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Fine Romance (Episodes 1-9), A
Acorn Media // Unrated // September 24, 2002
List Price: $39.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
British comedy as a whole tends to have a different flavor than comedy from the United States: sometimes more absurd, sometimes more dry and witty. A Fine Romance falls somewhere in the middle, as an amusing yet restrained tale of two middle-aged people trying to find love... but discovering that it's a difficult process indeed. It's a story with a generous dose of charm, a comedy about characters who are thoroughly likeable even if they themselves find each other a bit hard to live with at times.
Judi Dench co-stars in the series with her real-life husband, the late Michael Williams, as Laura and Mike, two single misfits who are thrust together by the matchmaking of Laura's well-intentioned (and happily married) sister. A Fine Romance follows the couple from their first meeting onward, as the two find a genuine companionship developing out of their first awkward and bumbling interactions. Unsurprisingly, Dench does an excellent job of bringing her character to life, showing Laura as a prickly and independent figure who has both a soft side and some definite quirks in her personality. In fact, Dench earned a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in A Fine Romance.
A Fine Romance actually has quite a lot in common with the U.S. comedy Seinfeld, despite taking place a decade earlier, a continent apart, and in an entirely different social circle. To begin with, A Fine Romance is, like its illustrious successor, a show "about nothing": that is, each episode focuses on small, even trivial events such as going to a restaurant, dealing with people at a party, or deciding what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon. But it's the small scale of events that in itself helps endear the characters to the viewers: being the odd one out at a party may not be headline news, but to anyone who has experienced it, it's quite significant at the time. A Fine Romance picks up on the humorous elements of these little day-to-day disasters and dilemmas, making the situations accessible to viewers as well as entertaining.
Also like Seinfeld, A Fine Romance derives its humor from the quirks of its rather socially inept characters. Mike and Laura are two odd ducks who not only don't quite know how to behave with each other, they really don't do so well with coping with the world at large. Combine these two slightly oddball characters with ordinary situations, give a little push to get things going, and the situation quickly becomes amusing. The show balances nicely between introducing a touch of absurdity and letting things go overboard.
A Fine Romance isn't roll-on-the-floor-laughing material, but it's charming and funny in a quiet way. It's also interesting to watch for its continuing storyline: rather than the typical "comedy stasis" in which the events of each episode apparently take place in a vacuum, A Fine Romance progresses from the events of one episode to the next. An epic story it's not, but it's interesting to watch knowing that the events of one episode will carry over into the next.
Video
A Fine Romance is presented in its original television 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The 1981 show appears on DVD in a respectable middle-of-the-road transfer. The picture is generally bright and attractive; colors are a bit subdued but accurate. There's some noise in the picture, and outdoor scenes are distinctly grainy; fortunately the action takes place almost entirely indoors, where the image quality is considerably better. All in all, it's a transfer that should satisfy viewers, especially any who are used to seeing it on VHS.
Audio
The Dolby 2.0 track is sufficient for the dialogue-centric sound of A Fine Romance. The characters' voices come across clearly and cleanly; as for music, the song in the opening sequence, sung by Judi Dench herself, is quite charming. Unfortunately, there's no option to hear the episodes without the laugh track.
Extras
Acorn Media's first release of A Fine Romance contains the first nine 30-minute episodes, from the 1981 season. It's packaged as a two-disc set, which strikes me as excessive: with only four half-hour episodes on the first disc and five on the second, it could easily have been produced as a slimmer one-disc edition. Special features are fairly limited, consisting of cast and crew biographies, and text notes on the writer and production.
Final thoughts
A Fine Romance is a humane kind of comedy, finding gentle humor in everyday situations. Judi Dench and Michael Williams believably bring to life characters who are by nature the kind of people who will get themselves into sticky situations just by going through their daily lives. For viewers looking for a light and cheerful comedy series, A Fine Romance is recommended.
Judi Dench co-stars in the series with her real-life husband, the late Michael Williams, as Laura and Mike, two single misfits who are thrust together by the matchmaking of Laura's well-intentioned (and happily married) sister. A Fine Romance follows the couple from their first meeting onward, as the two find a genuine companionship developing out of their first awkward and bumbling interactions. Unsurprisingly, Dench does an excellent job of bringing her character to life, showing Laura as a prickly and independent figure who has both a soft side and some definite quirks in her personality. In fact, Dench earned a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in A Fine Romance.
A Fine Romance actually has quite a lot in common with the U.S. comedy Seinfeld, despite taking place a decade earlier, a continent apart, and in an entirely different social circle. To begin with, A Fine Romance is, like its illustrious successor, a show "about nothing": that is, each episode focuses on small, even trivial events such as going to a restaurant, dealing with people at a party, or deciding what to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon. But it's the small scale of events that in itself helps endear the characters to the viewers: being the odd one out at a party may not be headline news, but to anyone who has experienced it, it's quite significant at the time. A Fine Romance picks up on the humorous elements of these little day-to-day disasters and dilemmas, making the situations accessible to viewers as well as entertaining.
Also like Seinfeld, A Fine Romance derives its humor from the quirks of its rather socially inept characters. Mike and Laura are two odd ducks who not only don't quite know how to behave with each other, they really don't do so well with coping with the world at large. Combine these two slightly oddball characters with ordinary situations, give a little push to get things going, and the situation quickly becomes amusing. The show balances nicely between introducing a touch of absurdity and letting things go overboard.
A Fine Romance isn't roll-on-the-floor-laughing material, but it's charming and funny in a quiet way. It's also interesting to watch for its continuing storyline: rather than the typical "comedy stasis" in which the events of each episode apparently take place in a vacuum, A Fine Romance progresses from the events of one episode to the next. An epic story it's not, but it's interesting to watch knowing that the events of one episode will carry over into the next.
Video
A Fine Romance is presented in its original television 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The 1981 show appears on DVD in a respectable middle-of-the-road transfer. The picture is generally bright and attractive; colors are a bit subdued but accurate. There's some noise in the picture, and outdoor scenes are distinctly grainy; fortunately the action takes place almost entirely indoors, where the image quality is considerably better. All in all, it's a transfer that should satisfy viewers, especially any who are used to seeing it on VHS.
Audio
The Dolby 2.0 track is sufficient for the dialogue-centric sound of A Fine Romance. The characters' voices come across clearly and cleanly; as for music, the song in the opening sequence, sung by Judi Dench herself, is quite charming. Unfortunately, there's no option to hear the episodes without the laugh track.
Extras
Acorn Media's first release of A Fine Romance contains the first nine 30-minute episodes, from the 1981 season. It's packaged as a two-disc set, which strikes me as excessive: with only four half-hour episodes on the first disc and five on the second, it could easily have been produced as a slimmer one-disc edition. Special features are fairly limited, consisting of cast and crew biographies, and text notes on the writer and production.
Final thoughts
A Fine Romance is a humane kind of comedy, finding gentle humor in everyday situations. Judi Dench and Michael Williams believably bring to life characters who are by nature the kind of people who will get themselves into sticky situations just by going through their daily lives. For viewers looking for a light and cheerful comedy series, A Fine Romance is recommended.
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