The South Bank Show: Paul Merton

The South Bank Show: Paul Merton
Channel Four
26 September 1999
Documentary
DVD
B

This isn't quite a biography but it does feature different points of a life, from a boyhood as Paul Martin to success as a comedian in the '90s.  If you want to know about Paul's (by then defunct) marriage to Caroline Quentin, you're out of luck, as there's just one sentence in passing.  However, we do see footage of him as a scruffy, bearded teen living on the dole, as well as a star in hit television programmes.  My favorite part was the taping of a Comedy Store Players session and the analysis by the team in a pub afterwards.  And Paul's honesty, including about his stay in a psychiatric hospital, is refreshing.  Note that Julian Clary appears not only in television clips but in an interview, where he indeed comes across as a good friend to Paul.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.7

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.7
Channel Four
8 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

The other formerly missing episode features Eddie Izzard and never seems to get going.  This doesn't really affect the C+ the average for Series Seven though.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.4

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.4
Channel Four
18 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Ah, so I do have Caroline's Whose Line debut after all.  The best thing here is probably Helping Hands, where Richard seems unsure whether he's going to provide piano accompaniment to Ryan-Colin's lounge singer act, although it's also fun to see the Press Conference where Tony's head has been attached to a dog.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: 1995 Compilation

Caroline Quentin and Paul Merton

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: 1995 Compilation
Channel Four
26 December 1995*
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Like the rest of the episodes this year, this one stays at that not-bad level, with probably Questions Only the top game.  But with Northover as director and the cast definitely settled in, there just aren't any real highs or lows anymore.  By this point, I certainly wasn't eagerly awaiting new episodes, and my ex-husband stopped taping them, or much else, for me soon after this. The programme would go on, into the present, but in various forms.  I'd catch up with it again later in the decade, when it had changed continents and hosts, so the story doesn't quite end here, although it does for most of the contestants.  (I'm omitting Caroline from the overcrowded tags.)

*This is the date on Wikipedia, where it's the second of two compilations for the seventh series.  IMDB has them as airing in the first half of October, but I don't know that it matters all that much.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.10

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.10
Channel Four
29 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

This very obviously is not only the same line-up as on 7.8, with the contestants wearing the same outfits, but even Clive's introductions are exactly the same!  The best thing about the episode is Ryan's struggle through accents in FATS with Josie.  As for shipping, not only do they do "German Porn" there, but their credits-reading has them about to make out until they're caught on a security camera.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.9

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.9
Channel Four
22 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

The best game here, not necessarily the funniest but the one showing the most talent, is Josie and Caroline's love duet about a beached whale.  The two old friends are affectionate there and in their FATS.  (Quentin will still married to Paul Merton at this point by the way, but Paul was long gone from WLIIA and so they'd never work together on this programme.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.8
Channel Four
15 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

I don't think, at this point anyway, that adding props to World's Worst particularly helps.  And having Stephen Frost host Party Quirks may not be the best idea, when he's such a quick guesser.  (I mean, if Josie Finds Bald Heads Irresistible, shouldn't we see her flirt with Colin, too?)  Still, it's not a bad line-up and apparently had enough material to fill another episode (7.10).  Psychiatrist is probably the best of the lot here, if only to hear Richard and the contestants try to do Austrian and Greek music, and I like New Job Old Job, with Ryan & Josie checking into a hotel as a very unmarried couple and Stephen as a bellhop who used to work in airport security.  Note that I'm missing Episode 7.7, as far as I know, but my guess is that it (and 7.4) would've earned C+s, too.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.6

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.6
Channel Four
1 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

The undoubted highlight here is the Party Quirks, where Colin is all Seven Dwarves and Ryan is Animals Crossing a Road; even though I'm not big on physical humor, I could see why Mike (In Love with Cameras) keeps cracking up, and of course Tony is baffled most of the time.  Runner-up is Bar Scene, especially Tony referencing Mrs. Slocum's love for her "pussy" on Are You Being Served?

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.5

Charlie's Angels

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.5
Channel Four
25 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Unless it turns up on an unexpected tape, it looks like I'm missing Episode 7.4.  Other than the Clive & Greg teasing, my favorite part here is the premiere of Let's Make a Date, a variation on Party Quirks.  It's not hilarious and, as Clive notes, Greg fails to guess everyone (or to actually pick a bachelor), but it's interesting to see how it plays out.  Note that Richard Vranch appears at the end but the Comedy Central version my ex taped doesn't actually include any musical games.  Unless I've counted wrong, this is my 100th show from Channel Four.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.3 [fragment]

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.3 [fragment]
Channel Four
11 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Yes, this line-up again, but it's not bad.  My favorite game is Press Conference, which is similar to Party Quirks, except Tony has to guess why he's holding a presser, in this case because he's the First Man to Make Love in Outer Space.  (I'm not sure what I'm missing of the Comedy Central edit beyond the opening credits and introductions.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.2

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.2
Channel Four
4 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Other than the Clive & Greg bickering of course, my favorite thing here is probably Greg & Mike's sci-fi/horror Scene to Music.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.1

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.1
Channel Four
28 July 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

One-timer Niall Ashdown isn't bad on this series-opener, although some of the laughs come from Greg's reactions to Niall's Geordie (Newcastle) accent.  Questions Only might be the best game of the episode, but then it's generally better than most of the other games.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series Six Compilation

Working out the balance

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series Six Compilation
Channel Four
2 September 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

I feel like none of the games in this really get going, like Remote Control, where Josie's Coronation Street isn't bad but of course keeps getting interrupted.  (And poor Mike gets only one turn to do The Muppet Show.)  According to IMDB and Wikipedia, there was a Part Two for the Compilation, which aired either on 9 September or the following January.  In any case, I don't appear to own it, although of course it might pop up later as I continue through my videotapes.  This is as good a place as any to say that Series Six of WLIIA is a bit of a let-down, if not a shark-jump.  It ranges from C to B-, averaging out to a C+ like Series Five, but a low C+.  I do have at least some of Series Seven on tape, and I think it was again more of the same, but with new additions like Caroline Quentin.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.9

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.9

Channel Four

26 August 1994

Improv Game Show

VHS
B-

Well, this caught me by surprise.  It's the third rendition of this line-up (after two last year) but it feels fresher than either of its predecessors, or indeed much of Series Six.  I laughed out loud a few times, and not just at the interactions with Clive.  With Greg in Fixed Expressions instead of Steve Frost (no offense to him), the dynamic is just much better, and this is true of other games.  Even Sound Effects and Hoedown aren't bad, especially the latter, which is about sex, and goes from Greg teasing Tony's slutty image to Tony confirming the image by wanting to sit on Barbara Bush!  Also, Greg seems quite amused by Tony in World's Worst, where Tony even embarrasses himself, twice.  Old Job New Job is probably the best game with Ryan and Colin, as Colin and Greg are the bereaved and Ryan is the used car salesman turned mortician.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.8
Channel Four
19 August 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

There's no real stand-out game in this episode, but there is a lot of Tony and Greg teasing Clive, usually after he starts it.  And Tony & Greg tease the viewers by acting if they're going to kiss.  Chip is just as smirky as he was two years earlier.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.7

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.7
Channel Four
12 August 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Yeah, Bremner is back, after six years, and his impressions still don't impress me, although it's nice to see Tony react to Rory imitating him in Party Quirks.  Mostly of course I watch this for the interaction among Tony, Josie, and Mike, teasing and playing and flirting.  The highlight is of course Helping Hands, where Josie bites Tony's finger and he retaliates, by fondling her breast!  Mike's reaction is priceless.  And note that Tony references Nixon's death and tells Clive it'll still be topical when this airs.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.6

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.6
Channel Four
5 August 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

I watched this episode this morning and have already forgotten most of it.  I guess Moving People was the best game, although that's as much to the credit of the audience members as to Ryan and Colin.  The episode isn't bad but not particularly distinguishable.  I can only assume that the producers felt that this half-British/half-Canadian line-up was the best representative of Series Six.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.5

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.5
Channel Four
29 July 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

This is sort of a C+ and a half.  That is, it's mostly a C+, except for the last two games and the credit-reading, but compared to its peers, it's the best episode of the series so far and needs to be rewarded for that.  Frost is OK, but this episode is mostly about watching Tony, Josie, and Ryan interact, whether in the Bartender, where Ryan and Josie turn Ryan's love for his teddy bear really dirty, and Josie and Tony himself make fun of Tony's names, real and imaginary; and Party Quirks, where Josie is a penis, Ryan is a baby learning to walk, and Tony is utterly baffled and amused.  The third-best game is Helping Hands, with Josie and Ryan as two women in the ladies' room and Tony providing the hands for Josie, not for the last time.  Josie regrettably makes a Bobbitt joke, but it's Ryan's reactions to things like Josie pretending to mistake a tampon for a cigarette that make the game work.  And the credits are Ryan and Josie as a couple arguing over his little black book.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.4

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.4
Channel Four
22 July 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Not everything works here, but I like the line-up and the Bartender is great, from Ryan and Tony's problems (his wardrobe and being in love with an inflatable pig) to the reactions of the contestants and Clive.  Also, notice how the suggestion of "Richard Nixon back from the dead" (Nixon died the previous April) is incorporated by Greg into Superheroes, after he and Clive clash over two other suggestions.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.3

Tony tries in Party Quirks.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.3
Channel Four
15 July 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

I might've gone with a C+, but I'm already tired of this line-up, and the Vasectomy Hoedown and Ryan & Colin's funhouse mirrors credit-reading sealed the C.  And if they're already repeating themselves in Song Title ("Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" "Oklahoma"), then it's a sign that either the games and/or the contestants need to be varied more.  The highlight is of course Tony, after Clive tells him how terrible his Party Quirks hosting was, saying a [bleeped out by Comedy Central] F-word.