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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&amp;#039;Drama" data-source="post: 341584" data-attributes="member: 23">The Upper Hand&#039;s Fifth Series closed with Charlie&#039;s proposal to Caroline, followed by Caroline&#039;s proposal to Charlie.Unfortunately, it feels very much like a case that a little something was possibly lost in translation. I haven&#039;t watched the equivalent WTB episodes, but I&#039;ll take a guess or two:In Who&#039;s The Boss?, Tony causing Angela serious bodily damage by allowing her to cycle (or perhaps ski) down a dangerous slope might have been passable because (with all respect) the Tony character seems endearingly vacuous at times. It&#039;s part of his charm. In The Upper Hand, Charlie watching Caroline damage herself while having a conversation with Laura and the kids feels more knowing and deliberate.Likewise, his messing up the business with the ring feels quite in character for Tony, less so for Charlie.Charlie moping over his friend&#039;s death felt overly self-indulgent and reminded me of Knots Landing&#039;s Mack making Laura&#039;s death all about him with his mid-life crisis and mysterious disappearance. Likewise, his moping in his dressing gown after Caroline turned his proposal down. It&#039;s an overreaction that might have been somewhat acceptable with Tony Danza&#039;s endearing, one-note daftness, but made Charlie look childish and attention-seeking.Worst of all for me was the passive-aggressive plan to coerce Caroline into chasing him round, first by accompanying him to the match, then by proposing to him. And even then he made her squirm a little more. It&#039;s standard sitcom stuff, with Laura getting involved and everything. If played right it could have been sweet and endearing, however Charlie lacks Tony&#039;s innocent charm and so here it all felt rather calculated, manipulative and ugly. Frankly when he didn&#039;t accept her proposal outright I was rooting for her to say &quot;Sod you, then&quot;, get up and walk away.Ah well.The running order of episodes compared with the Who&#039;s The Boss? equivalent fascinates me. Two of the episodes we&#039;ve already seen in The Upper Hand aired after Tony and Angela&#039;s engagement in the American version. The one with Jo/Sam posing as Al&#039;s wife is fine, since that&#039;s a &quot;filler&quot; episode, but the episode Who&#039;s The Boss? (as opposed to the series) was an important one in the power struggle between the leading couple. Changing its placement also changes the dynamics. Neither feels wrong in my mind. I&#039;m just curious to see if the post-engagement power struggle shows itself in some other way in the British version.Yes. Although I&#039;d have been too young to remember the series&#039; original transmission (and how refreshing for me to be too young for anything these days), I&#039;m surprised I&#039;ve no recollection of it from repeats.I&#039;d definitely be up for watching this on DVD if a sensibly priced copy becomes available. Although Amazon says the set isn&#039;t discontinued it looks like it is. The price tracker indicates new copies haven&#039;t&nbsp; been in stock for over a year.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 341584, member: 23"] [I]The Upper Hand's[/I] Fifth Series closed with Charlie's proposal to Caroline, followed by Caroline's proposal to Charlie. Unfortunately, it feels very much like a case that a little something was possibly lost in translation. I haven't watched the equivalent WTB episodes, but I'll take a guess or two: In [I]Who's The Boss?[/I], Tony causing Angela serious bodily damage by allowing her to cycle (or perhaps ski) down a dangerous slope might have been passable because (with all respect) the Tony character seems endearingly vacuous at times. It's part of his charm. In [I]The Upper Hand,[/I] Charlie watching Caroline damage herself while having a conversation with Laura and the kids feels more knowing and deliberate. Likewise, his messing up the business with the ring feels quite in character for Tony, less so for Charlie. Charlie moping over his friend's death felt overly self-indulgent and reminded me of [I]Knots Landing's[/I] Mack making Laura's death all about him with his mid-life crisis and mysterious disappearance. Likewise, his moping in his dressing gown after Caroline turned his proposal down. It's an overreaction that [I][U]might[/U][/I] have been somewhat acceptable with Tony Danza's endearing, one-note daftness, but made Charlie look childish and attention-seeking. Worst of all for me was the passive-aggressive plan to coerce Caroline into chasing him round, first by accompanying him to the match, then by proposing to [U][I]him[/I][/U]. And even then he made her squirm a little more. It's standard sitcom stuff, with Laura getting involved and everything. If played right it could have been sweet and endearing, however Charlie lacks Tony's innocent charm and so here it all felt rather calculated, manipulative and ugly. Frankly when he didn't accept her proposal outright I was rooting for her to say "Sod you, then", get up and walk away. Ah well. The running order of episodes compared with the [I]Who's The Boss?[/I] equivalent fascinates me. Two of the episodes we've already seen in[I] The Upper Hand[/I] aired [I]after[/I] Tony and Angela's engagement in the American version. The one with Jo/Sam posing as Al's wife is fine, since that's a "filler" episode, but the [B]episode[/B] [I]Who's The Boss?[/I] (as opposed to the series) was an important one in the power struggle between the leading couple. Changing its placement also changes the dynamics. Neither feels wrong in my mind. I'm just curious to see if the post-engagement power struggle shows itself in some other way in the British version. Yes. Although I'd have been too young to remember the series' original transmission (and how refreshing for me to be too young for [U][I]anything[/I][/U] these days), I'm surprised I've no recollection of it from repeats. I'd definitely be up for watching this on DVD if a sensibly priced copy becomes available. Although Amazon says the set [I]isn't[/I] discontinued it looks like it is. The price tracker indicates new copies haven't been in stock for over a year. [/QUOTE]

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