There once was a great series called Man About the House. It
was about a man named Robin who lived with two women Chrissy and Jo (some guys
have all the luck). In the house they lived were George and Mildred Roper. They
were Robin’s, Chrissy’s and Jo’s landlords. When Man About the House came to an
end, two series spun off from this show. One was Robin’s Nest and the other was
about George and Mildred called, well, George & Mildred in 1976! Does this
story sound slightly familiar? Do some of these names ring a bell? Well, Man
About the House was remade over in the states as Three’s Company in 1977. When
that series ended, Jack Tripper went on to star in Three’s a Crowd which lasted
for 1 season in 1984. But back when Three’s Company was finishing up season 3
in 1979, Helen and Stanley Roper were given their own series called, The
Ropers. This only lasted for one season while George & Mildred lasted for
five but if you look at the episode count, The Ropers had 26 and the George
& Mildred had 38. That’s something that took me a long time to get used to
when I got into British television. A season (or series) in the UK had a run of
between 6 and 12 episodes per season while in the US was on average 26. The funny thing now is that most cable
stations who make their own first run programs will run episodes at intervals
of 8 – 13 episodes which is very similar to the UK model.
Just like Man About the House, this series is just fun. The
word play between the characters is inventive and smart. Mildred is just like
her US counterpart Helen, sex starved, wants constant attention and domineering.
George is pretty close to Stanley. He’s a homebody who has no interest in
anything Mildred has an interest in. Even though I make a sort of comparison
between the Ropers of Three’s Company and the Ropers of George & Mildred,
there really is no comparison. In my mind, they are both great. The actors from
each series brings something unique to the part. For example, one of my
all-time favourite character reactions in a TV series is whenever Stanley gets
a zinger in on someone; he always turns to the camera and has this fantastic
smile and holds it for a few seconds. I love, love it, love it! This week I look at 2 episodes from George
& Mildred and in keeping with the holiday spirits, one of them is Christmas
themed. Can you guess which one, I think you will be pleasantly surprised when
you find out…..or not.
The Mating Game TX 27.01.81

It’s funny how the concept of two dogs mating is so
difficult for the characters to articulate. While Truffles and Pomeroy are
getting it on in the back garden, George and Humphrey are nervously making
small talk to pass the time and allow the dogs to have their privacy. This also
makes way for good comedy as it leads to misunderstandings. While at the vet,
the vet asks George how old the puppy is but he asks it as, “How old is she?”
Of course, George looks at Mildred and says, “Oh I don’t know, she’s getting on
a bit” turns to Mildred, “How old are you?” The vet needs to make a house call
to the Ropers and I see he is wearing a tweed jacket, yellow vest and a hat
just like Siegfried Farnon. Is this what vets would traditionally wear in the UK?
I ask because I really don’t know! I find it very interesting.
The other characters of this series are the Ropers’s next
door neighbours. They are the Fourmiles. There is Jeffrey, Ann and their son
Tristram plus a little infant. Generally, Jeffrey is constantly irritated by
George for all the stupid things he does and always borrows Jeffrey’s things.
This episode the Fourmiles don’t appear too much but their storyline revolves
around smoking. Tristram is found smoking in the shed basically because he sees
is father doing it. So, Jeffrey decides that he will quit. Of course, I need to
mention the obligatory Doctor Who reference. After Tristram was caught, Jeffrey
punishes Tristram with no TV for five days. Tristram then says, “Five days,
then I can’t watch Doctor Who. You and I always watch Doctor Who together.”
Then Tristram goes on to say that they are right in the middle of a story where
Doctor Who is fighting some kind of monster. Jeffery pauses, realizes that if
Tristram misses it, he will miss it to and says, “ Alright, no TV for four
days!.” This was actually made in 1978, can you imagine being a kid and Tom
Baker as Doctor Who! How cool! So, obviously The Mating Game is not the
yuletide episode which means it must be…
On the Second Day of Christmas 27.12.78


