All Creatures Great And Small (2021) - General Discussion

[HappyHanna]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Quote

I wonder why they didn't let the local farmers have the horses.  It was a shame that they had to kill perfectly healthy animals.

The officer said they were giving the horses to the Belgiums and the French and that it would be too expensive to ship them live. I took that to mean they were being given as meat? Possibly for dogs or livestock. I dunno. 

This part confused me as well. I get the argument that it was too expensive to ship them back to the UK, but you would think with horses being scarce, after the war continental farmers would be all about getting the horses from the military to work the fields.  Instead it seems that Siegfried's unit was going to shoot them all.  A quick google didn't find a ton of data, though wiki notes that the majority of the Australian horses that survived the war (a tiny percentage of those that went to war ☹️) were sent to India to be used by the British military there. Though a good number were shot as they were in poor shape or to avoid mistreatment. 

In any case this part was terrible to watch, and I had to fast forward (thanks to PBS passport I have that option). 

[Driad]

Article about the horse "River" and the making of this episode.

[Haleth]

Omigosh, I was so afraid something was going to happen to River.  I was afraid the sedative would either be mixed up with a poison or that it itself would turn out to be poison.  Imagine Siegfried's guilt if he inadvertently poisoned a patient?  It was a wonderful episode showcasing what a truly kind and dedicated vet man he is although the WWI scenes were heartbreaking.  (Thanks to posters for bringing up the fate of these horses earlier in this thread so I was prepared for the horror.  Were the war horses considered too shell shocked for agricultural use?)

If any cattle contract TB do they survive?  I can't understand the farmers' aversion to testing if it means they will lose a herd anyway.  Find the carrier before it spreads to other cows and humans.

That cat looks just like mine.  Same personality too.  The vets don full body armor when she has an appointment.  She hates everyone but me.  The vet told me she has mommy issues.

[YorkshireLass]

56 minutes ago, Driad said:

Article about the horse "River" and the making of this episode.

Thank you.  That was a lovely read & explained so much about the cast, crew & animals.

[JudyObscure]

From @Driad's article:

Quote

but Samuel West, who plays Siegfried and who interacts with the horse, took out of his own free time—I mean hours, weeks, combined days into weeks, nearly every weekend, midweek, he would come up to ours [East Yorkshire] from London so that he could spend time with the horses and be trained to get ready for this exceptional episode.

And I thought I couldn't love Samuel West any more than I already do!

I fell for him when he played Leonard Bast in  the 1992 version of, "Howards End," and never got over him.

I loved it when Mrs. Hall squeezed his hand this episode.

[Llywela]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

If any cattle contract TB do they survive?  I can't understand the farmers' aversion to testing if it means they will lose a herd anyway.  Find the carrier before it spreads to other cows and humans.

The issue with bovine TB is that is is massively contagious within the herd and very easily transmitted to humans via milk. And there was no cure for TB at this time, not in cattle and not in humans. Treatment of an infected cow was not an option. Any infected animal had to be destroyed immediately to protect the rest of the herd, and the farmer would not be allowed to sell his milk until it could be proved that the herd was now TB free. The danger was very, very real. My father had both a sister and an aunt who died in the 30s of TB meningitis contracted from infected milk - his sister was only 3 years old.

The farmers hate having their herds tested because if an infected animal is found in their herd, because they aren't permitted to trade until the herd has been re-tested and found clear, and that loss of income hits them hard. The danger to people drinking infected milk is abstract compared to the financial hardship their own family will experience if the farm is shut down even for a short time.

I don't know how TB would manifest in the cows to know how sick they would become with it, or how fast or slow the disease might be. I imagine it varied as much as it would in humans - some get very sick very fast, others decline only slowly for years. But these farmers lived such a hand-to-mouth existence, I suspect that the prospect of illness slowly spreading through the herd would, again, seem more abstract and distant than a government official shutting the farm down here and now.

[Cetacean]

A more light hearted note after that rather emotional episode.

[JudyObscure]

Tristan's been working with animals  every day since, "The Durrells In Corfu."  No wonder he's so relaxed around them.

They all seem like the nicest people.

[DonnaMae]

48 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

I loved it when Mrs. Hall squeezed his hand this episode.

I loved it too.  These two characters are meant for each other, so I hope she doesn't end up with Gerald.

