DavidKMatthews
Joined Feb 2018
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DavidKMatthews's rating
This review is based on the regular episodes only as the original 1977 pilot, "Spasms", is not readily available.
Other than a couple of repeat runs on the UK GOLD channel many years ago, the "dusty archives" status of this sitcom is largely deserved... which is a shame given its strong opening episode. Sharply scripted, mostly genuinely funny and with a tremendous performance by Michael Crawford (successfully shaking off his Frank Spencer persona), it showed much promise...
However from the second episode onwards it slid into the substandard domestic comedy genre that peppered the output of the London ITV regions, Thames and London Weekend, throughout the 1970s. While Michael Crawford could be relied upon to "carry" a show single-handed, writer Alex Shearer promptly forgot that the other actors need at least some of the humorous dialogue to stir up effective "conflict" to propel the comedy. To the contrary, Robin Hawdon's Roger Scott essentially becomes a straight-man "feed" for his nemesis, while the actors portraying the wives are particularly badly served, each fulfilling a "little woman stuck in kitchen drudgery" role. Hardly progressive!
Accepting that Crawford's character, David Finn, is intended as the show's central character, the scripts needed to maintain his wit and idiosyncracies of the opening episode. Instead he becomes increasingly shallow, unlikeable and one-dimensional. Even anti-establishment characters need to have some redeeming qualities and raison d'etre. Beyond the first episode, the only attempt to provide characterisation was the ludicrous plot device in which Finn is given a job at Scott's company as a limousine chauffeur, despite him clearly being a constant danger to other road users. Finn was neither a hero nor anti-hero.
Meanwhile Scott behaves in ways to simply suit each episode's weak plot, rather than to aid any character development.
Ironically Thames Television's own contemporary "layabout" series 'Shelley' had none of these shortcomings; the eponymous protagonist in that show being imbued with valid reasons for "rebelling" and his weekly tussles with "authority" saw him rightly outwit it with clever subtlety.
'Chalk and Cheese' appears to be Alex Shearer's first television work and, as such, Thames should have provided him with assistance from a more experienced writer. It's not in any way an unpleasant viewing experience but it remains a series produced on the verge of the 1980s yet, opening episode aside, firmly stuck with the comedic attributes of the previous decade.
Other than a couple of repeat runs on the UK GOLD channel many years ago, the "dusty archives" status of this sitcom is largely deserved... which is a shame given its strong opening episode. Sharply scripted, mostly genuinely funny and with a tremendous performance by Michael Crawford (successfully shaking off his Frank Spencer persona), it showed much promise...
However from the second episode onwards it slid into the substandard domestic comedy genre that peppered the output of the London ITV regions, Thames and London Weekend, throughout the 1970s. While Michael Crawford could be relied upon to "carry" a show single-handed, writer Alex Shearer promptly forgot that the other actors need at least some of the humorous dialogue to stir up effective "conflict" to propel the comedy. To the contrary, Robin Hawdon's Roger Scott essentially becomes a straight-man "feed" for his nemesis, while the actors portraying the wives are particularly badly served, each fulfilling a "little woman stuck in kitchen drudgery" role. Hardly progressive!
Accepting that Crawford's character, David Finn, is intended as the show's central character, the scripts needed to maintain his wit and idiosyncracies of the opening episode. Instead he becomes increasingly shallow, unlikeable and one-dimensional. Even anti-establishment characters need to have some redeeming qualities and raison d'etre. Beyond the first episode, the only attempt to provide characterisation was the ludicrous plot device in which Finn is given a job at Scott's company as a limousine chauffeur, despite him clearly being a constant danger to other road users. Finn was neither a hero nor anti-hero.
Meanwhile Scott behaves in ways to simply suit each episode's weak plot, rather than to aid any character development.
Ironically Thames Television's own contemporary "layabout" series 'Shelley' had none of these shortcomings; the eponymous protagonist in that show being imbued with valid reasons for "rebelling" and his weekly tussles with "authority" saw him rightly outwit it with clever subtlety.
