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Making the wait for season 3 of Ted Lasso seem like the blink of an eye, John Cleese has announced that he's making more episodes of what is rightly on the very short list of 'greatest sitcoms of all time'. I'm cautiously on the fence as to whether that's good news or not until I find out more. As funny as he was, Basil had a lot of other people around him, some of whom are now dead anyway, and the world was a different place in the 1970s.
So for now... watch this space. Or fill it with news, if you find any.
As long as Basil hasn't been watered down (and I don't think Cleese would allow that) it should still be worth watching - certainly compared to the drivel that is most of today's comedy. Political incorrectness is still very funny in the right hands, and though something like the Germans episode is probably too much to hope for, Cleese will probably delight in provoking the cancel culture crowd, and I wish him well in that activity.
the cancel culture crowd
I think this is a myth - with the likes of Gervais, Carr, Boyle and Waller-Bridge able to offend just about everyone, there really isn't a cancel culture.
In the 80s, we moved away from jokes about mother-in-laws and the black man moving in next door, and things have improved every decade since.
I don't agree that it's a myth, but I'm just stating that as my opinion and don't want to end up in a discussion about that. But the point is that Cleese doesn't think it's a myth, and I've seen interviews where he's talked about it. He's had his career now and is probably as bothered as ever about offending those who love to be offended (i.e. not at all) - unlike the younger celebs, singers and thespians who'll bend over backwards to be seen to support any alphabet-mangling minority in case it affects their number of Twitter followers.
I reckon it will be pretty good (famous last words). His daughter is onboard and she's quite funny. He'll be able to pull in good writers to work with. Looking forward to it.
It won't be as good of course, but it doesn't have to be. I'm allowing myself to be quietly optimistic about it. I've been rewatching them again - luckliy I have the remastered DVD because I couldn't find it to stream - and it's quite remarkable how it still makes me laugh. Out loud, I mean. I've lost count of how many times I've watched it, and with repeated viewings of things I often get to the point where I think I've seen them enough, and the best they get is a nostalgic half smile. But Basil (because the majority of laughs are his) still has me laughing; apart from that one unfunny episode where Polly's in bed pretending to be Sybil, I don't like that one much at all.
Speaking (ahem) of Sybil. In the mid 70s I was barely in my teens and Sybil was in her 40s. Now, thanks to the cruel tricks played by time, she's much younger than me, and I wonder if I'm the only one who has occasionally been distracted by the thought, 'hmm, that Sybil has a nice arse'... ?
I bet I'm not.
I wonder if I'm the only one who has occasionally been distracted by the thought, 'hmm, that Sybil has a nice arse'...
I've not watched these for decades, but don't remember Cybil in that way at all ... a bit matronly, right?
Now, (bra-less) Polly on the other hand ... grrr...
oh my ... never seen this [nsfw]!