[AZChristian]

As heartbreaking as the horse killings were, this is one of the few episodes I've saved on my DVR.  I have such respect for those scenes where Samuel West was working with River.  "Give me your eyes."  It was beautiful.

I'm planning to re-watch it before the new episode on Sunday.

[Rickster]

On 1/23/2023 at 6:04 PM, iMonrey said:

The officer said they were giving the horses to the Belgiums and the French and that it would be too expensive to ship them live. I took that to mean they were being given as meat? Possibly for dogs or livestock. I dunno. 

My assumption was that they would have been given as meat for people. Not uncommon especially in those days for French people to eat horsemeat, especially if there were food shortages due to the war.

[Tippi]

Before this I was not aware of the horrible fate for the horses at the end of World War I.  I found this episode to be incredibly moving and sad, and was so relieved that River was able to be spared.  It was an illuminating look into some of what makes Siegfried tick.

[crankcase]

4 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I loved it when Mrs. Hall squeezed his hand this episode

… AND called him “Siegfried” AND then how he gazed at her. He will gaze again just before the season ends, albeit in a very different way and in a radically different context. But the underlying reason will remain unchanged.

Edited January 25, 2023 by crankcase

[DonnaMae]

6 minutes ago, crankcase said:

He will gaze again just before the season ends, albeit in a very different way and in a radically different context. But the underlying reason will remain unchanged.

Gottcha!  I know what you mean, and I'm anxious for Season 4 to see what happens. 😉

[zoey1996]

On 1/22/2023 at 10:16 PM, Tiggertoo said:

Brutal episode.  I saw War Horse but It really brought it all back. 

I just read the plot of War Horse on IMDB to refresh my memory. Joey did get to go back to Albert and England at the end, but what a journey that was! And how rare.

[Blergh]

One thing I give the episode credit for is during Siegfried's flashback to the Great War (as WWI was termed before WWII erupted), was that it showed gigantic ruined buildings in the midst of a current battlefield. So many times, the Western Front has been depicted as formerly empty, uninhabited fields where trenches were dug for the troops to fire back and forth for years- totally ignoring the actuality that family homes, farms and even towns had been laid to waste with the former civilian  inhabitants at best left homeless and disposed (and at worst having been fatally caught in crossfire or murdered had they not fled post haste when the Front fated their particular homes to be used for the purposes of armies and distant military command).

Of course, it had to have broken Siegfried's heart to have to murder those noble horses deemed useless by the high command to take home but he knew that had he NOT carried out that horrific task, as a soldier,  he'd have been charged with insubordination- fated to be dishonorably discharged and then possibly put in a stockade or even court marshaled.

P.S. I imagine that during WWI when fighting for Great Britain against the German Empire (the fatherland of Wagner), Siegfried likely would have carefully hidden his actual given name from all but his most trusted cronies due to often heightened xenophobia against even the most innocent connections to German culture!

Edited January 29, 2023 by Blergh

[Zella]

6 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Siegfried likely would have carefully hidden his actual given name from all but his most trusted cronies due to often heightened xenophobia against even the most innocent connections to German culture!

The tendency of men of a certain class at this time to call each other by their surname rather than by first names probably made this less of an issue for him than it would have been. Even some of his closest pals may well have just called him Farnon rather than Siegfried and not found it the slightest bit odd, even outside of a military context. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Zella

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

The tendency of men of a certain class at this time to call each other by their surname rather than by first names probably made this less of an issue for him than it would have been. Even some of his closest pals may well have just called him Farnon rather than Siegfried and not found it the slightest bit odd, even outside of a military context. 

He likely craved being called 'Mr. Farnon' or even just 'Farnon' and hoped no one would snoop to find out what the 'S.' given name was during those years! Of course, the C.O.'s had full access to the soldiers' registration files which DID mandate their full legal names upon enlistment .

[AZChristian]

8 hours ago, Blergh said:

Of course, it had to have broken Siegfried's heart to have to murder those noble horses deemed useless by the high command to take home but he knew that had he NOT carried out that horrific task, as a soldier,  he'd have been charged with insubordination- fated to be dishonorably discharged and then possibly put in a stockade or even court marshaled.

In my mind, he knew that he could do it more mercifully and with kind words being spoken to calm each horse at the end.  Had he refused, in addition to facing insubordination charges, he may have imagined less-kind people running up to each horse, shooting in a spot that would not instantly kill or - even worse - slashing the throat and leaving the animals to die in agony.  I think he cared more for the horses than he feared authority.  The war was over at that point.  JMO.

