and in the open. The three UK sitcoms I’ve watched the most are Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, and Are You Being Served. My favorite by a mile is Fawlty Towers but this one is a lot of fun.

The show is about a department store called Grace Bros. owned by the elderly Grace brothers. It is operated with the old British class system. The show highlighted the Menswear and Womenswear departments and also the Floor Walker the pretentious Captain Peacock. It also featured the incompetent floor manager…Mr. Rumbold. As far as the class system…it’s hard to believe that once upon a time this was in effect.

The Women’s department was run by Miss Slocombe. A lady that is known for her hair color changing every day and the love of her pussy cat…they get a lot of mileage out of that. She tries to elevate herself over the working class but that is just what she is. Her assistant is the young very pretty Miss Brahms who talks with a cockney accent and is proud of being thought of as working class.

The head of the Men’s department is Mr. Granger who is older and near retirement and seems to be in a sour mood most of the time. Two more men work in the department… The junior in the department is Mr. Lucas who is always late and flirting with Miss Brahms, never has money, and always has to wait his turn before he can serve anyone and make money because the other two men have seniority, the other man is Mr. Humphries…probably the most popular character of the show. He hints at being gay every episode but never comes out and says it…this is really played up…remember it is the 70s. The writers go for the obvious jokes many times but it’s still funny.

The Grace brothers owned the store and “Young” Mr. Grace was in fact not young at all. He is quite stingy and he always had a very young attractive girl by his side. Overall though a nice older man.

The maintenance men Mr. Mash and Mr. Harmon were great. They would make the devices to advertise the merchandise. Sometimes the machine they made would blow up or show some naughty things to the customers. They were union and they thumbed their nose at higher-up staff.

Mix these personalities and you got a funny show. The purpose of the sitcom basically was to expose the class system and parody it.

The customers that shopped at Grace Bros department store usually left disappointed. The phrases I remember the most are “Are you free?” and while having a customer try on pants that obviously don’t fit…You would hear an employee say don’t worry” They’ll ride up with wear.”

Some of the cast left and past away during the run of the show. They were replaced with different characters and the show went on. When the show ended in 1985 a spin-off was made called Grace and Favour.

The core cast was strong, and the show was very good until the start of the 80s like most shows, they were reaching more for stories and repeating themselves. In 1979 when Trevor Bannister who played Mr. Lucas left it started to go down.

I wouldn’t compare this to Fawlty Towers because Fawlty Towers was better written… but this is a fun sitcom nonetheless. I remember watching it when I was young being broadcast on PBS. It is worth a watch if you like British humor.

The sitcom had 69 episodes and a movie in 1977… well, you can say 70 episodes because in 2016 a new episode was made with different actors playing the same characters but it fell flat.

The original show is still popular in syndication after all of these years.

The Cast

Mollie Sugden – Miss Slocombe

Frank Thornton – Mr. Peacock

John Inman – Mr. Humphries

Wendy Richard – Miss Brahms

Nicholas Smith – Mr. Rumbold

Trevor Bannister – Mr. Lucas

Arthur Brough – Mr. Grainger

Harold Bennett – Young Mr. Grace

Larry Martyn – Mr. Mash

Arthur English – Mr. Harmon

James Hayter – Mr. Tebbs

Alfie Bass – Mr. Goldberg

Mike Berry – Mr. Spooner

Kenneth Waller – Old Mr. Grace

Classic TV Episodes: Are You Being Served? – Camping In

I watched this show on PBS when I was young but I started to watch it again during the 2000s and I haven’t stopped. I always loved this British sitcom. It wasn’t as clever as Fawlty Towers but not much is equal to that show. This show featured a very snobby class system with some silly gags but with no apologies. You could count on Mrs Slocombe’s “cat” being mentioned and would always hear…”Don’t worry…They’ll ride up with wear.” and Mr. Humphries declaring “I’m Free.” This show is the closest thing you will get to a time machine straight to the seventies.

