Deja vu

I’ve always been a fan of comfort reading; but the lockdown has made me comfort-watch old TV shows as well

Regular readers of this column will know that I tend to bang on a bit about comfort reading. Well, in my defence, it is one of my favourite things to do in times of stress (and even otherwise), and it has kept me sane through many insane moments in my life. So, it wasn’t entirely surprising that the moment we were forced into lockdown by the coronavirus, I fell back on my usual crutch.

So, I spent weeks, and then months, re-discovering some of my favourite books. I read the Donna Leon mysteries set in scenic Venice to get the travel fix I could not get otherwise. I enjoyed the halcyon English countryside that forms the backdrop of so many Elizabeth George suspense novels. I transported myself back in time and space as I waded through all my old Georgette Heyers and Agatha Christies.

And it was only when I had exhausted all the possibilities available on my bookshelves that it occurred to me that I could do exactly the same thing with my TV viewing – and by TV, I obviously mean the various streaming services we are so slavishly devoted to these days. Instead of constantly looking out for something new and interesting to watch, I could hunt down old favourites and binge-watch them instead. And maybe comfort watching would turn out to be just as soothing as comfort reading.

Well guess what? It was exactly that – and more. Even though I had forgotten some of the plot twists and characters involved, just the act of dipping back into a familiar show evoked not just a sense of nostalgia, but also well-being.

The first series that I chose to re-watch was The West Wing. It had been one of my favourite shows when it was first aired on Indian television. And then, a few years later, I had bought the entire box set to introduce it to my husband, who loved it as well. So, it made perfect sense to delve right back into the idealized world of President Bartlett and his merry men and women when we were looking for a series that would take us through the weeks of lockdown (that was before we realized it would be months, not weeks).

And I must say, it worked a treat. Every evening we would enter into the world of American politics, leaving our own cares behind, and watch as Leo clashed with Toby, the sexual tension between Josh and Donna grew so thick as to obscure other plot points, and President Bartlett tried to save the world, one global crisis at a time. What came as a revelation was that so little had changed since we first watched the series. There are still border tensions between India and Pakistan, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is still raging, and the issue of abortion is still a lightning rod in the United States.

Once we had ploughed our way through the entire seven seasons of The West Wing, it was time to move on to another favourite genre of ours: the legal drama. We had been early fans of LA Law (does anyone else even remember that?) and I had been a dedicated viewer of Ally McBeal. But while the first was not available on any streaming service, the latter – when I watched a couple of episodes – seemed curiously dated.

So, we fell back on another show we had enjoyed in the past: Boston Legal. Starring William Shatner, James Spader and Candice Bergen, this is not your standard legal drama. The plot lines – not to mention some characters – get increasingly bizarre with every episode, and political correctness just does not exist in this universe.

In fact, I would go so far to say that this series is very much a product of its time, with women being objectified at every turn, and sexual harassment being treated as normal workplace practice. Nobody would dare make such a show in these post-Me Too times, and some of it certainly makes for uncomfortable viewing. But if you can get past that (though it did get me hot and bothered at times) it is a barrel of laughs.

As we embark upon our fifth month of lockdown, we have started on our next comfort watch. Well, comfort watch for me, that is, given that my husband has never watched a single episode of the Sopranos. Until now he had been leery to take on the commitment of watching six seasons of a show but now that long, empty evenings stretch ahead of us every day, he agreed to take the plunge, saying that we would watch an episode or two, dipping in and out of the show over the next few weeks.

It took just 20 minutes of the first episode to get him hooked on this tale of the depressed mobster, played to devastating perfection by James Gandolfini, who starts going to the psychiatrist to deal with his panic attacks and depression. And now, like two addicts, we spend all day waiting for the TV to come on (never before 8 pm, is my iron-clad rule) so that we can disappear into the world of the New Jersey mob and all the shenanigans it gets up to.

We are down two seasons, with four more to go, and I am already starting to think about my next comfort watch. If you have any suggestions, do let me know.

  

Vintage viewing

Settle down for a full dose of nostalgia with some TV shows that never get old

A fortnight ago, I had listed my top reads of 2013 in my column. Since then, I am happy to report, I have had many readers mail me (or tweet to me) about how they bought some of the books on my list and enjoyed them very much. Some of them wrote in to ask if I could do a similar column, giving recommendations of TV shows.

