Man About the House: Carry Me Back to Old Southampton

Man About the House: Carry Me Back to Old Southampton
ITV
13 February 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

Robin fails his cooking exams and considers moving back to Southampton to work in his father's tube-extrusion factory, preferably as an executive.  He and the girls will miss each other, but Larry (Doug Fisher making a welcome return) sees this as an opportunity to move in.  Robin's father (Leslie Sands, who would be back for the final episode) shows up in person to talk Robin out of the move, and to offer to pay for another year of cookery school.  Unfortunately, Robin is unable to stop Larry from telling off his landlord, Mr. Gideon.  (John Carlin, who plays Mr. Gideon, would return as the queeny Barman of the Mucky Duck in future series of this show.)  I have mixed feelings about Chrissy's mixed feelings about Robin (they certainly add to the "no means maybe" myth), but otherwise this is a solid episode, focusing on the various relationships, including between Robin and Mr. Roper.  As for Series Two, it sits right on the B-/B border and it was worth revisiting, even if it did mean going back over a dozen years from where this blog is supposed to currently be.

Man About the House: Two Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Man About the House: Two Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
ITV
6 February 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Robin and Chrissy fill in for Jo as babysitters.  I'd have gone with a B, as I did with the American version (Jack and Chrissy filling in), but it's gratuitously racist (Robin against the Chinese), and so soon after Mr. Roper was criticised for mocking the Germans.

Man About the House: Did You Ever Meet Rommel?

Man About the House: Did You Ever Meet Rommel?
ITV
30 January 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Chrissy invites the Ropers over to celebrate their wedding anniversary, the same night that Robin invites over his German friend.  Unfortunately, Mr. Roper hates Germans.

Man About the House: In Praise of Older Men

The American Mrs. Roper was never this trendy.

Man About the House: In Praise of Older Men
ITV
23 January 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

This became the equally good early Three's Company episode "Chrissy's Date."  There, Chrissy dates Bewitched's Darrin #2, while here Chrissy dates her future husband, that is, Norman Eshley, who would return (clean-shaven) as Robin's brother Norman.  In each, Chrissy is dating an older man, whom Mrs. Roper says is married.

Michael Segal is back as Jim.

Man About the House: Colour Me Yellow

Man About the House: Colour Me Yellow
ITV
16 January 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B-

I think this is better than its remake, the Three's Company episode "Jack the Giant Killer," which I gave a C+.  The writing, including lines omitted in the Americanization, like the High Noon references, is a little sharper.  I believe the title is a pun, as the episode is about redecorating as well as cowardice.  Michael Segal returns as Jim the Landlord (pub-owner).

Man About the House: While the Cat's Away

Man About the House: While the Cat's Away
ITV
9 January 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

Well, look what turned up when I unpacked from my move!  Series Two, plus another British programme I'll discuss when we get there.  This episode is mainly notable for, one, inspiring the Christmas episode of Three's Company, two, presenting relatively sympathetic gay characters, and three, featuring Robin and Chrissy kissing and perhaps doing more offscreen.  This last is partly due to her new boyfriend Mark (shown in the checked vest) and Robin's returning girlfriend Liz (Jenny Hanley again) hitting it off at the party.

Colin McCormack has his middle of three MAtH roles here, as Henry.  This is the first time that Michael Segal is credited as Jim rather than just "Landlord."

Man About the House: Another Bride, Another Groom

Man About the House: Another Bride, Another Groom
ITV
7 April 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B

Chrissy marries Norman (Norman Eshley), and yet shares a big kiss with Robin at the end.  Five years after analyzing the show, I'm still not sure how to take this ending.  And I watched Robin's Nest but found O'Sullivan to have little chemistry with the actress who played his girlfriend and then wife.  (I am one of the few people who liked Vicky on Three's a Crowd, so it's not just a matter of having a ship sunk.)

Chrissy's parents (Glynn Edwards and Daphne Oxenford) and Norman's (Leslie Sands and Hilda Kriseman, previously a Shop Assistant) all appear.  This last series averages a B-, as did the show overall.  A generally entertaining programme.

Man About the House: Fire Down Below

Man About the House: Fire Down Below
ITV
31 March 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B

The previous episode was set in the winter, and Chrissy has now been dating Norman (Norman Eshley) for a couple months.  We get a montage of their sight-seeing and then, as Mr. Roper is trying to clear out the soot in the fireplace down below, Norman proposes to Chrissy.  Meanwhile, Robin, ironically with the help of two girls that Larry was hoping would be double-date crumpet for him and Robin, realizes he loves Chrissy.  But it's too late.  The scene with Robin and Chrissy near the end is poignant yet still funny.

Man About the House: Mum Always Liked You Best

Man About the House: Mum Always Liked You Best
ITV
24 March 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Robin's brother Norman (Norman Eshley, who was Chrissy's older man on an episode from the series I've misplaced) visits and sweeps Chrissy off her feet.  Jo, who is very perceptive in her own way, notices that Robin is jealous.  Unlike previous episodes, there would be consequences for the remainder of the show, and into the spin-offs.