So does George owe Jeffrey money by the end of the episode?
Once Jeffrey told Ann how much George owes him, Ann tells him he has to let
George win or they will never be left alone because George will never stop
coming over for re-matches! Finally, when George comes by to ask for another
game, Jeffery suggests tossing a coin double or nothing for everything. Jeffrey
tosses it and of course George picks the wrong side. So, Jeffrey suggests two
out of three. This time George picks right and they are all happy, until George
reminds him it’s two out of three. Jeffrey asks George to pick heads or tails for the final flip,
George not the brightest Christmas ornament on the tree says, heads……..and
tails. How could you lose with that?
It’s another fun episode of the series. It is interesting
how both episodes really do not have Mildred baring down too hard on George.
Actually, in both episodes, Mildred is just as much caught up in the action as
George. I think a big part of this is that George doesn’t have some kind of
scheme going that is going to wind up Mildred. These episodes really miss out
on George’s friend Jerry (played by Roy Kinnear) who is very unreliable and
constantly screws over both George and Mildred. Just earlier in the series,
Jerry install a shower in George and Mildred’s bathroom. It would work well if
it wasn’t for the fact that the pipes were made in Korea and do not fit with
any shower heads made in the UK or Europe for that matter! Both George and
Mildred are very reactionary in these episodes. In The Mating Game, Mildred is
almost too worried about truffles to focus on anything else. Even On The Second
Day of Christmas, I would have thought she would have gotten all upset after
George was dipping into her sister and brother-in-law’s gifts. At the very
least that George owed Jeffery over £140,000. Maybe she mellowed with age?
I have to say though; I am really not a fan of the theme
music or the opening title sequence for the show, at least from series 2
onwards. In the first series, the theme by Johnny Dankworth, was very lively
almost jukebox like, maybe a bit of a vibe from the 1960s. The title sequence was
also more designed, stylised and fun including a actual logo for the series. I think either
series two or three, the theme music changed to the new version by Roger Webb.
It is almost some sort of crappy soft porn sound music and the title sequence
got less and less interesting. For these episodes, the titles were just a
silhouette of George and Mildred with that awful music. There is no logo at all
either, just some really bad superimposed credits. Why bother? For some reason,
it really dampens the show for me. It’s such as slow and boring start to the
series. Maybe if the original better version never existed then I wouldn’t have
been so annoyed.
As for The Mating Game, maybe we should call it The Dating
Game. On my viewing of episodes, I base things off of episode guides online and
the order of how they appear on the DVD sets I have. Everywhere I look has The
Mating Game right before On the Second Day of Christmas both part of series 4.
Yet, Kaleidoscope lists On the Second Day of Christmas at the end of Series 3
and The Mating Game the series 5 opener in 1981. I know Kaleidoscope is correct
because that is what they do; they are always right about British television. From
what I am gathering is that production on the series stopped in 1979. There was
some episodes held over but there was a break to make the George & Mildred
feature film. There were plans to make more episodes of the series but Yootha
Joyce who played Mildred died in 1980. The series came back for a very limited
run of 3 episodes in 1981. An abrupt end to a fun series and two iconic
characters. Now, I just looked at the inner sleeve of the DVD set and it says
that The Mating Game aired on 21/12/78 and On the Second Day of Christmas was
27/12/78. I am confused. By no means do I write these articles as someone who
is an expert. I like to take information and synthesize it to create a fuller
picture but I am stumped on this. If anyone knows what the story is please feel
free to chime in. Your knowledge is requested!

I post articles a week after I view the episodes. So I have another week of Christmassy viewing to post even though we will be past Christmas , I just want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday! Have a great day!
Next week: the last of the Christmas themed episodes for
December and 2011 as I move from Thames Television to London Weekend Television,
I look at two episodes of On the Buses. Christmas Duty and Boxing Day Social! These
are two great Christmas themed episodes.
4 comments:
I always thought iwas funny how Three's Company spawned the same two spinoffs that MATH had. Still, the UK set of programmes exhibit more well-developed characters than the US versions. I never realy cared for the Ropers as characters, especially Stanley - he just seemed too one-dimensional. It is also interesting to note that while Three's Company kept the whole "Jack pretending to be gay" theme through the whole run, MATH dropped it very early on.
When I first watched MATH, I wasn't sure how well George & Mildred would hold up on it's own, but I really grew to enjoy the series. Again, the charcaters are well-developed, more than just a look or a catchphrase.
Anyway, another fun read - I look forward to On The Buses.
Three's Company is interesting in that there is a real sort of cultural movement to it. I don't mean it as deep as I make it sound but there is a sort of look and feel to the characters and the sets that almost give the whole thing an alternative lifestyle feel to it. I think it is more obvious when Furley joins because he wears the chains and acts the act but is so woefully out of touch. I still have a soft spot for this show because I remember watching it when I was young. How my parents allowed me to watch this is really weird. I would have been 4 or 5 when it started.
I think MATH is a lot stronger than George & Mildred. I rewatched some other episodes of G&M this week and saw some real great episodes but just doesn't gel as well for me as MATH.
This is gorgeous!
George and Mildred is hugely underrated. Great writing, powerhouse performances, amazing chemistry between the stars and a top-notch supporting cast.
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