Jun 30, 2009

the Goods (a summer rerun)

Once upon a time, when I was a lonely kid, come weekend nights, I would hole myself up in my room and watch the string of Britcoms shown on our local PBS station.

They were a delightful window into strange, but somewhat familiar, world...separated not only by space, but also time, since most of them were a decade or so delayed. I liked them all, but my favorite was The Good Life.
It was about a young couple who give up the rat race to start a farm, in suburban London, much to the horror of their uptight neighbors. It first aired in the early
70s and seemed to be sort of playing on the last gasp of hippiedom.

The best part of the show, however, was watching Margo, the bitch queen played by Penelope Keith. Role model material!

She was always seemingly floating about in a chiffon caftan, sneering at the livestock of her cute neighbors and getting herself riled up at her milquetoast husband. Penelope went on to another Britcom, "To the Manor Born" in the early '80s, but it wasn't the same.
Here she is in action (sans chiffon, unfortunately):


2 comments:

Frontier Psychiatrist said...

Flippancy from friends is just bearable; from domestics it’s quite intolerable.

Yes, yes, yes.

ilduce said...

I didn't encounter the good life until after "to the manor Born" it still remains my sentimental favorite, Just after 'butterflies. my first Britcom encounter.....