THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 5, 1995 TAG: 9506050038
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Two or so decades ago a young fellow in whom I took a somewhat fatherly interest competed in college in a marathon of watching TV for several consecutive hours.
``If you pull another such stunt,'' I said. ``don't expect ever to - ''
``To what?'' he asked.
``To watch it in this house. I'll fling the TV out the attic window.''
About noon Saturday there flashed upon WHRO-TV an opening scene of ``Are You Being Served?'' - the funniest sitcom ever hatched, British or American.
I sank on the sofa to watch - and lay inert through 11 episodes. The pleas for funds did not offend me. Anything to keep that series running has my blessing. (WHRO has the rights to 77 episodes.)
Anything that interferes with its week-night showings at 11 p.m. has my blasphemy. When an encore of Ken Burns' series on baseball knocks AYBS off the air, I fall into a sullen snit - and turn off the TV.
When Bill Moyers casts the nets of his soulful sermons at 11 p.m., I remove him mid-sentence.
The same banishment befalls Live from Lincoln Center or Live from the Met or Live from the Antarctic if they intrude at 11 p.m. They are all offed in an instant with a turn of the power knob.
I do not care, while ``Are You Being Served?'' should be on the air, to be documentaried or uplifted or cast down or turned every which way but loose. I want to laugh, which happens even in its reruns.
One catches rapid-fire lines missed earlier and savors the play of feelings on the faces of a gifted cast of clerks in men's and women's ready-to-wear apparel in London's Grace Brothers Department Store.
A dozen regulars are on the show, including a slew of obnoxious customers and supercilious superiors with whom the clerks cross words when they leave off skewering each other in a fine blend of farce, slapstick and sophisticated comedy.
The first senior clerk to confront me was Mrs. Slocombe, a lewd old warrior. What shocked me was her lime-green hairdo. Never mind, it changed each week through more shades than a rainbow can boast.
She is the first to speak out against a challenge, drawing up, proclaiming. ``I am myself UNANIMOUS!'' True, because at such moments she is legion.
Captain Peacock, pompous floor-walker, is a former corporal risen through the ranks merely in his own mind. All characters are outrageous; yet, in a crisis they draw themselves and viewers together as a family. Station manager Mary Pruess says AYBS always scores among the top 10, evident in viewers' tumultuous response Saturday.
Midway, the collegiate marathoner called to say: `` `Are You Being Served' is playing all afternoon!''
``Thanks,'' I said and hung up. No point in chitchat. Didn't want to miss a word of the show, you know. ILLUSTRATION: Mrs. Slocombe's hair is ever-changing.
by CNB