Customer Reviews

Two's Company - Complete Series 4

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

American thriller author, Dorothy McNab (ably played by Elaine Stritch) has come to England to enjoy a slower place of life. Overall, it doesn't live up to her expectations, but at least (unlike Europe) people speak "American." But, she does need a butler to run her house for her. Who should walk through her door, but Robert (Donald Sinden), an extremely capable butler with a profound sense of superiority towards upstart colonials? The fur flies, and hilarity ensues as this unlike pair set up house together.

This is a great British comedy - one of my favorites, and my wife's all-time favorite! As a matter of fact, not long after we were first married, PBS began airing this great show, and I used it to introduce my bride to the joys of British humor (that is to say, "humour"). Overall, we found this to be a lot of fun, and enjoy watching it over and over again. So, if you want to see a fun and entertaining Britcom, then I highly recommend that you get this DVD. It's great!

By the way, this DVD includes all seven of the episodes from the fourth and final (1979) series. The shows of this series were great, but perhaps it was wisest to end the show when it was still at its height, rather than waiting for it to get stale. Anyway, this is a great set of shows, one that you really should get!

The seven episodes included on this DVD are:
The Club - 14 Jan 79 - When Robert boasts about his wonderful, men-only club, Dorothy bets Robert that she can successful penetrate this male lair.

The Clergy - 21 Jan 79 - It's a holy war, when Dorothy offers her valuable antique table as a donation to the church, and then finds herself besieged by an Anglican vicar, a Catholic priest and a Baptists minister!

The Salesman - 28 Jan 79 - When Dorothy allows an overly aggressive encyclopedia salesmen into her home, her and Robert are in for a very dubious treat.

The Visiting Scots - 4 Feb 79 - Dorothy's accountant is coming to straighten out her finances. Unfortunately, Dorothy's drunken Scottish cousin and his friend show up and really turn things upside down!

The Silence - 11 Feb 79 - When Robert selects some very ugly tile for his kitchen, their fight degenerates into stone-cold silence. Now, how do they operate if they are not communicating?

The Rolls-Royce - 25 Feb 79 - Dorothy wants to buy a new car, and to Robert's horror she is looking at an American car! What Roberts must have is...a Rolls-Royce!

The Friendly Aristocrats - 4 Mar 79 - A wonderful weekend is planned for Dorothy at a historic country home, but Robert doesn't want to go as he would be expected to serve the entire house. However, when the host and hostess mistake Robert for Dorothy's lover, a hilarious situation goes from bad to worse.

Commissioned by London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1975, TWO'S COMPANY starred the divine Elaine Stritch as Dorothy McNab, an American mystery novelist living and working in London, who takes on the stuffy, oh-so-teddibly British Robert (Donald Sinden) as her butler. Sparks fly when Dorothy, who is under the false belief that everyone is meant to have equal footing in this life, is "instructed" by Robert in the correct way (ie: HIS way) of running a household. Madly bashing away at the typewriter, Dorothy needs an organised and relaxed home life...but she never counted on tightly-wound Robert. Just WHO is the help and who is the boss?!

Wickedly scripted by Bill MacIllwraith, TWO'S COMPANY offered viewers of British comedy something a little more sophisticated and biting than the usual fare, with the humour extending from the dry wordplay between Dorothy and Robert. The show came during one of Elaine Stritch's most prolific periods of her professional career. She had chiefly relocated to London for the successful West End transfer of "Company", but decided to stay in the country on a full-time basis when she married English actor John Bay. Setting up housekeeping at the Savoy Hotel no less, Stritch was the darling of the London talk show circuit, starred as Aunt Polly in a miniseries of "Pollyanna" for the BBC, and of course remained as the acerbic Dorothy for three more series of TWO'S COMPANY.

The 4th and final series of TWO'S COMPANY includes the following episodes:

"The Club" - Wily Dorothy schemes to get her foot in the door of an exclusive old-school Gentleman's Club, in order to win a bet with Robert...

"The Clergy" - Dorothy spends an evening entertaining three ministers who each have their minds set on hefty donations...

"The Salesman" - Robert and Dorothy fend off a most peculiar door-to-door encyclopedia salesman...

"The Visiting Scots" - Bedlam erupts when Dorothy's drunken Scottish cousin arrives for a stay...

"The Silence" - Robert chooses a vulgar green Oriental-print tile for the redesign of the kitchen, causing Dorothy to resort to drastic measures...

"The Rolls-Royce" - When it comes to cars, it HAS to be a Rolls. Robert uses all his cunning to make Dorothy share his viewpoint...

"The Friendly Aristocrats" - Whilst visiting friends in the country, Dorothy decides to spare Robert the bother of having to maintain his butler duties by pretending they are married...

I liked this dvd since it showed some of England's countryside but, it was one season too long. The actress Mary Tyler Moore of the successful tv series,"The Mary Tyler Moore" wisely ended her show at the height of its popularity and I feel that,"Two's Company" should've done the same thing. This is something that many shows do and they lose their popularity and their ratings fall. A great show that just ran one season too long!