Man About the House: The Sunshine Boys

Man About the House: The Sunshine Boys
ITV
17 March 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

George sells Mildred's sun lamp to Larry for five quid, and then Larry sells it to Robin for ten.  Mildred thinks it's been stolen when George says he doesn't know what happened to it.  Includes all three roommates in their swimsuits.

Man About the House: The Generation Game

The Generation Game

Man About the House: The Generation Game
ITV
10 March 1976
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Mildred wants to go to a dance but George locks himself in the bathroom to avoid it.  So the girls guilt Robin into taking her.  Doorman Mike Savage previously played a Dustman.

Man About the House: One More for the Pot

Weird to see Jo smoking.

Man About the House: One More for the Pot
ITV
3 March 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Mr. Roper threatens to raise the rent, so the trio consider getting a fourth roommate.  The girls choose a friend of a friend, while Robin picks his girlfriend Linda (Alison Hughes in her last of three appearances, the second as Linda), whom Chrissy and Jo act as if they've never met before.  The Rock Hudson reference is as ironic as the ones on Gilligan's Island a decade earlier.

John Carlin makes his last appearance as the Barman.

Man About the House: The Party's Over

Robin looks a lot less scruffy compared to series one.

Man About the House: The Party's Over
ITV
25 February 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The sixth and last series of MAtH kicks off with a Jo-less episode, where her roommates and Larry try to throw a party and Roper tries to stop them.  Mildred is so angry that she leaves George, who soon goes to pieces, as does their flat. The implied adultery is surprising, although Mildred's even angrier reaction is not.

John Carlin again plays the Barman.

Man About the House: Come Fly with Me

Man About the House: Come Fly with Me
ITV
9 October 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Chrissy's boss gives her two Sinatra tickets, at the same time that George buys a female budgie for his wedding anniversary.  Chrissy gives Jo a ticket very soon but strings along Robin for much of the episode.  It turns out no one gets to see Sinatra, and the girl that Robin was hoping to ask is interested in Chrissy.

Half the episodes of Series Five get a B-, the other half B.  It'll be interesting to see how the sixth and final season, starting in February, does.

Man About the House: How Does Your Garden Grow

Man About the House: How Does Your Garden Grow
ITV
2 October 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B

Funny episode with drug humor, later combined with the "home-brew" episode to form a Three's Company episode.  I like how the viewer as well as the roommates can't tell how much Jo is being deliberately daft.

Dustman Mike Savage would later be a Doorman, while this is Police Sergeant Ken Watson's third and last appearance on the show.

Man About the House: Love and Let Love

Man About the House: Love and Let Love
ITV
25 September 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B


The roommates try to come to sort of agreement about who can have the apartment each evening (till about midnight it seems), but it doesn't work out too well.  Meanwhile, George feels pressure from Mildred to "put up a shelf."  The episode is a bit tasteless but funny, like about Robin and Chrissy's "brother Joe," and the last scene with the Ropers has moments of sweetness.

Man About the House: A Little Knowledge

Man About the House: A Little Knowledge
ITV
18 September 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is another episode where I think the Americans did it better, having the male roommate consider getting a different job before agreeing to sell encyclopedias.  The comedic timing feels a bit off on the original.  And I can't help preferring John Fiedler as Morris Morris, although the "godless society" line from the Brit is good and of course wouldn't have made it across the Atlantic.

Man About the House: Right Said George

Man About the House: Right Said George
ITV
11 September 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is another episode that's funnier than I remember, although not exactly classic.  Robin, after making Chrissy give him piano lessons, turns out to know how to play perfectly well (on the piano I mean).  George, who needs a quick twenty quid, sells him the Ropers' piano.  The problem is how to get it upstairs.  His best friend Jerry (Roy Kinnear) of course has a terrible idea how.

Man About the House: The Last Picture Show

Man About the House: The Last Picture Show
ITV
4 September 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is one of the more risque episodes, and not just with individual lines, as George is trying to hide dirty magazines from Mildred (and we get a glimpse of a very suggestive centerfold), while Larry buys what he thinks is a "blue movie."  It turns out to be a Mr. Magoo cartoon, which is why I've tagged Jim Backus.  I think this is an episode that adapted very well for Three's Company, but I do like having the additional scene at the film museum.  Note that Chrissy's home movie is in black & white, several years after Greg Brady was using color for his school project, but the Bradys had much more money than Chrissy and friends.

Man About the House: My Son, My Son

Man About the House: My Son, My Son
ITV
10 April 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode is funnier than I remembered, especially the bit where three people claim to be the Roper's nonexistent 19-year-old child Leslie. Also, Mrs. Roper wears a hat that leads to some funny lines.  And John Carlin as the Barman has a good bit where he reacts to what he thinks is Chrissy and Jo talking about the latter possibly having a child with George.  All pretty implausible but fun in a farcical way.

The fourth series averages out to the border of B- and B.  Two-thirds into the show's run, things seem to have settled into place and the characters play well off of each other.  Not everything works, but enough does.  The fifth series would come along less than five months later.