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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 339122" data-attributes="member: 23">Perhaps due to the fact that the material is already written, The Upper Hand seems to have long series for a UK sitcom. At thirteen episodes, Series One is more than double the six episodes I&#039;d usually expect (and this isn&#039;t the longest by any stretch. Series Four is three times the UK average).Already I&#039;ve watched all but the final episode of Series One. There have been some significant storylines, first with the return of Caroline&#039;s ex-husband threatening Charlie&#039;s place in the household (the series&#039; first two-parter), and then with Caroline and Charlie&#039;s first kiss.Honor Blackman steals every scene in which she appears. With every appearance I appreciate how different she feels from Katherine Helmond&#039;s Mona on Who&#039;s The Boss?, and how much of a strength this is. When I was young, I struggled with Honor&#039;s portrayal simply because I was so used to Mona. Now I realise that while the words are the same, she&#039;s giving us something entirely new. The wisecracks sound so very different when delivered by her. If anything, they seem even edgier because of the juxtaposition with her polite-sounding middle class British accent and the smoky voice with its characteristic crackle. And each quip is accompanied by a carefree smile. It really comes across that she&#039;s having fun. At this point in my viewing I possibly find Laura even more enjoyable than Mona, but I&#039;m very glad we had both terrific characters, each one perfectly suited to their show.Watching scenes from the two shows back-to-back, Tony Danza&#039;s performance makes me thank my lucky stars for Joe McGann&#039;s Charlie. Conversely, a number of Diana Weston&#039;s lines have only seemed really funny to me when I imagine Judith Light delivering them. I like the casting in this - many of the actors are unknown or unfamiliar to me. Even many of the familiar faces are often those one doesn&#039;t see very often: Hi-de-Hi&#039;s Diane Holland had a memorable one-scene role as the bra saleswoman in the aforementioned Growing Pains, while Kirsten Cooke - best remembered as &#039;Allo &#039;Allo&#039;s Michelle - appeared as a friend of Caroline&#039;s in First Kiss. Thanks to her speaking in RP rather than faux French I didn&#039;t recognise her at all. The wonderful Betty Marsden&nbsp;&nbsp; from Round The Horne (and a couple of Carry Ons) appeared as Charlie&#039;s temporary new employer Lady Rawcliffe (her only episode, sadly) while Michael Bilton - To The Manor Born&#039;s Ned and Waiting For God&#039;s frisky Basil - played her manservant Leo (he did return in the following episode, but really I could have watched an entire series based around Lady Rawcliffe, Leo and Charlie).Since presumably only around half the Who&#039;s The Boss? scripts end up being recycled I&#039;d love to know more about how episodes are selected and their running order decided. I find it interesting that First Kiss was the first season finale for Who&#039;s The Boss?, but the penultimate episode of The Upper Hand&#039;s first series. The British series instead closes with Requiem, a series from the middle of WTB&#039;s first season. I know the plot of Requiem, but not specifics, so perhaps all will become clear after I&#039;ve watched it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 339122, member: 23"] Perhaps due to the fact that the material is already written, [I]The Upper Hand[/I] seems to have long series for a UK sitcom. At thirteen episodes, Series One is more than double the six episodes I'd usually expect (and this isn't the longest by any stretch. Series Four is three times the UK average). Already I've watched all but the final episode of Series One. There have been some significant storylines, first with the return of Caroline's ex-husband threatening Charlie's place in the household (the series' first two-parter), and then with Caroline and Charlie's first kiss. Honor Blackman steals every scene in which she appears. With every appearance I appreciate how different she feels from Katherine Helmond's Mona on [I]Who's The Boss?[/I], and how much of a strength this is. When I was young, I struggled with Honor's portrayal simply because I was so used to Mona. Now I realise that while the words are the same, she's giving us something entirely new. The wisecracks sound so very different when delivered by her. If anything, they seem even edgier because of the juxtaposition with her polite-sounding middle class British accent and the smoky voice with its characteristic crackle. And each quip is accompanied by a carefree smile. It really comes across that she's having fun. At this point in my viewing I possibly find Laura even more enjoyable than Mona, but I'm very glad we had both terrific characters, each one perfectly suited to their show. Watching scenes from the two shows back-to-back, Tony Danza's performance makes me thank my lucky stars for Joe McGann's Charlie. Conversely, a number of Diana Weston's lines have only seemed really funny to me when I imagine Judith Light delivering them. I like the casting in this - many of the actors are unknown or unfamiliar to me. Even many of the familiar faces are often those one doesn't see very often: [I]Hi-de-Hi's [/I]Diane Holland had a memorable one-scene role as the bra saleswoman in the aforementioned[I] Growing Pains[/I], while Kirsten Cooke - best remembered as [I]'Allo 'Allo's [/I]Michelle - appeared as a friend of Caroline's in [I]First Kiss[/I]. Thanks to her speaking in RP rather than faux French I didn't recognise her at all. The wonderful Betty Marsden from [I]Round The Horne[/I] (and a couple of [I]Carry Ons[/I]) appeared as Charlie's temporary new employer Lady Rawcliffe (her only episode, sadly) while Michael Bilton - To The Manor Born's Ned and [I]Waiting For God's[/I] frisky Basil - played her manservant Leo (he did return in the following episode, but really I could have watched an entire series based around Lady Rawcliffe, Leo and Charlie). Since presumably only around half the [I]Who's The Boss?[/I] scripts end up being recycled I'd love to know more about how episodes are selected and their running order decided. I find it interesting that[I] First Kiss[/I] was the first season finale for [I]Who's The Boss?[/I], but the [U]penultimate[/U] episode of [I]The Upper Hand's[/I] first series. The British series instead closes with [I]Requiem[/I], a series from the middle of WTB's first season. I know the plot of [I]Requiem[/I], but not specifics, so perhaps all will become clear after I've watched it. [/QUOTE]

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