Season 9 Ponderations

B

bigcat

Well-Known Member
Why is season 9 so long? It has twelve episodes and in the US DVDs includes Uncle of the Bride as well. A rare 3 DVD set.

Whither Howard, Pearl and Marina in the second half of the season? This trio is completely gone missing in the last six episodes after appearing regularly in the first six. Then next season they are back like nothing ever happened.

Do Father of the Bride, Merry Christmas Father Christmas and or possibly or Big Day at Dream Acre belong as part of Season 9? Do I have to watch Big Day as I vaguely remember it as being a snoozefest?

What would Clegg have thought of 2024?
 
Howard and Pearl are in series 9 episodes 7, 10 and 12 (as broadcast), although only briefly - but in other series some episodes do not feature or only have brief appearances of some of the main cast. Remember we have just been introduced to Seymour, so a lot of attention is going on him, probably at the expense of some of the other characters "set pieces". So originally Howard, Pearl and Marina might have been more evenly spaced throughout the series.
The episodes are not necessarily broadcast in the number order they were written. In series 19 when Truly has just been introduced, the fourth episode broadcast was written as episode 9, probably because that episode "Truly and the Hole Truth" was more Truly-centric, to give his character a good foundation. This created a fairly rare anachronism, as this meant that Glenda would mention Barry's saxophone in that episode, several episodes before he had bought it!
Episodes can be broadcast out of order due to something happening that results in a last-minute schedule change. I forget when, but one episode was not shown on the originally planned date, but it was not shown the following week, as that would mean the Radio Times that people had already bought would be wrong, so it was shown on the following week, giving time for RT to be updated before being printed. [edit: typo]
 
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Uncle of the Bride is one off feature film, which was a Holiday Special for New Years Day 1986

Merry Christmas Father Christmas is a Christmas Special for 1986 which was made at the same time as Series 9, and was shown just before Series 9 proper began, in early 1987.

Big Day at Dream Acres is the final one off feature film, which was a Christmas Special for 1987.
 
theatrically_inclined said:
Howard and Pearl are in series 9 episodes 7, 10 and 12 (as broadcast), although only briefly - but in other series some episodes do not feature or only have brief appearances of some of the main cast. Remember we have just been introduced to Seymour, so a lot of attention is going on him, probably at the expense of some of the other characters "set pieces". So originally Howard, Pearl and Marina might have been more evenly spaced throughout the series.
The episodes are not necessarily broadcast in the number order they were written. In series 19 when Truly has just been introduced, the fourth episode broadcast was written as episode 9, probably because that episode "Truly and the Hole Truth" was more Truly-centric, to give his character a good foundation. This created a fairly rare anachronism, as this mean that Glenda would mention Barry's saxophone in that episode, several episodes before he had bought it!
Episodes can be broadcast out of order due to something happening that results in a last-minute schedule change. I forget when, but one episode was not shown on the originally planned date, but it was not shown the following week, as that would mean the Radio Times that people had already bought would be wrong, so it was shown on the following week, giving time for RT to be updated before being printed.
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Wow thanks for that information. Don't tell anyone but I've been know to fall asleep at night watching. I usually try to rewind and catch what I missed but clearly I didn't catch all of a couple episodes or I just forgot.
 
theatrically_inclined said:
Howard and Pearl are in series 9 episodes 7, 10 and 12 (as broadcast), although only briefly - but in other series some episodes do not feature or only have brief appearances of some of the main cast. Remember we have just been introduced to Seymour, so a lot of attention is going on him, probably at the expense of some of the other characters "set pieces". So originally Howard, Pearl and Marina might have been more evenly spaced throughout the series.
The episodes are not necessarily broadcast in the number order they were written. In series 19 when Truly has just been introduced, the fourth episode broadcast was written as episode 9, probably because that episode "Truly and the Hole Truth" was more Truly-centric, to give his character a good foundation. This created a fairly rare anachronism, as this meant that Glenda would mention Barry's saxophone in that episode, several episodes before he had bought it!
Episodes can be broadcast out of order due to something happening that results in a last-minute schedule change. I forget when, but one episode was not shown on the originally planned date, but it was not shown the following week, as that would mean the Radio Times that people had already bought would be wrong, so it was shown on the following week, giving time for RT to be updated before being printed. [edit: typo]
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Sometimes the TV announcers do say "A change to the advertised episode"
 
imitation700mb said:
Sometimes the TV announcers do say "A change to the advertised episode"
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Sometimes, yes BBC4 TV, I'm looking at you, you change the schedule, don't even mention it, then when I go to look at my sky recordings I've got something I didn't want (sport thing with balls) something I did want, something else I did want, but you made the slot over-run and hour so it recorded the next thing I had programmed for later as well. I don't know when the bumped show will be on. I'm not angry, just disappointed.
 
theatrically_inclined said:
Sometimes, yes BBC4 TV, I'm looking at you, you change the schedule, don't even mention it, then when I go to look at my sky recordings I've got something I didn't want (sport thing with balls) something I did want, something else I did want, but you made the slot over-run and hour so it recorded the next thing I had programmed for later as well. I don't know when the bumped show will be on. I'm not angry, just disappointed.
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It is quite annoying when you actually do want to see the advertised episode. I find I get annoyed when a previous sporting event overruns (Football for example) and you never know when, or even if, your show will be on. It's just the not knowing.
 
I don't recall which book I read it in, but either Vine or Bell said it was longer because the BBC wanted something with more episodes they could sell to other markets, such as the US, where seasons were much longer than just six or eight episodes. IIRC, Bell says there was also a belief that if they did a bunch of Seymour episodes right away it would get the audience used to him and stop them endlessly comparing him to Foggy.
 
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