Blackadder II - Blackadder, Season 2

It is difficult to decide whether I prefer Season 2 or Season 3 of Blackadder, but one thing I know for certain is that in Blackadder II, Rowan Atkinson is hot. That's right, I said it. Suddenly he has sex appeal, something which I never would have thought possible. It is not just his charm, which I do associate with him; instead, I believe it has something to do with his facial hair and those renaissance breeches and hoes.

We find Edmund Blackadder (Atkinson) in Renaissance England, a friend of Queen Elizabeth (played by the delightful Miranda Richardson). Here, he is very clever, easily outwitting his servant Baldrick (Tony Robinson), whose family has clearly become more dense over the years. Percy (Tim McInnerny), meanwhile, is delightfully foppish, and the addition of Stephen Fry as Lord Melchett completes a dynamic ensemble.

If such talent were not enough, the writing too has improved. Certainly, some of the humour is still over the top, but the brilliance of weaving the obvious with the witty as Blackadder pursues a young woman called Bob, whom he believes to be a young man, will make you laugh for days. Sure, that didn't start happening on stage until the restoration, but who doesn't associate the beginnings of drag with Shakespeare - when men fell in love with young men whom they believed to be young women.

The best episode of the season is the last, as is often the case, in which Hugh Laurie makes an appearance as Prince Ludwig the Indestructible. A terrific master of disguise, he surprises both Blackadder and Lord Melchett with revelations of previous encounters with them - none of them are what you would expect, and all of them are hilarious.

How can you go wrong with such a combination of wit, talent, and sexy clothes?

The Black Adder - Black Adder, Season 1

Rowan Atkinson may be best known in North America for his work as Mr. Bean, but to pigeon-hole him as an actor capable only of mute slapstick humour means to miss out on far better, far funnier work. The Black Adder, the first season of his historic comedy series, takes place just after the War of the Roses, and for fans of Richard III, the set up is already enough to win you.

Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, known as the Black Adder (Atkinson) is the son of King Richard IV (Brian Blessed), who was not murdered by his uncle, but became king when Richard III was accidentally killed despite his victory at the battle of Bosworth Field. Henry Tudor, apparently, was definitely not a hero, but his creative writing was even better than previously believed. A terrific premise, even though these 6 episodes were the weakest of the series.

Edmund is quite the useless twit, and he surrounds himself by similar people. If his servant, Baldrick (Tony Robinson), was not the slightest bit more intelligent than he, well, things might have been even more difficult for the young prince whose greatest desire was to take the throne from his father and older brother. His best friend, Percy (Tim McInnerny), was even stupider, if that is possible to believe.

Still, the humour was clever as well as low brow, and the balance results in a show which is suited to anyone who is a fan of British comedy. Edmund's plots and the inevitable results cannot fail but put a smile on your face, and the complex humour which results from an understanding of the historical period, as well as Shakespeare, may have you in stitches for hours.

If you like Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean, this season will impress you even more, and if you only know him as such, Black Adder will give you a reason to love him for so much more than he could ever show as a mute.

Why Watch Mad Men

For those of you who haven't heard of Mad Men, where have you been? On Sunday, the show won its second consecutive Emmy for best Drama. Now if that isn't enough to get your attention, here is my recommendation.

Mad Men is different. Wonderfully different. It's a period piece, starting off in 1960, that follows the lives of the men and women employed at Sterling Cooper, an ad agency of Madison Avenue. They take the accuracy seriously, with costumes that are just as uncomfortable as the clothes from that time, drinking and driving a common occurrence, and smoking a hobby everyone enjoys.

More than once, there are little jabs at our current sensibilities, whether comments such as everyone likes peanut butter or expressions that are not at all politically correct.

The world is clear and precise, and filled with all of life's difficulties.

Though our hero, Don Draper, and his fellow ad men sell happiness to America, they themselves do not have it. It is an illusion, and that is what they sell so successfully. These glimpses of their lives (and the stories are collections of moments themed for coherence rather than plots with simple rise and fall) are both depressing and enthralling. You can't but love the characters despite their flaws, even because of their flaws.

As a viewer, you see these characters, watch their lives, learn their secrets, and have hope for them. Hope they will somehow find happiness, whether it is unachievable because life is against them or they are against themselves, or even because it does not exist. But you hope, and you live for those moments when things go right.

Go and watch it right now.

Why Watch North and South

As you all know by now, at the very least from my memorial post on Tuesday morning, Patrick Swayze passed away. To honour his memory, this is my first "Why Watch" post, and it is about the miniseries which launched his career.

North and South is about the American Civil War. It follows two families; that of George Hazard (played by James Read) in the North, and Orry Main (Swayze) in the South. About 20 years before the Civil War breaks out, George and Orry become friends while training together at West Point. There families are close, despite George's crazy abolitionist sister and Orry's father owning of slaves.

Yes, the characters are cliches. All of the characters. Every single character is a representative of every single stereotype you could create for the era. It's why the series works so well together.

Besides, stereotypes are great teaching tools. You get all the extremes of the times, but you also see how well or badly they played off of each other.

Of course, George and Orry are the good guys. Ashton and Brett, Orry's sisters, are polar opposites - one manipulative, the other sweet and genuine. His neighbour Justin is a Simon Legris. Madeleine (Orry's love interest) is a sweet and educated woman who speaks her mind. The badguy is aptly named Bent. George's family is rife with it as well. Virgilia, the abolitionist; Stanley, his incompetent older brother; Isabel, Stanley's power-hungry wife; Constance, his beautiful Irish bride. These are characters you grow to love despite their faults, or love to hate because of them.

Watching this series taught me to understand the perspective of the South. Yes, they were wrong to have slaves, but they didn't know that. They didn't see that so clearly as we can now, and even if they did, they had no idea what to do about it. They also point out that the way the North treated their immigrants was not much better. Sure, technically they were free to go where they wanted, but they were so poor they had no choice but to stay where they were and live in conditions that were no better (if not worse) than slave quarters.

Also, this cast is more star-studded than Ocean's 11.

Kristie Alley, David Carradine, Genie Frances, Jonathan Frakes, Forrest Whitaker, Jean Simmons, and David Ogden Stiers are the now famous regulars (well Jean Simmons was famous then too).

The guest stars are even more impressive, with Hal Holbrook, Gene Kelly, Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Cash, Lloyd Bridges, Olivia de Havilland, and James Stewart.

So go and get a hold of North and South, Books I and II (There is a Book III, but it's terrible. You do not need to see it. Book II's ending is perfect. You do not want to see it; it ruins everything)