What I Learned From TV - July 9

Each time I do a post about What I Learned From TV, I’ll begin with the explanation from the first posting:

Now that my kids are grown, and Tom has retired, I’ve been able to go back to my natural sleep pattern which is to stay up late and get up late. Tom’s natural rhythm is just the opposite. So, he’s the lark and I’m the owl. 

And what this owl does in the late hours is watch television- not in the traditional way but through Netflix, TunnelBear, and Acorn TV, and my own DVDs. Most of the shows are British, though I am a great fan of a few American television shows, and have been watching some from other countries now that we have TunnelBear. Some of these shows Tom will watch in the mornings, but some of them are all mine. So, when I hear a great quote from a show I know he’s not going to watch, I’ll leave him little post-it notes near the computer keyboard. I had a notion this morning to begin a new ‘letter topic’ called What I Learned From TV so I can put up some virtual post-its for you to read and, hopefully, enjoy. Some are funny, some are educational, some are wise.

From Grace and Frankie, two seasons now streaming on Netflix:

Frankie: "I'd give my good knee for a cigarette."

Grace: "Me, too. I haven't had a cigarette since smoking was good for you."

Frankie and Grace together: "Shall we?"

From As Time Goes By,which I watch on my DVDs: 

Lionel says about his father: "I'm not a child. I don't need his help."

Jean replies: "It won't do you any harm. I wish I had someone to help me. ... Parents; even when you're, well, older, you never stop missing them. You never get used to the fact that you can't go to someone and say, 'What shall I do?'"

From Inspector Lewis, which I watch on my DVDs: 

A man has been found dead with a rifle beside him.

Hathaway: "I, er... wouldn't read too much into the absence of a 'goodbye cruel world,' sir. Statistically, suicide notes in Grahame's demographic are in the 12-20% range."

Lewis: "Where do you get this stuff?"

Hathaway: "The back of cereal boxes."

Lewis: "What? Let's just say some days I'm grateful you're on our side."

When series seven of Inspector Morse came along, both John Thaw and Kevin Whately had other projects on the horizon so there were fewer episodes offered for the last years. For two years, Kevin Whately played Dr. Jack Kerruish in a drama called Peak Practice, which I am watching on my DVDs. (Yes, I buy old British television shows on DVD from amazon.uk) I thought this was a funny line in Peak Practice, offering an homage to Whately's Lewis character:

Jack thinks someone is stealing a car, but he isn't. His brother-in-law says: "Good job you're a doctor - you'd make a bloody lousy copper."