Three Men And A Mangle.

[Pearl]

On the question of the size of later casts, I think there is some exagerration going on here, at least for the "middle years" (i.e. Seymour and the 2nd Foggy period). The only character I felt was sometimes being forced into episodes was Eli, as he would show up for a short scene every episode for awhile. Beyond that, a number of the supporting characters might only show up for one or two scenes (the ladies coffee morning is in many cases the only time you see them, for example), so its not like the episodes were generally dominated by the secondary characters. There were also episodes where at least some of the secondary characters weren't shown at all.

I generally find the size of the later casts feels natural, and in some ways reflects the audiences interest in the bigger "world" the characters live in, which was not just limited to what the core trio were doing. In one of the books on the show I've read they refer to this idea as "Summerwineland," which reflects that although the show took place in a real location, the people making it realized it was not the real world that they were presenting in the episodes. These 70 and 80 year olds were doing things that were not likely, technology was slow to show up, etc.

That's a good point about technology, in Spring Smiler Smiler asked if he could just ring Nora and Foggy telling she's not on the phone, in 1993 its hard to believe someone was not on the phone. ( I'm sure I'm about to be shot down now but generally speaking most people had a phone line by then)

 

[Nicko12345]

On the question of the size of later casts, I think there is some exagerration going on here, at least for the "middle years" (i.e. Seymour and the 2nd Foggy period). The only character I felt was sometimes being forced into episodes was Eli, as he would show up for a short scene every episode for awhile. Beyond that, a number of the supporting characters might only show up for one or two scenes (the ladies coffee morning is in many cases the only time you see them, for example), so its not like the episodes were generally dominated by the secondary characters. There were also episodes where at least some of the secondary characters weren't shown at all.

I would certainly say that the situation got worse after Foggy had left and Truly had joined...

And although Eli was shoehorned in, that doesn`t bother me so much simply because they didn`t have to really take any time introducing him in each episode. He came on, did a bit of tomfoolery and left again...

In comparison, I recently watched The Lair of the Cat Creature in which Marina is similarly seen for a very short time in a visual joke. Now in this episode they spend several minutes with Howard setting it up before showing Marina in a comedy costume (which could have been a lot funnier). A lot of time has been taken up and with very little reward imo.

In the following episode, Ancient Eastern Wisdom - An Introduction we see a much more worthwhile use of Howard, Pearl and Marina as characters imo.

 

[barmpot]

That's a good point about technology, in Spring Smiler Smiler asked if he could just ring Nora and Foggy telling she's not on the phone, in 1993 its hard to believe someone was not on the phone. ( I'm sure I'm about to be shot down now but generally speaking most people had a phone line by then)

Not disagreeing but I did know a few not on the 'phone until later on. Certainly when it started not every one had a line, and still used the old red telephone boxes. However you did say most but since when did Norah go with the flow? :biggrin: :biggrin: