Customer Reviews

Good Neighbors, The Final Season [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Good Neighbors (or The Good Life as it was known in the UK) is the story of Tom and Barbara Good, a middle-aged couple in the 1970s who decide to escape the rat race by living a life of complete self-sufficiency. They exchange their car for a cultivator, and turn their garden into a full-fledged (if rather small) farm. Their good friends and neighbors, the social climbing Gerry and Margot Leadbetter (played by Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith!) sometimes provide support, and other times disapproval. Through it all, the antics of the two mismatched set of neighbors produces laughs and good times for all!

For some reason known only to the BBC, the first fives tapes put out had the episodes in some seemingly random order. Well, this two-tape series represents what they should have done to begin with. These tapes contain seven, half-hour episodes, covering the entire final season of the show.

Away From It All - Series 4, episode 22 (April 10, 1977) - The trials and tribulations of the self-sufficient life is getting the Goods down, and the Leadbetters want to help. What better way than by giving them a weekend off?

The Green Door - Series 4, episode 23 (April 17, 1977) - When the Goods discover that Margot is sneaking around behind Jerry's back, they want to know what she's up to.

Our Speaker Today - Series 4, episode 24 (April 24, 1977) - When Barbara is discovered to be a fascinating speaker, she is whisked off to extra speaking engagements, leaving Tom to deal with the chickens, just when their rooster (Lenin) decides to start a revolution.

The Weaver's Tale - Series 4, episode 25 (May 1, 1977) - When Margot sets her eye on a spinning wheel, Tom sets his eye on a loom. But, when Barbara convinces Jerry to clamp down on Margot's spending the whole situation goes up for grabs.

Suit Yourself - Series 4, episode 26 (May 8, 1977) - The balloon has gone up, Sir (Jerry's boss) has announced that he is retiring, and the Leadbetters become locked in a succession battle. The Goods are now weaving, and are determined to help.

Sweet and Sour Charity - Series 4, episode 27 (May 15, 1977) - When the Goods' neighbor moves, she leaves her heating oil tank full. Tom wants to take the oil, but Barbara is quite sure that that is stealing.

Anniversary - Series 4, episode 28 (May 22, 1977 & the last regular episode) - It's the Goods' two year anniversary of self-sufficiency, and they are ready to celebrate. Margot has installed a burglar alarm, but the people she keeps catching aren't the ones that should be caught...

I just purchased the DVD version of the Final Episode and the Royal Command Performance. After watching just the first disk, I am disappointed. This product has not been video remastered and some scenes are very hard to watch indeed. They seem to shimmer a slightly out of focus haze that is distracting and not the quality that we expect of a DVD. In this regard AcornMedia has cheated us and I probably will not buy the rest of the series on DVD.
Otherwise I agree with all of the other comments. Good Neighbors is an excellent show and a wonderful laugh.

What can I say about "Good Neighbors," or "The Good Life?" I own every episode that I can get on VHS. Now I own this DVD set with the added Royal Command Performance. I am waiting for the DVD release of the COMPLETE series. Come on BBC!

These episodes are wonderful. In "Away from it All" the Goods decide they've burned out of self-sufficiency and decide to take a break. I love the role reversal in this with the Ledbetter's. One word, "flollopy."
"The Green Door" also has some great twists. Margo is doing something secretly and the Good's curiosity runs rampant. The other episodes are great also. "Sweet and Sour Charity" has great Margo moments, and "Anniversary" sums it all up so nicely. "When I'm 65" the Royal Command Performance was great! After the lead in of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, there are some backstage shots and welcoming of the cast. You even get a glimpse of Felicity Kendal's son giving the queen a bouquet. Interesting narrative on facts surrounding the show. The episode itself involves Tom's worries about their retirement. The scene at the bank is pure "Good." Then Jerry challenges Tom to a race to see who is more physically fit. I already owned the final season on VHS, but I recommend the DVD for the extras.

Highly enjoyable British comedy made in the late 70's. The humor is engaging, and if you are a fan of such shows as "Are You Being Served?" no doubt you will enjoy this set. My main gripe is that why in the world did the BBC start DVD distribution with the final installments of the series? Paul Eddington is superb as is the rest of the cast. Enjoy!

