Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.13

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.13
ABC
November 18, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Josie makes her second of two appearances on the American version of the television show that she helped launch eleven years before and ends up getting censored for something about "dead cats" (edited out) and "eating pussy" (definitely edited out).  She does a nice job dueting with Wayne, although it's not as magical as some of her duets with Mike McShane.

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.

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Lunch in the Park

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Lunch in the Park
ITV
21 October 1997
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B

This has a slow start but stay with it, as the two-person show gradually moves from small talk to shared confidences to confessions of love to...treason?  Paul and Josie again work very well together and it's a pity they didn't appear more regularly as a team on television.  (Even on Whose Line is It Anyway? it was never more than a couple times a year.)

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Sealed with a Loving Kiss

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Sealed with a Loving Kiss
ITV
16 February 1996
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B

The concept behind this programme was that Paul would act in updated G & S scripts that had been performed more than 30 years earlier.  As I haven't seen the earlier versions, I won't compare them.  On its own terms, this is solid, not only giving Paul/Josie shippers much fodder but being an interesting character study.  The humour is gentle and, yes, a bit old-fashioned.  Note that both characters lie and their lies are never revealed, but at some point she'll presumably see photos of his father and the truth will come out.  And, amusingly (in light of Caroline Quentin's Room 101 items), Paul's character refers to a Teasmade.

This is sort of the 200th British show I've reviewed, although I guess I should've counted the music videos of Paul McCartney, the Spice Girls, etc. as well, but not all of those were shot in Britain, despite the national origins of the performers.  It gets a bit murky sometimes with the tags.

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?: 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 6.7

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 6.5

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 6.2

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.2
Channel Four
8 July 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

While this isn't as memorable, Kitty Litter Duet aside, as the '93 version of this line-up, it is still nice to see the chemistry, platonic and not, still strong among this foursome.  (And Greg and Clive still bickering of course.)  If I had to pick a favorite game, it would be Funeral, dirge and all.  Note that I believe that, while this aired in July in the UK (and later that summer on Comedy Central), it was probably taped before O.J. Simpson's Bronco chase on June 17th, since there's little crowd reaction to the passing reference to Simpson in Greg & Mike's FATS.

This is the 2400th TV show I've reviewed.  Yes, we will hit 2500.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 5 Compilation

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 5 Compilation
Channel Four
30 April 1993
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

My favorite games here are Tony & Mike's Alphabet and Ryan & Josie's Film Dubbing, but there are some other nice moments.  Pity they couldn't find a scene from Paul Merton.

Over half of Series Five of Whose Line Is It Anyway? gets a C+, and the C and B-s don't have much effect on the average.  The show is still watchable and there aren't some of the painful lows of even '92, but there aren't really any amazing highs.  I don't know if this is due to the new director, or if the show was just on an even keel.  I recall Series Six as more of the same, but we'll see....