Captain Stephen Peacock: Oh, yes, it brought back memories of the army. The lads, the heat, the sunset and the endless shifting sands.

Mr. Lucas: How long were you at Bognor Regis, Captain Peacock?

Captain Stephen Peacock: Mr. Lucas, when you were at school, I was with some of the toughest soldiers in the world, chasing Rommel through the desert.

Mr. Humphries: Some people have all the luck.

Are You Being Served: Camping In

The Characters: Mr. Lucas, Mrs. Slocombe, Captain Peacock, Mr. Humphries, Miss Brahms, Mr. Grainger, Mr. Rumbold, Mr. Mash, The Scottish Customer, The 38C Cup, The Large Brim with Fruit, The Secretary, The Man with the Large Bra, and The Leatherette Gloves

Due to a transport strike, the staff is forced to stay in the store overnight. Mr. Rumbold makes them sleep in tents—much to their displeasure. What at first seems to be a nightmare soon proves to be a chance for everyone to share in each other’s companionship.

Are You Being Served?

A fun British sitcom that aired from 1972-1985. This comedy is not subtle…it’s obvious and in the open.

The show is about a department store called Grace Bros. owned by the elderly Grace brothers. It is operated with the British class system. The show highlighted the Menswear and Womenswear departments and also the Floor Walker the pretentious Captain Peacock. It also featured the incompetent floor manager…Mr. Rumbold.

The Women’s department was run by Miss Slocombe. A lady that is known for her hair color changing every day and the love of her pussy cat…they get a lot of mileage out of that. She tries to elevate herself over the working class but that is just what she is…Her assistant is the young very pretty Miss Brahms who talks with a cockney accent and is proud of being thought of as working class.

The head of the Men’s department is Mr. Granger who is older and near retirement and seems to be in a sour mood most of the time. Two more men work in the department… The junior in the department is Mr. Lucas who is always late and flirting with Miss Brahms, never has money and always has to wait his turn before he can serve anyone and make money because the other two men have seniority, The other man is Mr. Humphries…probably the most popular character of the show. He hints at being gay every episode but never comes out and says it…this is really played up…remember it is the 70s. The writers go for the obvious jokes many times but it’s still funny.

The Grace brothers owned the store and “Young” Mr. Grace was in fact not young at all. He was stingy and he always had a very young attractive girl by his side.

The maintenance guy Mr. Mash and Mr. Harmon were great. They would make the devices to advertise the merchandise. Sometimes the machine they made would blow up or show some naughty things to the customers. They were union and they thumbed their nose at the everyone.

Mix these personalities and you got a funny show. The purpose of the sitcom basically was to expose the class system and to parody it.

The customers that shopped at Grace Bros department store usually left disappointed. The phrases I remember the most are “Are you free?” and while having a customer try on pants that obviously doesn’t fit…You would hear an employee say don’t worry ”They’ll ride up with wear.”

The core cast was strong and the show was very good until the start of the 80’s and like most shows, they were reaching more for stories and repeating themselves. In 1979 when Trevor Bannister who played Mr. Lucas left it started to go down.

The sitcom had 69 episodes and a movie in 1977… well, you can say 70 episodes because in 2016 a new episode was made with different actors playing the same characters.

I wouldn’t compare this to Fawlty Towers because Fawlty Towers was better written… but this is a fun sitcom nonetheless. I remember it when I was young being broadcast on PBS. It is worth a watch if you like British humor.

The cast was

Mollie Sugden – Miss Slocombe

Frank Thornton – Mr. Peacock

John Inman – Mr. Humphries

Wendy Richard – Miss Brahms

Nicholas Smith – Mr. Rumbold

Trevor Bannister – Mr. Lucas

Arthur Brough – Mr. Grainger

Harold Bennett – Young Mr. Grace

Larry Martyn – Mr. Mash

Arthur English – Mr. Harmon

James Hayter – Mr. Tebbs

Alfie Bass – Mr. Goldberg

Mike Berry – Mr. Spooner

Kenneth Waller – Old Mr. Grace