When good TV goes bad: Goodnight Sweetheart

At the start the sitcom was a compelling comment on male insecurity, but it soon descended into cartoonish plotlinesThe 1990s were an innocent time. Tony Blair was a god, Donald Trump was a joke and the world felt hopeful. It really did seem as though things could only get better. In 1992, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama went so far as to publish a book called The End of History and the Last Man arguing that the triumph of liberal democracy marked a new age of stable government and sunlit uplands. The only real worry was whether you preferred Blur or Oasis. So it was perhaps inevitable that into this comfortable stupor popped Gary Sparrow, a time-travelling bigamist TV repair engineer from Cricklewood.Gary, played by the affable Nicholas Lyndhurst, was the protagonist of Goodnight Sweetheart, one of the most successful sitcoms of that halcyon decade. In it, Gary is a man behaving boringly who is unsure about his role in this confusing modern world where women like his wife Yvonne have the temerity to study psychology instead of cook his dinner. Luckily, he discovers that he can leave this hellish peace and equality behind and travel back to the more exciting East End of the early 40s, where men were men and innocent people died by the thousand. He then does what any of us would do if we’d just discovered the secret of time travel, and shags the first person he sees. This person is Phoebe, a pub landlord’s daughter, who becomes Gary’s other wife. And so begins his... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-01 12:00:23 UTC ]
News tagged with: #travel back #time travel #high concept

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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'A Book Is a Gift Like No Other,' Says Barnes & Noble (See the Newest Ads on TV)

Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'A Book Is a Gift Like No Other,' Says Barnes & Noble (Watch the Newest Ads on TV)

Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Flanagan, Murakami and Cunningham on Bad Sex shortlist

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[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PBS will live-stream three days of events from this month's Miami Book Fair. Will it become appointment viewing for the mass market? The post Will the Miami Book Fair Become Must-See TV? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indie Comics: Easier To Build, Easier To Get On TV, And More Diverse Than Ever

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[ Fast Company | 2014-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Advertising Age | 2014-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ AdWeek | 2014-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ AdWeek | 2014-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ AdWeek | 2014-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Wired | 2014-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Audio Book Club Is a Bad Feminist

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[ Slate | 2014-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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