[Daff]

10 hours ago, Blergh said:

One thing I give the episode credit for is during Siegfried's flashback to the Great War (as WWI was termed before WWII erupted), was that it showed gigantic ruined buildings in the midst of a current battlefield. So many times, the Western Front has been depicted as formerly empty, uninhabited fields where trenches were dug for the troops to fire back and forth for years- totally ignoring the actuality that family homes, farms and even towns had been laid to waste with the former civilian  inhabitants at best left homeless and disposed (and at worst having been fatally caught in crossfire or murdered had they not fled post haste when the Front fated their particular homes to be used for the purposes of armies and distant military command).

Of course, it had to have broken Siegfried's heart to have to murder those noble horses deemed useless by the high command to take home but he knew that had he NOT carried out that horrific task, as a soldier,  he'd have been charged with insubordination- fated to be dishonorably discharged and then possibly put in a stockade or even court marshaled.

P.S. I imagine that during WWI when fighting for Great Britain against the German Empire (the fatherland of Wagner), Siegfried likely would have carefully hidden his actual given name from all but his most trusted cronies due to often heightened xenophobia against even the most innocent connections to German culture!

And yet, not so many years before Prince Albert had painstakingly won over the hearts and minds of the British populace. 

[Llywela]

2 hours ago, AZChristian said:

In my mind, he knew that he could do it more mercifully and with kind words being spoken to calm each horse at the end.  Had he refused, in addition to facing insubordination charges, he may have imagined less-kind people running up to each horse, shooting in a spot that would not instantly kill or - even worse - slashing the throat and leaving the animals to die in agony.  I think he cared more for the horses than he feared authority.  The war was over at that point.  JMO.

He'd have seen it as his duty. This was the very last thing that he could do for those horses, ease their passing, and he'd be damned if he'd pass that duty off to someone else, someone who did not care for the animals as he did, someone who would not treat them right. He had to do it himself to be sure it was done right, with care and compassion.

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, Daff said:

And yet, not so many years before Prince Albert had painstakingly won over the hearts and minds of the British populace. 

Far more recently than that, the royals, the aristocrats and the wealthy of Great Britain, France,Germany and Russia,etc. had large numbers who'd visited, vacationed and corresponded with those they considered dear friends (and in many cases actual kin) throughout the summer of 1914- only to find suddenly be told that these other countries were nothing but  enemy territories and, in many cases, having to suddenly try to scramble back home to safety when War was declared in August,1914. So they abruptly had to consider these recently cherished places as behind enemy lines but they were somewhat expected to consider the people they had loved to be enemies. ..and therefore less than human (which has always been the ideal  when rallying for war). George V of Great Britain had grown up with  and was first cousins to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany as well as Czar Nicholas II of Russia- yet George V not only never saw either of these two again but he'd never so much as WRITE to the onetime Kaiser the remaining 21 years of his own life and even barred Czar Nicholas and his immediate family from being given refuge in Great Britain despite them  being in mortal peril by new Russian then Soviet governments! Oh,and George V also changed the dynastic name from Saxe-Coburg Gotha to Windsor and took down all the banners with the coats of arms of his 'enemy cousins' from St. George's Chapel- doing his best to be as British and un-Continental as possible despite his genealogy and own history up to August,1914!

Anyway, it would be interesting to find out WHEN Siegfried would have felt it safe enough to have allowed new friends in his Yorkshire community  to learn much less call him by his actual given name!

 

[peacheslatour]

29 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Far more recently than that, the royals, the aristocrats and the wealthy of Great Britain, France,Germany and Russia,etc. had large numbers who'd visited, vacationed and corresponded with those they considered dear friends (and in many cases actual kin) throughout the summer of 1914- only to find suddenly be told that these other countries were nothing but  enemy territories and, in many cases, having to suddenly try to scramble back home to safety when War was declared in August,1914. So they abruptly had to consider these recently cherished places as behind enemy lines but they were somewhat expected to consider the people they had loved to be enemies. ..and therefore less than human (which has always been the ideal  when rallying for war). George V of Great Britain had grown up with  and was first cousins to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany as well as Czar Nicholas II of Russia- yet George V not only never saw either of these two again but he'd never so much as WRITE to the onetime Kaiser the remaining 21 years of his own life and even barred Czar Nicholas and his immediate family from being given refuge in Great Britain despite them  being in mortal peril by new Russian then Soviet governments! Oh,and George V also changed the dynastic name from Saxe-Coburg Gotha to Windsor and took down all the banners with the coats of arms of his 'enemy cousins' from St. George's Chapel- doing his best to be as British and un-Continental as possible despite his genealogy and own history up to August,1914!

