Two's Company

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Mister Matt
#1Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:04pm

Ok, so I know I'm late to the party, but I just watched the first two series of the British sitcom Two's Company with Elaine Stritch and Donald Sinden and I am obsessed. Though you can tell it was during Stritch's particularly boozy period, it sort of adds to the intrigue of waiting to see what she'll do next. The final Christmas episode of series 2 had me in tears and I had to watch Stritch deliver one particular line about six times in a row. It's a very different style than other British sitcoms of the 70s, but I definitely rank it as one of my favorites and one I'll watch again and again. I can't wait to see series 3 & 4. I don't know how I'd missed this before.


"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

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Reginald Tresilian
#2re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:10pm

I love it, too. Their rapport is wonderful.

And I never tire of hearing her bray her way through the theme song: "I wish I'd have picked a large boa constrictor, my friend!"

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Mister Matt
#2re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:14pm

Au contraire!


"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

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Reginald Tresilian
#3re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:15pm

You're the perverse one.

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Scripps2
#4re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:20pm

This used to get screened at about 10:00pm on a Sunday evening and I used to have to beg my parents to let me stay up and watch it.

When this finished she did another sitcom on UK television that was very typical of the period and set in British middle-class suburbia. It didn't last long and its name escapes me but the interesting thing is that Richard Griffiths played her husband. A most unlikely couple.

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doodlenyc
#5re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:31pm

I loved it too...I remember it on PBS in the mid 80s.


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Mister Matt
#6re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 3:34pm

Reg - That made me laugh more than it should have.


"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

Gothampc
#7re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 6:06pm

PBS in New York City showed this a few years ago. It seems like every episode Stritch brays "Robert!!!". But it was a good pairing: brash American woman, reserved British man. It's almost like they took the personalities of Edward & Wallis and created a scenario for them.


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Scripps2
#8re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 6:31pm

^^^^
LOL!

And since the new Upstairs Downstairs is to start in 1936 expect them to make an appearance in that too.

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nmartin
#9re: Two's Company
Posted: 10/14/09 at 6:35pm

"It's almost like they took the personalities of Edward & Wallis and created a scenario for them."

Now, that's good.

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Jay Lerner-Z
#10re: Two's Company
Posted: 9/13/14 at 4:37pm

I only began watching this great show after Elaine Stritch's death, and now Donald Sinden has died too, which I thought was worth a bump. Another great performer gone.
Donald Sinden obituary (The Guardian)


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HorseTears
#11re: Two's Company
Posted: 9/13/14 at 4:57pm

Maybe it's a generational thing. I remember watching a couple of episodes at my Uncle's insistence a few years ago and not connecting with the thing at all - despite loving a lot of Britcoms and, of course, adoring Stritch. I remember thinking the whole thing made Are You Being Served seem sophisticated. Perhaps I'll give it another shot, though.

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PalJoey
#12re: Two's Company
Posted: 9/13/14 at 10:45pm

It's very jokey, but they're just so good.