( The fandom meme, if anyone's interested )
Day 4 - Your favourite show
Rather than talk about a current show, I'm choosing to define this question as 'the show I have loved longest' since surely longevity is a sign of something? So, for me there's only one choice and that choice is Man from UNCLE.
I first fell in love with UNCLE back in the 1970's, when BBC2 aired a load of the episodes at tea time, which was always something to look forward to when I got home from school. The same timeslot also saw shows like Monkey and The Water Margin get an airing, so I always associate these shows with that time, in the same way that while I was at university it was re-runs of The Champions and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) that I was watching after morning lectures.
Likewise, it was Illya Kuryakin I fell for, since at the time I didn't think that smarmy fellow Napoleon was good enough for him or appreciated him enough - in time, I've come to understand that Mr Solo has his own charms but it took time for that to happen. Looking back, the episode I remember most vividly was 'The Arabian Affair' (for non-fans, that's one where Illya ends up in the desert and convinces the locals that he's the son of Lawrence of Arabia, as well as getting stabbed in the leg at one point, and cuts a dashing figure in white robes and burnoose).
It would be easy to dismiss UNCLE and have moved on to shows that might seem more sophisticated to the outsider; even the folks who love the show will admit that it plumbed the depths of cheesiness in its third season. But the overall premise is sound, the chalk-and-cheese main characters remain attractive and engaging in all sorts of ways, and it's a universe that is immensely fun to play in. We don't get to see how Illya and Napoleon first met (and even if the movie goes there, for me nothing is going to make me accept it as canon) and there's always room for more exploration of their relationship, regardless of what spin you might put on it. 40 years worth of exploration to date, with no sign of that stopping any time soon.
Day 4 - Your favourite show
Rather than talk about a current show, I'm choosing to define this question as 'the show I have loved longest' since surely longevity is a sign of something? So, for me there's only one choice and that choice is Man from UNCLE.
I first fell in love with UNCLE back in the 1970's, when BBC2 aired a load of the episodes at tea time, which was always something to look forward to when I got home from school. The same timeslot also saw shows like Monkey and The Water Margin get an airing, so I always associate these shows with that time, in the same way that while I was at university it was re-runs of The Champions and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) that I was watching after morning lectures.
Likewise, it was Illya Kuryakin I fell for, since at the time I didn't think that smarmy fellow Napoleon was good enough for him or appreciated him enough - in time, I've come to understand that Mr Solo has his own charms but it took time for that to happen. Looking back, the episode I remember most vividly was 'The Arabian Affair' (for non-fans, that's one where Illya ends up in the desert and convinces the locals that he's the son of Lawrence of Arabia, as well as getting stabbed in the leg at one point, and cuts a dashing figure in white robes and burnoose).
It would be easy to dismiss UNCLE and have moved on to shows that might seem more sophisticated to the outsider; even the folks who love the show will admit that it plumbed the depths of cheesiness in its third season. But the overall premise is sound, the chalk-and-cheese main characters remain attractive and engaging in all sorts of ways, and it's a universe that is immensely fun to play in. We don't get to see how Illya and Napoleon first met (and even if the movie goes there, for me nothing is going to make me accept it as canon) and there's always room for more exploration of their relationship, regardless of what spin you might put on it. 40 years worth of exploration to date, with no sign of that stopping any time soon.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}