Anyway, it would be interesting to find out WHEN Siegfried would have felt it safe enough to have allowed new friends in his Yorkshire community  to learn much less call him by his actual given name!

 

Well since his name was Donald, I don't see the problem.

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Well since his name was Donald, I don't see the problem.

Are you trying to DUCK the issue of Siegfried likely having to have endured flak had he not hidden his name via calling him with his RL model's given name?

Granted, though,  Siegfried's temper tantrums have sometimes resembled those of the Disney canard icon!

Edited January 29, 2023 by Blergh

[peacheslatour]

19 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Are you trying to DUCK the issue of Siegfried likely having to have endured flak had he not hidden his name via calling him with his RL model's given name?

Granted, though,  Siegfried's temper tantrums have sometimes resembled those of the Disney canard icon!

"Dammit, Tristan! Get off your arse and clean the medicine bottles!"

 

[crankcase]

Siegfried would have had no reason to hide his given name. This Siegfried certainly didn’t. 

“Siegfried” wasn’t just another German name—it was of a Wagnerian hero well-known to the British educated class. Wight himself first learned it from his parents who were both professional musicians, his mother being a singer of opera.

Speaking of the British educated class, which of our unsuspecting lovebirds is in it when the one with a degree has to cheat at a commercial word game in order to keep up with the one without? (Perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising as the latter is the only character on the show ever to be shown reading an adult book.) And why would a cranky, egotistical male subject himself to that, and with his housekeeper of all people? … Oh. Right.

Siegfried’s fictional mate from the Army Veterinary Corps committed suicide with a barbiturate overdose, as did the very real Don Sinclair two weeks after his wife Audrey died in 1995.

 

[possibilities]

How in the world did that guy take the wrong cow? The quarantined one was sitting right out in view. What did he do, go looking among the others and randomly chose the healthy milker????

I was really sad for Gerard. I like him. 

[crankcase]

“Where are you from?” - Florence Pandhi, played by Sophie Khan Levy.

[Daff]

11 hours ago, Blergh said:

..and therefore less than human

This new season has spurred me to re-read a great fictional series about the war years (WW1). Five books tell the story of one family’s experiences. “No Graves As Yet” is the title of the first book in the (quickly read) series by Anne Perry.  It’s a bit reminiscent of “Home Fires” (WW2) but less soap, more espionage and intrigue. 

[Dowel Jones]

You would think that Siegfried, having hauled in enough dough to throw that bash every year at Christmastime, would put more effort into maintaining his vehicles, especially considering the rural nature of the business.  But, Tristan saved the day, eh?

Yeah, that farmer ought to pay more attention to the goings on at his farm.

Helen is right to worry.  Even if James is slotted into a veterinary officer's job in the Army, he's likely to be posted where the animals are being used, i.e., the China/Burma/India theater. Not a vacation.

Tristan had to know that his new flame is part of the competition, right?  And yet he didn't ask a single question about veterinary work?  Make conversation, lad!

I had to laugh when the Minister of Pointless Paperwork, or whatever he was, sneered at the abattoir form and snorted, "Mallock!"  Apparently the man has a reputation in the halls of officialdom.

Tricki Woo does like the camera, doesn't he?

[JudyObscure]

7 hours ago, crankcase said:

“Where are you from?” - Florence Pandhi, played by Sophie Khan Levy.

If only Lady Susan Hussey had watched this episode before Camilla's reception.

I laughed and laughed at the car chase and Mallory's pork pies.  Even the Minister of Pointless Paperwork, (good one Dowel Jones) made me chuckle, all that raging at "Jeemes Heddiot"  had me trying to mimic his accent.

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

I was really sad for Gerald.

Me, too, his face was a mask of pain.  But now we know Mrs. Hall likes it where she is because she feels so safe and Siegfried feels that everyone under his roof is under his care.  Ummmhum

[AZChristian]

46 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

the Minister of Pointless Paperwork

I love to have IMDB open on my tablet to see where I've seen actors in other roles.  The "Minister of Pointless Paperwork" was played by Adrian Rawlins . . . Harry Potter's father - James - in all the Harry Potter movies.  Never would have guessed.

