Monday, September 5, 2016

Thames on 9 Week: Bless This House (1971)

In sharp contrast to yesterday's Thames on 9 subject, Get Some In!, Bless This House, a standard domestic sitcom, had more episodes on average per "series" (The British term for season). 65 episodes were produced over the course of 6 "series" (1971-6), or, an average of 10 episodes apiece. The first three series had 12 episodes each. Series 4 had just 6, series 5 had 10, and series 6 had 13 to sort of get things back to normal.

Sidney James starred as Sid Abbott, husband, father, Arsenal fan (soccer fans will know the reference). Bless plays out similarly to the standard American domestic sitcoms of the day. Case in point, the episode, "A Beef in His Bonnet", when Sid's children, Mike & Sally, bring home a crate full of corned beef........



If memory serves me correctly, Bless has also aired on PBS stations here in the US, but is not to be confused with a short-lived 1996 CBS sitcom by the same title, which was an attempt to resurrect the career of stand-up comic Andrew Dice Clay.

Rating: B.

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