MovieChat Forums > As Time Goes By (1992) Discussion > Carefully crafted show...with one seriou...

Carefully crafted show...with one serious flaw.

posted 12 years ago by dansherry43
30 replies | jump to latest

I loved 90% of this programme. Watching Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer was a delight. Perfect characterisation, good dialogue and terrific production values.

The programme let itself down by placing too many key plot deciders on the absolutely dreadful, laughable and ludicrous son-in-law character, Alastair. Completely stupid situations (eg Let me give you a lift home, or better still come to Edinburgh tonight with me and we'll be back tomorrow, (yuk). or 'I'll just ring my chum and get you two first class tickets on tonights fully booked flight to Mauritius' (uuughh!). or 'I've got a friend who's a Hollywood Producer and you can write the screenplay for a film of your life in Kenya'. Just plain stupid!

How could such a wonderfully crafted programe let itself down so badly? I didn't start to get it.

Such a shame!

[–] Rachael (1) a year ago

I think the worst person on the show is Lionel!
What on earth does Jean see him 38 years later? He's so grumpy,completely devoid of humor,is never on Jeans side and is cold as ice with rarely any display of warmth and affection.
I find him quite unlikeable.

[–] GlenEllyn (21660) a year ago

It's what the character was meant to be, and Geoffrey Palmer played it so well. I think his sarcastic take on humor was key to my enjoyment of the series.

[–] GlenEllyn (21660) a year ago

Alistair can be annoying at times, but as others have said, he is a generous person and there are times when he helps move things along. I didn't like the episodes when he was chasing Jean, but that was early on, and I think the Alistair character settled in once that storyline had passed.

The one thing I didn't like about Alistair's character is his constant hitting on almost every woman he came across.