Mother and Son

"A comedy about dementia" For anyone who has had to cope with a parent or grandparent who is 'losing it', this series of half-hour episodes will certainly lighten their burden.

I LOVE this Mother and Son sitcom! I first discovered it on a PBS station back in the mid-upper 80's. I love BBC comedy sitcoms, but THIS "Australian" sitcom (1984-1994) is BETTER (or equal) to any I've seen. (I own dozens) I cant stop thinking about it, and I can't wait till they release it in DVD for USA. WHATS THE HOLD-UP? Its been TEN YEARS now since the sitcom was over. And I haven't seen a single episode since the 80's. I'm always checking Amazon.com for future release info. as well as other searches and I come up empty. Do we all have to rally and send a petition or something to the writer/creator to get the 42 episodes released or what??

Anybody else have a clue? Its kind of the same situation for a very funny BBC sitcom called "One Foot In The Grave" (check it out) Thanks, Karla

This is a well written series, whose potential seems to me to be almost completely ruined by its tone and its central performances. Could it have been the writer's intention to create such a depressing sitcom, and the director's intention to have it played out in such mournfully bland surroundings by such unsympathetic actors? As written, the characterisations are interesting, and the situations inventive, but there's a general lack of fun, or joy or even amusement (for me), because the lead characters give such depressing readings. The mother (Cracknell) is unrelentingly cold, bullying and negative, and the son (McDonald) is a constantly anxious and negative loser. There's almost no relief. Every now and then there's some cute or farcical business, and I suspend my overall feeling of how unpleasant and pathetic these people are. Occasionally the other son (Szeps) appears. He's an overly confident dentist, with one of the most annoying personalities ever broadcast (and not funny annoying, just annoying.) The series has been very successful.

This show has got to be one of the best Australian comedies that has ever been made. Ruth Cracknell gives an outstanding performance as Maggie Beare, an elderly woman who is slowly declining but is still extremely feisty, strong-minded and manipulative. Gary McDonald also contributes some excellent acting as Arthur Beare, the son who does so much for his mother but never gets appreciated for his efforts. Henri Szeps puts in a convincing and excellent performance as Robert Beare, an occassionally well-meaning but extremely self-centered dentist who is "mummy's little boy". Judy Morris also shines as Liz Beare and her sarcasm and cynical outlook on both her husband and her mother-in-law enhances the show greatly. This is a series not to be missed

I fully agree with the person that wrote that it's not understandable why this series "Mother and Son" hasn't been played on PBS since the 1980's. I live in Milwaukee and it was the same here. There are 42 episodes - more than enough to keep PBS viewers happy for months to come! I am lucky enough to have a friend in Germany, who sent me all the episodes that were played on German TV, but watching this show dubbed into German is not the same (the lack of Australian accents is disturbing - the accents really add to the genius of the show). Ruth Cracknell was indeed an Australian national treasure (not to take away from her other excellent actor co-stars) and it's really a shame that she never really got any exposure on American TV. I was lucky enough to also get her film "Spider and Rose" from my German friend - such things play on European TV, but here never! I can only hope that someday somebody will wake up here and look around for something different to play on our TV or sell in our video stores.