How??

  • Thread starter captain clutterbuck
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captain clutterbuck

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I still find it incredulous that SOAH managed to squeeze 6 series 40 episodes out of Auntie's purse strings yet the original OAH managed 4 a mere 25 shows let alone Roy Clarke able to rinse and recycle plots to offer up 20 hours of shows . I suspect but don't know that Ronnie B may have had his say and decided enough was enough but was the fact there were so many comedies around at that time that the competition dictated they could afford to stop whereas with Still Open apparently such a huge hit they wanted to milk the success. Any views.
 
captain clutterbuck said:
I still find it incredulous that SOAH managed to squeeze 6 series 40 episodes out of Auntie's purse strings yet the original OAH managed 4 a mere 25 shows let alone Roy Clarke able to rinse and recycle plots to offer up 20 hours of shows . I suspect but don't know that Ronnie B may have had his say and decided enough was enough but was the fact there were so many comedies around at that time that the competition dictated they could afford to stop whereas with Still Open apparently such a huge hit they wanted to milk the success. Any views.
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I have never understood the beebs logic with decent shows they bin, yet churn out endless rubbish, I know other channels are doing the same, but the beeb always set a standard that was admired around the world, it also meant the our other channels had to work harder to keep up, so there was always a good choice of TV to watch.
 
captain clutterbuck said:
I still find it incredulous that SOAH managed to squeeze 6 series 40 episodes out of Auntie's purse strings yet the original OAH managed 4 a mere 25 shows let alone Roy Clarke able to rinse and recycle plots to offer up 20 hours of shows . I suspect but don't know that Ronnie B may have had his say and decided enough was enough but was the fact there were so many comedies around at that time that the competition dictated they could afford to stop whereas with Still Open apparently such a huge hit they wanted to milk the success. Any views.
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Very good point, but I think the simple answer to this question was look at what the competition was during OAH original run, Fawlty Towers, OFAH, He Di Hi, To The Manor Born Allo Allo... the list goes on. Factor into that a lead actor who could pretty much choose his project and perhaps it makes more sense. SOAH was a much lower budget production for a more niche audience so they could afford to keep it running.
 
From what I've read Ronnie didn't like to be tied to one particular project too long so that would certainly concur here and essentially it's a three hander with him, Granville and Nurse Gladys. The Black Widow, Mrs Blewitt are all guests and don't tend to further the plot comparatively whereas in SOH they have a greater share in proceedings.
 
You assume its done now unless some, in Compos words, prawn decides to revive it for a third series with Leroy older and in charge you'd hope not but you do wonder about the logic of those in charge hopefully Roy is not looking for another pay day and is enjoying relaxing with his pile of "bunce" he earned writing all those wonderful shows.
 
captain clutterbuck said:
I still find it incredulous that SOAH managed to squeeze 6 series 40 episodes out of Auntie's purse strings yet the original OAH managed 4 a mere 25 shows let alone Roy Clarke able to rinse and recycle plots to offer up 20 hours of shows . I suspect but don't know that Ronnie B may have had his say and decided enough was enough but was the fact there were so many comedies around at that time that the competition dictated they could afford to stop whereas with Still Open apparently such a huge hit they wanted to milk the success. Any views.
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For me, 40 episodes isn't so much for SOAH, because I see it having 3 chronological stages. The first stage mostly emphasized Granville helping Gastric attract Madge. While that continued throughout the show, another stage emerged focusing more on Mrs. Featherstone and Mr. Newbold. Towards the end, the focus shifted toward Leroy and his peers.

So in breaking the show up like this, 6 seasons and 40 episodes was quite manageable. I just wish there was more of the "stage 1" of SOAH. I absolutely loved the first few seasons. Not so much with the last stage.
 
ferret said:
I loved OAH and can still watch them today but as for SOAH I thought it was the biggest pile of drivel I’ve ever watched. I’m not sitting on the fence for this one :)
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Just curious as to how you like post-Compo Summer Wine compared to the Blarime and early Foggy Summer Wine. For me, Still Open All Hours, has a bit of the fantasy-"Summer Wine Land" feel of the later seasons of LOTSW, whereas Open All Hours is much more like Summer Wine's early years.
 
ferret said:
I don’t really watch anything post Compo. I have done but apart from the odd exceptions I just can’t get into it. For me it’s all about everything up to the end of the second Foggy era.
The earlier the better for me.
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I thought the episodes with Truly and Compo were very good - not the same without Foggy, yet these programmes did refresh the show.
 
wstol said:
I thought the episodes with Truly and Compo were very good - not the same without Foggy, yet these programmes did refresh the show.
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I agree, to be fair the several series after his departure dipped in quality but after that I feel the series found it's feet again - albeit in a different direction. I actually found the last couple of series with Combo distressing as Bill was clearly gravely ill by this point.
 
Being from America, prior to OAH, I never had any exposure to Ronnie Barker or to David Jason. I prefer SOAH. Ronnie Barker's stutter was OK, but he was no Mel Tillis or Michael Palin. Think about Michael Palin in 'A Fish Called Wanda' when he achieved the ultimate pinnacle of a stutter performance, as he struggled to choke out "the Ca - the Ca - the Caaaaaaa--------------the Caaaaaaa------------the Ca- Caaaaathcart Hotel". Priceless!! The look of frustrated anguish on his face, then followed with relief, said it all. It was masterful! In comparison to that, Arkwright's stutter came across as scripted, unemotional and ho hum. In comparison to Howard's pursuit of Marina, Arkwright's pursuit of the Nurse Gladys Emmanuel seemed like it was on Xanax. I saw one re-hash of an episode from KUA where the washing machine delivery truck had to go around the block a couple of times so the Nurse could see its' arrival with the new washing machine, but the delivery truck did not have the Royal Warrant on it for obvious reasons and missed the mark.

I will say that Arkwright used some of Auntie's tactics to trick unwilling participants into the store, but Auntie continued working over her unwilling customers behind a closed front door. Arkwright worked them over on camera which I thought was better.

I've seen a few episodes of SOAH on Dailymotion and was pleased to see the turnover go to Glanville. Glanville went from Arkwright's flunky to Arkwright's successor. The show is more modern, Lynda Baron, Stephanie Cole and Maggie Ollerenshaw have all matured nicely and are putting on great performances as well. Glanville seems to have taken the shop keeper character to the next level. My new SOAH box set arrived yesterday from Austrailia, and I am looking forward to seeing more episodes.
 
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