Whither and Wheretofore Howard, Pearl and Marina?

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bigcat

Well-Known Member
As I wander through I've just bumped into the first episodes with this new trio of characters. I know they came from a play, but why were they added to the TV series? Was the texture of the show changing? Maybe they knew Foggy was leaving and of course Sid was already gone and wanted to add something new to write about?

Do folks in general like the characters? I read someone who was quite upset that adultery was treated in a comic way. I found it somewhat more innocent with Howard as a clueless bloke caught in between desire and marriage.
 
Love them they are core characters and paramount to the success of the show , their vignettes in the episodes make the show and adultery is way too strong a word for what is actually portrayed. I think without them the plots would have been bereft of content and there would have been an issue far earlier with keeping the show going .:)
 
I think it was partly to fill the void left by Sid, and partly because the characters were successful in the play.

When you think about it, they could have adapted the Marina character into Lynda Baron's Lily Bless Her - just for tv continuity - but perhaps that wouldn't have worked.

Around this time, Roy Clarke was adding new characters and presumably keeping the show fresh. He really didn't need to though - the show was still at its best, and at this point, a massive, massive hit.

You must be about ready for Uncle of the Bride now. Great film.
 
captain clutterbuck said:
Love them they are core characters and paramount to the success of the show , their vignettes in the episodes make the show and adultery is way too strong a word for what is actually portrayed. I think without them the plots would have been bereft of content and there would have been an issue far earlier with keeping the show going .:)
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I tend to agree from what little I've seen of them and my faulty memory. The show expanding generally helped add some content and gave a change of pace.
 
wstol said:
I think it was partly to fill the void left by Sid, and partly because the characters were successful in the play.

When you think about it, they could have adapted the Marina character into Lynda Baron's Lily Bless Her - just for tv continuity - but perhaps that wouldn't have worked.

Around this time, Roy Clarke was adding new characters and presumably keeping the show fresh. He really didn't need to though - the show was still at its best, and at this point, a massive, massive hit.

You must be about ready for Uncle of the Bride now. Great film.
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I tend to forget that the show needed to get its viewing numbers to carry on being broadcast since now of course we know how long it would keep going. The show had had no issues, I don't believe, switching third men the first time but I wonder if they were worried about doing it again? I sense another thread about that coming up soon! A new group of character might have been a hedge against that change.

You got that right. I'm about to go kick up Uncle of the Bride on my DVDs. It actually leads off the new rather long season in a rare three DVD pack. Ironically I'm also watching through US film history and up to 1950 the year of Father of the Bride. I'll have to watch them both and see if there is any likeness.
 
In my own senile opinion, the show never needed additional characters to keep things fresh, and the ratings were always generally good - though I suppose the additional cast proved invaluable when the main three were either too old or absent to carry on the demanding work schedule.
 
wstol said:
In my own senile opinion, the show never needed additional characters to keep things fresh, and the ratings were always generally good - though I suppose the additional cast proved invaluable when the main three were either too old or absent to carry on the demanding work schedule.
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Anticipating a future question thread... Did you think Seymour was able to carry the third man as well as Foggy and they were as good as ever?
 
Personally I was happy to see Howard, Marina and very very happy to see Pearl arrive. I do think new characters were needed because really you can only go so far with the original cast without it getting repetitive. I don't think it would have lasted as long without new characters.
Seymour was a brilliant third man, I think it would have been just fine if he'd carried on.

As for the adultery been turned into comedy I'm not sure it could have even been classed as adultery.
 
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I think Seymour was a great character and I think the episodes he was in were as good if not better than some of the later ones when Foggy returned.
For me during Foggy's second arrival I feel the show lost something. Maybe too many characters I didn’t like and too many similar repetitive scenarios.
I could never warm to Truly, I just don’t think he had any character compared to the previous three “ leaders” and some of the episode were terrible.
But we can’t all like the same things and luckily the show has so many episodes we can all watch and enjoy the one’s we want.
Controversially, I think Russ Abbot would have made a good replacement for Seymour back in ‘90, although he would have been too young in real life to be retired!
 
Howard, Pearl and Marina were great additions to the show even if not needed. Adultery is certainly no fun for the wronged party, but LotSW is a comic world and not meant to be taken seriously, and if being honest comedy often comes from someone`s misfortune.
 
Adultery ?????......they never even gave each other a peck on the cheek....never mind a snog !!!!.
Anyway,Pearl was fully aware of Howard's "straying"......remember when she replied to Glenda that it was a fine balance....if she didn't let it go so far it would mean he would be under her feet all day !!!!.
 
MoodyBlue said:
Adultery ?????......they never even gave each other a peck on the cheek....never mind a snog !!!!.
Anyway,Pearl was fully aware of Howard's "straying"......remember when she replied to Glenda that it was a fine balance....if she didn't let it go so far it would mean he would be under her feet all day !!!!.
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I think there`s one episode where Marina kisses him fully on the lips and he seems quite surprised.
 
Thanks for all the thoughts and humor. It is fascinating to see the different opinions on if the trio could have gotten on as the sole focus of the show or if Howard, Pearl and Marina were needed for a change of pace and to fil up some script pages. Being me I started a whole new thread on the subject as more folks have entered the pictures with season nine.

Thanks for chatting about the series as I view through it. It is a lot of fun to see what other and more knowledgeable people thing about the series.
 
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