Outside Edge  (TV)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Episodes: C

 

 

When a situation comedy is produced without a laugh track, does it make it funnier?  Well, the comedy has to work to answer that question.  In the 1980s comedies that were crossed with drama were dubbed “dramedies” and that dreadful phrase did not catch on, much to everyone’s relief.  Outside Edge (1995) was shot on film and lacks a laugh track, but feels as dreadful as a “dramedy” as unfunny after unfunny event unfolds.

 

The comedy is supposed to occur between two mismatched couples brought together by the men’s love of the sport cricket, but the show just never clicks.  Director Nick Hurran has helped put together a good-looking show, but the Richard Harris material (base don his own play) never is really funny.  Obviously, this is a humor of some type, but it is certainly not typically British.  Most shocking is how the name cast never works out.

 

There is Academy Award nominee Brenda Blethyn, who I am very fond of, but she seems trapped in a “typical wife” role.  Her husband, played well enough by Robert Daws, is interesting enough, but with nothing much to do.  The other couple is Blethyn’s future Secrets & Lies co-star Timothy Spall, who is coupled with original British edition Whose Line is it Anyway? co-star Josie Lawrence.  This is great casting, and it still never clicks.  Why?

 

The situations are of the familiar, tired, burned out type that we have seen in way too many shows about couples.  If they are not happy with certain things, why do they not try to change them?  It is actually ambiguous as to whether these people are happy, sad, or just lost in space.  Unless you have a serious affinity for comedies about couples, no matter what, Outside Edge will not have much edge for you.

 

The full frame image is above average, hazy and adequate, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has some Pro Logic surround information, but nothing to write home about.  The few extras are text-only and simply tell us about the cast in brief bio/filmographies format BFS always offers on their DVDs.

 

There are eight half-hour shows in this double set, so that gives any viewer ample examples of what this show has to offer.  It obviously was not a long term hit, or its cast could not have gone on to the bigger successes they did.  Therefore, it is also an odd curio.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo