Markup View

Author: AgProv

Feb 10th 2013 at 9:40:50 AM

Live TV: ''{{Men Behaving Badly}}''. This show about feckless man-children Gary and Tony  ran for over ten series. It is entirely plausible that two guys in their early twenties would be immature, socially inept, incapable of dealing with women, and generally being ''lads''. In young men, this might even be somewhat endearing and have added to the somewhat soiled charm of the show.

But in two men past thirty-five and seeing forty approaching, with two despairing girlfriends getting older and wondering when they'll finally grow up...  this kind of  behaviour gets not so much endearing as embarrassing. The series recognised it all had to end, as there was a growing plausibility gap. Tony metamorphosed  into middle-aged fogey overnight, and Gary realised that to keep Dorothy - and find a new career - he'd have to shape up. It is interesting that since the demise of the series thatr made his name, a middle-aged Martin Clunes (Gary) has played responsible sober characters like undertakers and doctors.