'Chalk and Cheese' appears to be Alex Shearer's first television work and, as such, Thames should have provided him with assistance from a more experienced writer. It's not in any way an unpleasant viewing experience but it remains a series produced on the verge of the 1980s yet, opening episode aside, firmly stuck with the comedic attributes of the previous decade.
I so much wanted to enjoy this series again, having not seen it since its original UK transmission in the late 1970s. Sad to report, then, that it proved hugely disappointing...
An odd choice of premise given that the real-life Project Blue Book had been closed ten years previously and, if not officially discredited, had certainly faced serious challenges over its motivations and probity. In partial fairness, though, some episodes in the series depict the public accusing the team of a cover-up.
In general the stories are played out terribly slowly - often padded out with ponderous, purposeless shots of characters walking or driving past the camera or exterior shots of a helicopter. In the second season these were supplemented by "banter" scenes between our heroes which lacked any humour and did nothing to further the plot. In each episode scenes of the UFO's arrival are repeated a number of times in order to hit the standard 48-minute runtime. Cut out all the "waffle" and you'd probably trim ten minutes from each episode without losing any of the plot.
The acting from the two leads starts out as rather "stiff" and characterless but they improve slightly over the course of the the first season. Aldine King, as Gatlin's secretary, is awfully underused but much more interesting to watch!
William Jordan (as Gatlin) disappeared after the first season - presumably abducted by aliens. He was replaced by Edward Winter (as Capt Ben Ryan), leading to a more of a "spark" between the two lead characters. The second year saw production improvements such as more modern-sounding incidental music and sound effects and more "dynamic" camerawork.
The visual special effects are quite well realised in some episodes, taking into account the era the show was produced. That said, some camera focusing was poorly directed as it presents no impression of depth-of-field, rendering the use of small models rather obvious. And presumably the FX sucked up most of the budget as many of the visitors' ships in the first season emitted sounds that had been taken straight from 'Star Trek', produced a decade before.
It's difficult to recommend any particular episodes as they are all fairly consistent in plot.
The show is very rarely seen these days (in the UK I gather it was last broadcast by The SciFi Channel in the mid-1990s). But this isn't surprising and it's certainly no "lost classic". Overall this pedestrian work has little more than curiosity value - and did well to last its 26 episodes.
An odd choice of premise given that the real-life Project Blue Book had been closed ten years previously and, if not officially discredited, had certainly faced serious challenges over its motivations and probity. In partial fairness, though, some episodes in the series depict the public accusing the team of a cover-up.
In general the stories are played out terribly slowly - often padded out with ponderous, purposeless shots of characters walking or driving past the camera or exterior shots of a helicopter. In the second season these were supplemented by "banter" scenes between our heroes which lacked any humour and did nothing to further the plot. In each episode scenes of the UFO's arrival are repeated a number of times in order to hit the standard 48-minute runtime. Cut out all the "waffle" and you'd probably trim ten minutes from each episode without losing any of the plot.
The acting from the two leads starts out as rather "stiff" and characterless but they improve slightly over the course of the the first season. Aldine King, as Gatlin's secretary, is awfully underused but much more interesting to watch!
William Jordan (as Gatlin) disappeared after the first season - presumably abducted by aliens. He was replaced by Edward Winter (as Capt Ben Ryan), leading to a more of a "spark" between the two lead characters. The second year saw production improvements such as more modern-sounding incidental music and sound effects and more "dynamic" camerawork.
The visual special effects are quite well realised in some episodes, taking into account the era the show was produced. That said, some camera focusing was poorly directed as it presents no impression of depth-of-field, rendering the use of small models rather obvious. And presumably the FX sucked up most of the budget as many of the visitors' ships in the first season emitted sounds that had been taken straight from 'Star Trek', produced a decade before.
It's difficult to recommend any particular episodes as they are all fairly consistent in plot.
The show is very rarely seen these days (in the UK I gather it was last broadcast by The SciFi Channel in the mid-1990s). But this isn't surprising and it's certainly no "lost classic". Overall this pedestrian work has little more than curiosity value - and did well to last its 26 episodes.