[Doublemint]

The Tristan they're giving us really doesn't jive with the books or the former series.  OK he is somewhat incompetent and bumbling, but he was a real flirt and skirt chaser type.   He never would have been so shy and inhibited as he was on the rock with his date.   I notice that they left out all the drinking to excess at the pub and elsewhere - including James and the other small animal vet (whose name escapes me).   I suppose times have changed and they feel the audience wouldn't like it or find it funny?  I thought it odd they left the overheated car on the road and didn't seem to give a thought to retrieving it, but were lounging around back at Skeldale House and going for a ride.  The ride should have been to get the abandoned car.

OK - I know I'm "fault finding" - I do enjoy it for what it is, and the house decoration, clothes, cars, scenery, etc.

[iMonrey]

OMG, Tristan and Helen accepting pork pies from Mallock's bloody hands. This is the second time he's come out of the barn with blood all over him and food in his hand, it seems like it's turning into a running gag. 

Quote

the Minister of Pointless Paperwork

Heh. That was almost a Monty Python sketch. "Even a child could understand it!" 

I don't get James mooning over the local men going off to war, can't tell if he's envious or just feels guilty. Either way, I'm not a fan.

[YorkshireLass]

7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't get James mooning over the local men going off to war, can't tell if he's envious or just feels guilty. Either way, I'm not a fan.

James strikes me as someone who very much believes in doing your duty for clients, friends, family & country.  I think he believes it's his duty to go and fight for Britain.  Logically, in his brain, he knows he's needed at home to continue on with his vet work throughout the war, but his heart and belief system is telling him something else.  

[Llywela]

35 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't get James mooning over the local men going off to war, can't tell if he's envious or just feels guilty. Either way, I'm not a fan.

It's guilt. He sees other young men going off to fight in a war while he, a fit and healthy young man of fighting age, gets to stay safely at home, and he feels guilty about it. As @YorkshireLass says, he has always been presented as a character with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and duty - heck, he almost missed his own wedding because he couldn't leave a job half-done - and right now that overdeveloped sense of responsibility is telling him that it is his duty to join the war effort rather than have other men fight and die on his behalf.

[libgirl2]

21 minutes ago, Llywela said:

It's guilt. He sees other young men going off to fight in a war while he, a fit and healthy young man of fighting age, gets to stay safely at home, and he feels guilty about it. As @YorkshireLass says, he has always been presented as a character with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and duty - heck, he almost missed his own wedding because he couldn't leave a job half-done - and right now that overdeveloped sense of responsibility is telling him that it is his duty to join the war effort rather than have other men fight and die on his behalf.

Yes, guilt and a sense of duty. I, in no way, think he is envious of them. 

1 hour ago, Doublemint said:

The Tristan they're giving us really doesn't jive with the books or the former series.  OK he is somewhat incompetent and bumbling, but he was a real flirt and skirt chaser type.   He never would have been so shy and inhibited as he was on the rock with his date.   I notice that they left out all the drinking to excess at the pub and elsewhere - including James and the other small animal vet (whose name escapes me).   I suppose times have changed and they feel the audience wouldn't like it or find it funny?  I thought it odd they left the overheated car on the road and didn't seem to give a thought to retrieving it, but were lounging around back at Skeldale House and going for a ride.  The ride should have been to get the abandoned car.

OK - I know I'm "fault finding" - I do enjoy it for what it is, and the house decoration, clothes, cars, scenery, etc.

I think Tristan is really liking this girl and sees her as more than a conquest. She also initially didn't seem to be overwhelmed by his charms. 

[peacheslatour]

Quote

OMG, Tristan and Helen accepting pork pies from Mallock's bloody hands. This is the second time he's come out of the barn with blood all over him and food in his hand, it seems like it's turning into a running gag. 

In the books, Mallock had the healthiest chidren in town. James used to marvel that they were raised around all these diseased animal carcasses and the kids were just blooming with good health.

