Tony! Toni! Tone!: If I Had No Loot

Tony! Toni! Tone!: If I Had No Loot
Probably MTV
Song released June 1, 1993
Music Video
VHS
B

One of the catchiest trash-talking songs ever, the lyrics and captioned visuals tell the story of how so called friends want to cash in on the success of "the Tonys."  It's also a song that refers to its genre in the lyrics, in this case new jack swing.

Jeeves and Wooster: Bridegroom Wanted!

Jeeves and Wooster: Bridegroom Wanted!
ITV
30 May 1993
Historical Comedy
DVD
B-

For the most part, this is a definite improvement over the previous episode, although it does have a cop-out ending.  Not that it's not sort of amusing to see Jeeves and Wooster after eight months lost at sea in a lifeboat (Bertie was in charge of the compass), but it seems like Jeeves should've been clever enough to find a solution when several angry people confront Bertie on a ship bound for London.  This episode combines two London-set plots and plops them into the Big Apple without too much damage.  Bingo #2 (Pip Torrens) falls in love again, but this time he gets married, unfortunately to the author that Bertie has been masquerading as for about a year, according to Lord Bittlesham (more like two years onscreen).  Meanwhile, Honoria Glossop has a romance with a doctor who works for her father (the young doctor is a novelist in the original), and her father is in love with his nurse.  Bertie hires a brassy actress to pretend to be his fiancee, but of course things go seriously awry.

Philip Locke takes over as a much friendlier-to-Bertie Sir Roderick Glossop.  (And in this version of things, Lady Glossop has run off with another man, rather than died, as I think she did in print, unless I'm misremembering.)  It's nice to see Geoffrey Toone is back as Lord Bittlesham, and for that matter Liz Kettle as Honoria Glossop, among the few who have not been recast over the years.  With the New York adventures at an end, Joseph Mydell makes his last appearance as Coneybear.  And Peter Carlisle returns as the Bookseller.

Jeeves and Wooster: The Once and Future Ex

Jeeves and Wooster: The Once and Future Ex
ITV
23 May 1993
Historical Comedy
DVD
C-

And this is probably the worst episode of Series Four, if not the entire programme.  Lazy, sloppy, and boring, it contains one of the worst performances of J & W: Nigel Whitmey's as the recast Georgie Caffyn.  He appeared on one episode of Josie and would soon be on Paul Merton: The Series, but presumably on neither sketch show was he allowed to suck the energy off the screen like he does here.  It doesn't help that he's involved in the less interesting plot, where two old guys try to meet in secret to close a business deal, while George wants Bertie's help in getting together with the richer old guy's niece, for which George promises to reveal a secret way to break an engagement, and then it turns out that was a bluff.  And sub-Janos-Prohaska gorilla costumes are involved (for both a fake and a supposedly real gorilla).

Francesca Folan, who was the first Madeline Basset, here becomes the second Florence Craye, and this time Bertie's engagement to her is not at all intentional on his part.  She is better cast here, more brisk and much less bitchy than Fiona Gillies (who did, however, have fabulously permed hair).  Nicholas Palliser does fine in his role of uppercrust policeman Stilton Cheesewright, and we'd see more of them and their fractured romance.

As for the laziness and sloppiness, one example is that we see a newspaper dated August 23, 1931, which would be cool, except that it's in a scene set a few days before a Fourth of July costume party.  And we catch glimpses of Georgie's show, but none of the fun production numbers like for Ask Dad!,  instead a listless dance number rehearsed enough times that the chorus girls look as sick of it as we are.  Worst of all though is that, on top of no real pay-off to the deal with George, there's no pay-off to Jeeves secretly attending the costume party and shaping events; there's a close-up of his mask but no indication that Bertie has a clue about it.

Joseph Mydell is back as Coneybear, given a little more to do here, although still less than his predecessor.  In contrast, Sam Douglas returns as Corrigan the cop and is given a lot more to do.  Domini Winter is again a Choreographer, while Kim Barrand, Di Cooke, and Nola Haynes are Chorus Girls like last year.  And Peter Carlisle would return as the Bookseller.