Well, I thought about it and decided that I would draw up a list of my all-time favourite TV shows; but with just a teeny-tiny twist. I would only include classics of the genre, those that have survived through decades, and still make us smile with pleasure, if not laugh out loud. And for your convenience, I would divide them into easy categories.

Classic British Comedy

This is my go-to choice whenever I am in need of some cheering up. Nobody does comedy quite like the Brits, with their turn for self-deprecation, their flair for put-downs, and their take-no-prisoners attitude. My top pick in this category is Fawlty Towers, starring John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, the hotel manager who trundles from one disaster to another while his wife (Prunella Scales) looks on exasperatedly.

But given that only 12 episodes were ever made of the show, the box-set ends all too soon. That’s when I fall back on Drop The Dead Donkey, the TV series said to be based on the early days of Sky News. This is laugh-out loud funny, and quite timeless in its portrayal of a TV newsroom. Up next is Absolutely Fabulous (Ab Fab) created by my favourite British comedienne, Jennifer Saunders, and starring Saunders and Joanna Lumley, who play the truly bonkers duo, Edina and Patsy, as they blunder through the world of London PR and media in a champagne-induced haze.

Also worthy of mention: the Blackadder series, starring Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie; and the Jeeves and Wooster series, with Stephen Fry playing Jeeves to Laurie’s Wooster.

Legal Dramas

My addiction to this genre started with LA Law, which first aired in 1986, with its fabulous star cast of Corbin Bernsen, Susan Dey, Harry Hamlin, Jimmy Smits, Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker and many others. And once my appetite was whetted, there was no going back. Since then, I have devoured all five seasons of Ally McBeal many times over, especially the ones that feature Robert Downey Jr as Calista Flockhart’s love interest. The other legal show that had an almost parallel run, The Practice, is another perennial on my list. And now that Alan Shore and Denny Crane, who first made their appearance in The Practice have moved on to starring roles in Boston Legal, I am guessing that I will be investing in that box-set soon as well. (And no, it’s not a coincidence that all these shows were the handiwork of David E Kelley.)

Detective Shows

My all-time favourite in this category is Remington Steele, which launched the career of an absurdly young Pierce Brosnan, who played the eponymous title role (a conman who is hired to be head of a detective agency by its female owner, played by Stephanie Zimbalist). Combining elements of suspense thrillers, romantic comedies, and sit-coms, this series changed the way detective dramas played out on television. Coming a close second is Moonlighting, starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd as David Addison Jr and Maddie Hayes. Maddie is a former model who is left bankrupt and forced to make a living by running the detective agency she once owned as a tax write-off along with her partner, Addison. This was probably one of the first series to combine drama and comedy – now called ‘dramedy’ – and the writing still sparkles many decades later.

Across the Atlantic, the detective stories that I never tire of watching are those featuring those two timeless characters created by Agatha Christie: Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Miss Marple was first played on screen by Margaret Rutherford, and then by Angela Lansbury (who went on to find fame in Murder, She Wrote) but I infinitely prefer the version played by Joan Hickson, in the BBC TV series. Again, my favourite Poirot is David Suchet, but you should watch them all (Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Tony Randall, etc.) and make up your own mind.

American Sit-Coms

Cheers is probably one of the first shows that I ever saw, and even three decades later, it never fails to amuse. But it is its spin-off, Frasier, starring Kelsey Grammar as Frasier Crane, which really tops my list of favourites. The writing is laced with wit and humour, the characters are well fleshed-out in their eccentricities and foibles, and the comic timing of all the actors is impeccable. This is truly a show that never ages.

But then, nor does Friends, which I have seen so often that I know all the punch lines by heart. Or even Will and Grace, starring Debra Messing and Eric McCormack, the first TV series about an openly gay character, which made the Cameron Tucker-Mitchell Pritchett pairing of Modern Family possible.

Drama Series

There really is no contest in this category. My all-time favourite here is West Wing, the drama series which ran for seven seasons (1999-2006), starring Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlett, and with a superb ensemble cast that included Rob Lowe, Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney, John Spencer and Janel Maloney. Written by the gifted Aaron Sorkin, this series gives us both an insight into American politics and a glimpse of an idealized world in which ideals matter more than realpolitik. An absolute must-watch!