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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 339916" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Three is now reaching the midway point:  six down, seven to go.My first observation is that the timeline seems to have been suddenly pushed on. The final episode of Series Two celebrated the first anniversary of Charlie becoming housekeeper. While not obligatory, this happens to line up well with real-world time for viewers, since this episode aired in May 1991 and the first episode had aired in May 1990.Two episodes later, in Series Three's First Date, Charlie tells a stand-up comedian he's known Caroline for "three years". First Date aired less than six real-world months after The Anniversary*.This could partly be due to translation of the source material. Who's The Boss? had over seventy episodes and two and a half full seasons between their equivalent shows. However, I feel there's also deliberation involved on the part of The Powers That Be at The Upper Hand. The energy between Charlie and Caroline feels different this year - less platonic and with more ease, romantic teasing, over-involvement in the other's life and flashes of jealousy at situations they would have ignored previously. It seems there's a conscious effort to move the story forwards and keep the dynamics fresh. I think the kids' ages have also been boosted by a couple of years as well. In other words, there's been a time-jump.The episode selection continues to intrigue. There's no doubt a lot of absolute dreck that's avoided by TUH  having much shorter series and the benefit of seven long seasons' worth of scripts from which to select. However, there's still chaff among the wheat, with some episodes' scripts feeling weaker and more formulaic than others and riding mostly on the charisma of the cast (which is how I remember the vast majority of Who's The Boss? being. Its appeal stemming almost completely on how engaging one found the actors).Part of me wonders if The Upper Hand would have been an even stronger series had they had six-to-eight episodes per year (like the most successful British sitcoms) and selected their scripts even more carefully, focussing almost entirely on those that focus on the ups and downs of Charlie and Caroline's relationship. In Series Three terms, this makes Bedtime Story, First Date and Old Flames must-see episodes, while the episodes focussing on Jo's love bite and the feud with the creepy, smiling neighbours ones to skip. However, there's good stuff in all of them, and there's still a lot of character in the less scintillating, less necessary episodes. Some of these more pedestrian stories work well in this series with its earthier, less saccharine approach than the American version, and the balance of humour and investment in the relationships even with workaday material puts me very much in mind of soap opera - and Aussie soaps in particular. There's something about TUH's Anglo-American thing that ends up feeling rather Antipodean to me, making an episode called Neighbours featuring a silly feud with the new people next door feel wholly appropriate. And so, in short, it all works. Diana Weston has thus far been the only player not to have surpassed her American counterpart for me, and while this remains true for me, she's also come very much into her own this year and feels stronger,  funnier and more confident. Perhaps the new dynamic is working for her better. Perhaps she's come into her own and made Caroline a character who works beyond the baggage of the inherited material. Or perhaps I've just stopped comparing and enjoyed her for who she's been all along. Whatever the case, it's a small-ish factor that helps improve my viewing experience. The rest of the cast remain terrific. William Puttock is giving us some attitude from Tom that I haven't really seen since the early days. His righteous furrowed nose and set jaw as he lays out his opinion on this or that is great. Joe McGann and Kellie Bright are consistently good. And Honor Blackman remains an absolute favourite, making every barbed line a winner.* Apropos of nothing, it was wonderful to see the wonderful Anne Reid in a small-ish role as a nurse in The Anniversary. Nobody else could deliver reassurance about a general anaesthetic, immediately followed by the matter of fact line about there always being the risk of death, the way that she could. Once again, the detail in the casting paid off brilliantly. </blockquote>

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