I caught this show back in the mid '80's on PBS and have been wearing my videotape copies down to where they are barely watchable anymore. Thank the powers that be that someone finally got around to releasing this series (or part of it, anyway) on DVD. My question is, where's the rest of it? I just emailed the distributor, and they said there are no current plans to release the rest of the series on this format. ???

I love the series and have the video tapes. My only complaint is why why did they start with the final season. This makes no sense. If you are a fan of the show than you know that one episode blends into the next. It is almost like seeing a movie you have been waiting to see and only getting to watch the last 5 minutes. I hope BBC gets its act together and fixes this.

Acorn Media has done the fans of Good Neighbors (known in the UK as The Good Life) a disservice with their transcription of the final series onto two DVDs. Please bear in mind when reading this review that this is my favorite British comedy, ahead even of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

The quality of the pictures is no better than fair. I could tolerate that, because my set of off-the-air VHS tapes has been played so much that the images are almost Impressionist pastels. I was irritated that the bonus material is of such paucity as to be not worth your time; you can find out more about the show and its players from the Internet Moive Database than you can from the DVD. But even this is bearable.

What roused my anger was the fact that these brand new disks arrived in their original shrinkwrap but will not play properly. Of the eight episodes provided, only three would play without trouble. Of the remaining five, none would play normally; you get a portion of an episode, and then for unknown reasons the disk starts skipping as if you were fast-forwarding at 16 time normal speed. One episode would not play at all. And in the case of the bonus material, one part plays only in skip mode while the other won't play at all.

I have waited a long time for a DVD set of Good Neighbors that could replace my worn-out VHS tapes. It now appears that I will have to wait until BBC America deigns to produce a complete set of DVDs of one of their most popular comedies ever, before I will be able to view Good Neighbors as it originally aired.

I saw this series when it came to US TV some years ago (thank you, forever, PBS). I loved it then. I love it now. I've got the whole collection, finally.

Stars: Tom & Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal - whom I worship, and Margo & Jerry Leadbetter, played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

I also saw Felicity Kendal in a PBS replay of the BBC Shakespeare series with her starring as Viola in "Twelfth Night" and was so impressed that I named a daughter after her.

Felicity (and the other cast members) are believable, funny, and always in trouble, love, etc., with each other.

The setting... Tom & Barbara move to a ritzy neighborhood and start a farm... well, more like they decide to "live off the land." Try that in a swank neighborhood and I'm sure you'll end up with some of the problems they had.

Totally hysterical. Very funny. A must see. Own it if you can. Definitely for the whole family.

Whoops! I ment to enter this review on the full set "Good Neighbors - The Complete Series 1-3" which (hopefully) contains all episodes, not just the final year. Please read the following in that context...

This was a great and funny show! Other reviewers have already pointed out the things that made it so. I just want to add that I hope that the DVD includes all the episodes IN ORDER! The VHS tapes just threw various episodes together for no apparent reason. The episodes must be watched in order as the story and characters evolve as the show goes on. It even has a final episode of sorts (I don't want to give anything away). The only shows I found a little disappointing were the two 'extra episodes'. I believe one was a Christmas special and the other was a command performance of some sort. I felt that both were a little forced and not up to the quality of the regular season shows. The first time I saw Good Neighbors was when PBS aired it in the 1970s. At the time they were showing Good Neighbors and Faulty Towers back to back. A few years ago my (now adult) kids bought me the tapes of both because they still remembered how hard I laughed at those shows. Buy this DVD (and the Faulty Towers set) and you'll laugh too!

Penelope Keith is the TV equivalent of film's Maggie Smith. Going from brittle and castigating to touching and sincere, Keith's Margo Leadbetter is a brilliant creation of character and attitude.

This ensemble show has been a staple on PBS for years and deserves a long video life. It is a surprise that no one considered remaking this for American TV. I don't think it would work as well since part of the fun involves the very British barbs and personalities in each episode.

The peak episode of the series involves a windbreak that Margo wishes to install in her garden. Keith has a brilliant three-minute monologue on why she has no sense of humor that demonstrates her skills as an actress and the unexpected depth of the script.