Box Populi Best Of The Modest Ones

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30897, 2 November 1965, Page 14

Box Populi Best Of The Modest Ones

There is a place In television for the modest programme. This is the kind of programme which begins without much advance publicity. It has no high overseas rating, it is simple and unpretentious, its characters are not well known, and its story does not excite violent controversy or discussion.

A modest programme is often neglected by many viewers because it is presented at an awkward viewing time—either too early of too late. It has no John Wilder or Dr. Kildare to be praised or condemned; there is nothing in it to criticise like “The Nurses” or “Coronation Street.” But it is usually worth watching just for its modesty and its lack of the so-called virtues of the bigger and more important programmes.

I am surprised that so few of my friends take time to watch two of the best of the modest programmes, “Meet the Wife,” and “No Time For Sergeants.” There are all kinds of reasons for their scornful dismissal of these British and American productions.

They don’t like English

domestic comedy, it is drab and unexciting, and those with bitter memories of the nonsense of “McHale’s Navy” have pre-conceived ideas about any comedy about life in the United States Air Force or any armed service.

When “Meet the Wife” was first announced I was prepared to dismiss it from my viewing. It seemed likely to be just a repetition of the irritating series, “Marriage Lines,” with an older married couple replacing the stupid Starlings. Thora Hird and Freddie Frinton were unknown, and their performance in the first episode. “The Bed,” suggested we would have to endure a series of second-rate farces rescued from the music hall.

GENUINE COMEDY But since then this quiet comedy about the North Country plumber and his wife has gained a firm place in my affections. The noisy farce of the first episode has been replaced by genuine comedy. The humour is homely—some of it is close to the plumber’s blocked kitchen sink—but the jokes never fall flat. The situations in which the Blacklocks become involved are appealing because they are so much like our own.

Many of us have had to rush to prepare for an evening out. have forgotten the tickets or have been delayed by small domestic disasters. “Meet the Wife” may be a modest programme, but it is a good one, except for the recorded background laughter which is not needed to add point to the jokes. In spite of their modesty the Blacklocks seem to have gained a following for the N.Z.B.C. has bought the second series. 1 am glad they will be with us for a long time. “No Time For Sergeants” is the other modest programme which viewers seem to disregard because it begins early on Saturday evening. Like “Meet the Wife” it has no claims to greatness; it seeks only to make us laugh. It does this most successfully. There are times when the adventures of Will Stockdale, his faithful friend Ben, Sergeant King, and Captain Martin, are uproariously funny. The humo..r is strictly basic, the situations are often stock, but there is something to laugh at in every episode.

FRESH APPROACH Life at an Air Force base is a wellborn subject for comedy; the fresh approach tn it in “No Time For Sergeants” has nut this modest

programme high on my list. I like Will Stockdale’s rustic simplicity and his infectious grin; the look of disgust on Sergeant King's face each time his hill-billy recruit provides another cross for him to bear; and the worries of Captain Martin who behaves so often like a hen with a bunch of unruly chickens. Simplicity is the keynote, and the result is far better than anything more sophisticated. “Let’s Sing Out” is another early programme which has made a modest return to my screen. The second series is as good as the first. Oscar Brand and the folk-singers who appear with him are professionals, but they seem to sing for enjoyment alone. Their singing is natural and spontaneous, and they deserve the happy response they get from their student audiences. Once again it seems strange that the N.Z.B.C. has not turned its attention to a programme of this kind. I can remember one programme of folk singing, but that was a long time ago. There are folksingers and audiences in the universities. Why not let them sing out in a modest programme which would grace the local screen. —Argus