Episodes I love of shows that I love: Absolutely Fabulous - Poor (1994)

At the tail end of the second season of Ab Fab, "Poor" is one of (in my opinion) the strongest entries in the shows 39 episode run. It's a showcase of everything that is hilarious and ridiculous about the series. The performances of the whole cast are great (they're never anything less than that though) with Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumely giving one of their strongest performances in the series. Edina (Jennifer Saunders) goes erratically from subdued to completely insane in a moments notice and it is HILARIOUS.

The dialogue throughout the episode is fantastic, with the court rant by Edina at the end being a particular standout moment. It's a prime example of the sense of comedic timing combined with dramatic-ism that Jennifer Saunders has. 

Journey to the Past

Aaliyah on the Oscars Red Carpet & performing "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia.

Episodes I love of shows that I love: Friends - The One Where Rachel Finds Out (1995)

A month or so ago, I finally decided to splurge and buy the complete box set of "Friends" (the "extended, exclusive & unseen" edition to be exact) after years and years of contemplating buying it. It's not like Friends is inaccessible or anything to me, as I still own a tonne of VHS tapes from the original home video releases, a couple of seasons on the super old DVD releases and Friends still enjoys morning and night coverage on Comedy Central here in the UK. But the promise of unseen extras and extended episodes proved too tempting for me. 

So, over the last few weeks I've been flying through the episodes at hyper-speed and it's been a real blast fro the past in some cases. As a previously mentioned, Friends still runs in the UK every single day on Comedy Central & before that E4 (and before that it was on it's original run on Channel 4!) but due to the fact that the episodes are often shown in a "best of" format, it can be kinda hard to follow plot lines and as a result of this, there are a handful of episodes I haven't seen for a seriously long time. 

An episode that has really stood out to me during my marathon of the series is the season one finale, "The One Where Rachel Finds Out". I've watched season 1 more times than I can remember and this episode has always been one of my favourites but this time around it really hit me how well executed this episode is and how solid a performance the cast gives (Jennifer Aniston in particular) in conveying the emotional roller-coaster that is the season finale. For me, this episode is a testament to how well the series could mix in more dramatic elements to the comedy of the show and pull it off. The humor is still very much there but it doesn't take away from how genuinely emotional the ending of the episode is. 

The final scene where Rachel is stood in the airport waiting for Ross while we see this paralleled with footage of his plane landing & then getting off the plane with Julie while Madonna - Take a Bow plays in the background seriously gets to me EVERY SINGLE TIME. WHAT THE HELL ROSS. 

Despite airing almost 20 years ago, this episode still seems fresh and is pretty much a blueprint of "how to do a sitcom season finale really really well."

The cast of "Friends" on The Oprah Winfrey Show

Malcolm in the Middle - A retrospective

What with it being just over 8 years since the finale (INSANE, I know) that aired May 2006, it seems as good a time as any to talk about one of my favourite shows of all time. I started watching Malcolm in the Middle pretty much as soon as it started airing in the UK. The show aired on both Sky1 & BBC2. I have been a massive Simpsons fan since forever and by this time I was already obsessed with Buffy, both of which aired on these channels, so it was only a matter of time until I stumbled across Malcolm in the Middle.

Needless to say, it was love at first watch. MITM is one of those shows that has multiple levels, meaning that as I grew up watching it, the more of it I understood. The content is accessible to the vast range of audiences (not dissimilar to the way The Simpsons is) and has allowed for years of happy re-watching. One thing that strikes me, especially today, is that MITM is so incredibly different to other comedies on TV both then and now. The humor often boarders on serious levels of darkness all the while maintaining a consistently entertaining piece of television. 

It kind of goes without saying how insanely good the casting was too. Everybody loves Bryan Cranston now for Breaking Bad, but lets not forget the comedic gold he produced in his role as Hal. His portrayal flawlessly bridges the gap between the child orientated and more adult orientated aspects of the show. Then there is Jane Kaczmarek as Lois, who in my opinion is revolutionary in her rejection of stereotypical female tropes in comedies and brings something completely new to the table. Lois is the unequivocal leader of the household and dispels the idea of patriarchy. Frankie Muniz, Christopher Masterson, Justin Berfield & Eric Per Sullivan make up the remainder of the household (even though Francis hardly lives there during the entirety of the series) for the majority of the show until the addition of Jamie in season 5. The cast has a fantastic chemistry that just naturally flows, they were perfectly selected & the way they were written was and remains to be brilliant. The show also features numerous superb guest stars too vast in numbers to list, although I'd like to mention Christopher Lloyd (one of my favourite actors) as Hals father as a particular highlight for me. 

"Malcolm" is a multi-faceted anomaly in terms of trying to pigeon hole it into a box regarding it's themes. It is so many things. An in depth look at family and relationships. A look at the American working class. A look at growing up. It is neither one nor the other, and that is what makes it so great. It doesn't really follow conventional sitcom ideals from the time.Unlike a lot of family sitcoms (both then and now), both children/teenagers and adults are on a level. "Malcolm" is much more honest in the way it represents family and human relationships generally.