[tennisgurl]

The lesson here is that you really need to keep track of your cows and your paperwork. Poor James, the amount of crap he deals with just seems exhausting, and that's on top of how much the draft is affecting him. It seems totally in character for James to feel guilty about not having to serve while so many other men his age are off to what increasingly seems like an inevitable war, he about tore himself in half trying to decide on if he should go home to his parents or stay in the clinic because he felt a duty to his family as well as to the practice and community, of course he feels like this is something he should be doing, even if he knows intellectually that Helen is right about how much he helps just doing his job. We also get confirmation of what I very much suspected, that a large part of why Siegfried made James partner was to keep him away from the war, although I feel like its inevitable, especially after England officially joins the war. When shit really starts going down, no one is going to be able to stop James from doing what he considers his duty in a time of crisis. 

Tristan on his date was pretty adorable, he must really like her if his game is so off. She seems like she would be a good match for him, she knows what its like being around veterinarians and animals so she isn't surprised by things like having to track down a missing cow during a date, and her dog is very cute. 

I feel really bad for Gerald, if this is the last we see of him I'll miss him. I can understand why Mrs. Hall doesn't feel ready for dating, but he's just such a nice man and he looked so sad. 

The Minister of Pointless Paperwork was hilarious, its like he just came out of a British comedy sketch.

[libgirl2]

11 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

 

I feel really bad for Gerald, if this is the last we see of him I'll miss him. I can understand why Mrs. Hall doesn't feel ready for dating, but he's just such a nice man and he looked so sad. 

 

I know, it was so sad when he dropped the flowers behind his back. I wonder if he will stick around. 

[dargosmydaddy]

I really like Florence, both as a character in her own right and with Tristan. I hope she sticks around.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

The Minister of Pointless Paperwork was hilarious, its like he just came out of a British comedy sketch.

I can see John Cleese or Graham Chapman in the role.

James told how whenever he came home and there would be a message for him "Ring min." it would make him feel like he was going to the gallows.

[ML89]

I have to wonder if Tristan mentioning the “space time continuum” out of the blue and, I believe, way out of time, is some sort of Doctor Who in joke… 

[Capricasix]

1 hour ago, ML89 said:

I have to wonder if Tristan mentioning the “space time continuum” out of the blue and, I believe, way out of time, is some sort of Doctor Who in joke… 

I wondered the same. I looked up the phrase’s origin, and it appears to have been coined by a physicist who was once Albert Einstein’s professor, so it’s not impossible that Tristan could have read about it in the newspaper.

[Zella]

2 minutes ago, Capricasix said:

I wondered the same. I looked up the phrase’s origin, and it appears to have been coined by a physicist who was once Albert Einstein’s professor, so it’s not impossible that Tristan could have read about it in the newspaper.

Well there goes my elaborate theory about Tristan as a time traveler. 😂

[MrAtoz]

Of course, OG Tristan was played by Peter Davison, who was a Doctor Who.  Yes, it all fits together!

The potential anachronism that I wondered about was Siegfried referring to Mrs. Hall's outing with Gerald as "a date," and both of them immediately understanding the romantic implications of that.  I'm not sure when "date" transitioned from meaning any kind of pre-arranged appointment (you could have a date with your friends to play gin rummy, for example) into meaning getting together with someone for purposes of romance.  1939 feels a bit early to be using it in our more modern way.

[Kimboweena]

On 1/19/2023 at 11:58 AM, AZChristian said:

I tend to watch while playing games on my tablet, so I sometimes miss stuff.

I play games too, but this is one of a few shows where I put down the games to watch.  Don't want to miss anything, especially the beautiful scenery!

Now when I watch Y&R (Hi Peaches), I can play my games because I know all the voices so well.  I can follow without having to watch intently.

[possibilities]

The scenery really is exquisite. A person could watch with the sound off, just to look at the scenery.

[JudyObscure]

4 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

 

The potential anachronism that I wondered about was Siegfried referring to Mrs. Hall's outing with Gerald as "a date," and both of them immediately understanding the romantic implications of that.  I'm not sure when "date" transitioned from meaning any kind of pre-arranged appointment (you could have a date with your friends to play gin rummy, for example) into meaning getting together with someone for purposes of romance.  1939 feels a bit early to be using it in our more modern way.

Well, Siegfried did say something like, "Is this what the young people call a date?" Implying it was just coming into use as a romantic term.

"Got a a Date With an Angel," big hit in the UK in 1931.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8IMyKat4JM

[peacheslatour]

37 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The scenery really is exquisite. A person could watch with the sound off, just to look at the scenery.

And the theme music! I can feel my blood pressure go down as soon as it starts.