Roseanne: Daughters and Other Strangers

Roseanne: Daughters and Other Strangers
ABC
May 18, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Eric Gilliland wrote this season closer, where Roseanne thinks Darlene is going to run off to Chicago, until her daughter takes $300 out of her account to spend it on a CD player for David.   Darlene now has a job at Buy & Bag, yes, like Becky.  Roseanne doesn't want Darlene to waste her life in Lanford, and she mentions wanting to write children's books.  Dan points out she never did anything with the writing room he built for her in the basement (now David's room).  Roseanne and Dan agree that Darlene should go to Chicago, but she doesn't want to.  Roseanne thinks it's because of David, who admits he told Darlene he'd break up with her if she did.  It turns out that Darlene is afraid of failure, but Roseanne encourages her to try.  We don't see Darlene's talk with David, but I imagine it was difficult.  There are funny moments mixed in with the drama of course, like "BitchFest '93" and the chicken shirt that gets passed around to every family member.  In the tag we find out that DJ touched a girl's "boob" and she's now his girlfriend.  And, yes, that's twelve-year-old Joseph Gordon-Levitt making his debut as DJ's boring new "friend" George, three years before Third Rock from the Sun.

Roseanne in its middle season ranges from C+ to A- (and three of those), averaging out to an amazing B.  The writing, direction, and of course cast, including regulars, semi-regulars, and guests (with the exception of Joan Collins), are at their peak.  Even the addition of the Tildens doesn't do serious damage to the show, and at least it does nudge Darlene to acknowledge her feelings for David.  As far as that peak goes, I said earlier that I recall the Roseanne seasons as having a triangle for quality, so Season Six will probably be a decline, although not a dramatic one and maybe only to the level of Season Four.  We're still a long way off from the batshittery of Season Nine, and for now this remains a very real, if sometimes silly, series.

Jeeves and Wooster: Return to New York

Jeeves and Wooster: Return to New York
ITV
16 May 1993
Historical Comedy
DVD
B+

This is probably the best episode of the final series, and indeed one of the very best of the programme as a whole.  It's well cast, directed, and costumed, and there are some lovely musical moments.  These range from a quartet singing a song about soup to a torch singer doing solos and, towards the end, a duet with Bertie, as Jeeves for once contributes unreluctantly.  This episode smoothly combines three short stories, one of them with Tuppy replacing one-timer Freddie.  In a bit of continuity, Aunt Agatha (now played by the grand Elizabeth Spriggs) still co-owns the Gregson-Prysock Gallery in New York, so Bertie hopes she'll take to his latest crush, an artist named Gwladys.  Meanwhile, Agatha wants him to see that his troublesome twin cousins get on the boat to South Africa.  Too many great moments to name them all, so I'll just quote this line, re the thread that only exists onscreen, not in print, about Tuppy trying to sell his nanny's cock-a-leekie recipe, "But does the populace at large want to be transported back to your childhood, Tuppy?"

Joseph Mydell plays the recast Coneybear, the elevator man, and would return twice more.

Roseanne: Tooth Or Consequences

Roseanne: Tooth Or Consequences
ABC
May 11, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B

The title comes from Dan accidentally hitting Roseanne in the face with the freezer door and knocking out her tooth.  Meanwhile, Leon appears, as a health inspector, luckily not his last return.  And, after successfully having sex, David and Darlene open their letters from art schools in New York and Chicago.  Seemingly both schools reject them but we later find out that Darlene got accepted in Chicago.  With Jackie's help, she needs to tell Roseanne, but it's even harder telling David.  The episode ends with Dan getting a well-paid if kind of boring job as supervisor, and D & D left in the air.

Seventy-seven-year-old Phil Leeds, who has TV credits dating back to the '50s, was Lyle Wormold on Three's Company and has his first of three Roseanne roles, as Leon's surprise boyfriend Jeffrey.

Roseanne: Glengarry, Glen Rosey

Roseanne: Glengarry, Glen Rosey
ABC
May 4, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B

A Dukane & Moss story was turned into a teleplay by Lois Bromfield (her first of five, although she had acted on the show earlier) and Scott Burton (who has no other credits).  Roger continues to exercise his charm, but we learn about his sleaziness when he, in order, hits on Jackie, insults Dan when Dan has doubts about the house-renovation business, borrows money from Nancy (who hopes to have him get her pregnant), and skips town.  Jackie comes to the rescue at least as far as Dan's investment is concerned, by buying the little house that Dan and Chuck worked on.

Director Philip Charles MacKenzie would do twenty-one more Roseanne episodes, but we had seen him as an actor on Three's Company in 1980 and Bosom Buddies in '81.  House Buyer Christopher Darga would be an Officer on Ellen.  And, yes, that's Chris Farley in an uncredited role as the Man in Clothing Store.

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....