Series Twenty Eight

Pearl

Pearl

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Series twenty eight had 10 episodes.

Variations On A Theme Of Road Rage was good, the scene where Pearl batters the hell out of husband is hilarious. It made a change to see her batter someone elses husband.
 
I thought Road Rage was ok for that scene alone Pearl, the rest was a bit "rushed" .I enjoyed What Happened to the Horse? Also The Crowcroft Challenge! The rest of the ten seemed again "average!":32:
 
What Happened to the Horse was a very enjoyable episode and I also enjoyed Howard squirming all the way through In Which Howard Gets Double Booked. Like our Pearl I love it when her namesake wades into the car owner and 'malavogues' him with her brolly :30:
 
I really think the first four episodes were really strong. I love Doggy Wilkinson. This episode never gets any praise. In Which Howard gets Double Booked was also hilarious.


I believe this is Smiler's last series (and maybe the last for others as well). Losing Smiler may have something to do with this being the last Series I am trully excited to watch.
 
codfanglers said:
I believe this is Smiler's last series (and maybe the last for others as well). Losing Smiler may have something to do with this being the last Series I am trully excited to watch.
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Yes, this was Smiler's last season. Billy Hardcastle left the season before and Nora leaves the season after. Everyone else stays put until the end. Of course we do gain Hobbo and Stella.
 
me2 said:
Yes, this was Smiler's last season. Billy Hardcastle left the season before and Nora leaves the season after. Everyone else stays put until the end. Of course we do gain Hobbo and Stella.
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I had a sudden brainstorm. They should have made Hobbo into a former hobo (vagabond) who traveled around the country; but who was actually a secret agent. This would have made more sense than making Hobo a milkman. A good secret agent always has a cover that allows for lots of unscheduled and unobserved travel. That could of also had been a better explanation as to why he wore hippie costumes (kind of like what a hobo would wear) and why he liked to ride in the pick-up truck standing up (he was used to riding the rails or in wagons like that).
 
I just posted an overview about this Series, but thought I would revisit this thread and go into a few details. I think the first half of Series 28 is very strong and the second half is maybe a little inferior. A few funny moments still stick out,

Small Creature and Clandestine Trackbike doesn't get much credit. I like Tom, the mouring of the mouse is too silly. However, Clegg and the motor bike always saves this episode for me. I love how all the ladies go outside to see what the noise is all about and find Clegg on the motorbike. The chase with the shopping card, motorbike and police car is good.

Smiler approaching Nora by accident to dance while in the tux is great.

Nearest Alien Please Come In seems to be a reoccurring theme with wacky guys and aliens (like Space Ace). The scene with Enwhistle in the library and the alien hunter and Enwhistle's video game goes off is another great scene.

While IN Which Howard Gets Double Booked has usually been my favorite in this series, I think it may be replaced with "What Happened to the Horse."
 
Adanor said:
I had a sudden brainstorm. They should have made Hobbo into a former hobo (vagabond) who traveled around the country; but who was actually a secret agent. This would have made more sense than making Hobo a milkman. A good secret agent always has a cover that allows for lots of unscheduled and unobserved travel. That could of also had been a better explanation as to why he wore hippie costumes (kind of like what a hobo would wear) and why he liked to ride in the pick-up truck standing up (he was used to riding the rails or in wagons like that).
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Perhaps Roy Clarke's keyboard was sensitive and it was Hobo ? He may have had Arkwright on his mind and Hobbo was attributable to Aaaaarkwrrrights stutter.:)
 
codfanglers said:
Small Creature and Clandestine Trackbike doesn't get much credit. I like Tom, the mouring of the mouse is too silly. However, Clegg and the motor bike always saves this episode for me. I love how all the ladies go outside to see what the noise is all about and find Clegg on the motorbike. The chase with the shopping card, motorbike and police car is good.
Click to expand...

I'm watching this series for the first time and this episode really made me upset. I was trying to figure out why. First, Trulys lack of any compassion about Toms feelings over the loss of his pet bothers me a bit.

Second, and more importantly, the whole setup with the track bike is really weak. Howard dropping something on Clegg was a plot idea used many times, but at least in previous instances there is at least some reason for Clegg to go along with it, even if sometimes they were a stretch to follow. And Clegg and the others usually make Howard pay for it in the end. Here there is no reason at all ever presented for Clegg to go along with Howards scheme to make it look like its Cleggs bike. So we get an annoyed Clegg dressing up in bike gear for no apparent reason and then despite refusing to do anything further still ends up on the bike in front of Glenda's house. Never mind that Clegg refuses to drive a car and has never been shown to have any experience riding a motorcycle. And in the end while Pearl sees through Howards scheme, Clegg never makes him pay for it.

Some of the earlier episodes in the series are much better than this one in my opinion.
 
When in doubt, put someone in a set of leathers on a bike. This reminds me of a time in college in the 1970's when we girls wanted to get rid of a boy who was hanging around. He fell off his bicycle and maybe skinned a knee. We called the emergency number and reported that he fell off his bike. Of course they thought we meant a motor bike, they sent an ambulance and off he went.
 
I've now watched this series through twice and feel like I have enough to make some judgements. On the whole I liked it. Sure, Clegg is still really a minor character and only shows up in a handful of scenes each episode, but of that era I think this series handles it as well as it could have been. Many of the episodes felt like a return to classic Summerwine, with the characters acting stupid in funny and enjoyable ways. The Crowcroft Challenge is probably my favorite of this series, but others that stand out include The Second Stag Night of Doggy Wilkinson, What Happened to the Horse, and Must Be Good Dancer. As I noted above, I really dislike Elegy for Small Creature and Clandestine Trackbike for the reasons I noted there. It did not improve on a second viewing. The final two episodes of the series are a bit of a let down, though, in part because of a feeling I've had in the later series the Bell didn't always hit a home run when casting guest characters. Both of these episodes suffer from that. For example, Wanda in "In Which Howard Remembers Where He Left his Bicycle Pump" comes across more sympathetic then I think the story intended.
 
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