REALITY: An English View

There is little question that some of the British TV comedies are among the very best, and two of my favorites are on tonight.  As Time Goes By is a very quick repartee type full of wit and sarcasm about a couple who meet years after World War II when he, as a young soldier and she as a nurse, fell in love and then lost touch with each other.  Keeping Up Appearances centers on another middleaged couple, and Hyancinth’s (her sisters are Violet, Daisy, and Iris) total absorption with social standing.  I just love the way she draws out "Bruce’s MerCEdes" and insists on the pronunciation of her last name, Bucket as "BouQUET."  Poor long-suffering Richard is the perfect straight man to her ridiculous pettiness, and her neighbors, a terrified-of-breaking-a-china-teacup Elizabeth, and her brother Emmett who will go to great lengths to avoid Hyacinth are only two of the excellent portrayals of characters.  A hot-to-trot Iris, a nurturing Daisy and her husband Onslo live together with their randy but senile father, and a Violet who is wealthy though her husband dresses in drag are all an hilarious trial to Hyacinth’s efforts to hide her upbringing.  Over the years I’ve seen just about every episode of each of these series, but I seriously want to see the collections in my Christmas stocking some year.