The Two of Us

I can remember a particular episode where Mimi Kennedy's character, Nan, needed to give a huge pill to an animal, I want to say it was a horse. After some debate, they decided to place the pill in a long tube, similar to a large straw. The plan was to place one end into the animals mouth, and blow into the tube intensely, forcing the pill down the animals throat. Great plan, until Nan put the tube in her mouth, and took a huge breath in, in order to be able to expel the extra breath needed. Naturally, she sucked up the pill in this process.

To this day, I can't recall laughing as hard at anything on sitcom television as I did at this scene.

Elaine Stritch, Broadway and Cabaret Diva, was partially responsible for this series - "The Two of Us" was based on a Britcom Ms. Stritch starred in, called "Two's Company" about an American author who moves to London and deals with a butler who has no regard for how people in the United States behave. The personality clashes of that programme helped launch this Americanized version.

We had a bit of a revival of domestic servants on TV in the 1980s. There was "Benson," who originally was a part of the cast of that parody of daytime dramas, "Soap," There was "Mr. Belvedere" and there was Florence, maid to "The Jeffersons," while the staffs at Southfork Ranch on "Dallas" and the Carrington estate on "Dynasty" are too numerous to mention.

The "two" of "The Two of Us" are Nan Gallagher (Mimi Kennedy) a daytime talk show host and her teen daughter Gabby (Dana Hill). Cubby (Oliver Clark) is a friend of Nan's who frequently drops by. Nan and Gabby live in a sprawling Upper East Side town house, so she definitely needs help to keep the place in order, and that's where Peter Cook's character, Brentwood, enters the story.

In "Dudley," Dudley Moore's first US sitcom, which I listed at #377 on this list of the 400 Most Notable TV Shows Set in New York (and Mr. Moore was partnered with Peter Cook as a comedy team for years), I mentioned that the parallels to the character "Arthur," from the movie of that name, was a source of some of the humor, but that "Dudley" didn't have a Hobson, Arthur's manservant, to keep him in line. Here, Peter Cook was essentially playing Hobson in this role, a no-nonsense, stay on top of the job butler who always knew best.

However, where Sir John Gielgud managed to inject some good natured humor to cover Hobson's absolute malice at most everything that Arthur did, Brentwood would just shout or whisper in anger or speak in a staccato like style, attempting to shoot his words of distain like bullets at his boss. Don't get me wrong; this did read as amusing some of the time, but it got rather mean spirited the longer it continued. Another difference was that Hobson absolutely had affection for Arthur, whereas Brentwood seemed to mostly think of Nan as a paycheck and a necessary nuisance.

On the other hand, there's the "When in Rome" philosophy...

It made sense for the butler on "Two's Company" to be derisive over Elaine Stritch's bawdy American ways, because they were in Great Britain. But Brentwood was in the USA, so shouldn't he have been the one to make the adjustment?

New York plays a part because the job Nan does, the neighborhood she lives in and the circumstances they get into really could only happen here.

In the end, Nan's character wasn't comic enough to make Brentwood's hot flashes and slow burns work as well. This show could have used a little Dudley Moore to up the comedy factor!

Based on the popular britcom "Two's Company" starring Elaine Stritch, this one reversed the situation by featuring the American boss with a British butler in an American setting. Because a different fish was out of water, the comedy was different. In addition, Nan (Mimi Kennedy) was a talk-show host which provided another source of laughs. Though "The Two of Us" never quite scaled the consistent heights of comedy that the best shows managed, this was often very funny and I wish it had had more time hit its stride. The utterly deadpan Peter Cook was well-used here, and Mimi Kennedy made a good foil for him. I still laugh every time I hear "Let's Twist Again" and think of Peter Cook singing it in his haughty monotone. He is a comedy treasure who is sorely missed.

First,let me say I'm glad I'm not the only person to remember this sitcom. Back in 1981,I was a regular viewer of TV sitcoms of all the networks and I really liked this one. Peter Cook's butler character Brentwood puts one in mind of the butler from the movie Aurthur,even though Brentwood is a little more brash.

The plots each week were based around American vs. British customs in the household. As well as a man having a woman for a boss. Each week a new problem presented itself between Brentwood & Nan and sometimes even the daughter was a foil for the butler. At times he would even counsel her with advice. (Which seemed to be the mainstay of many TV leading characters at that time I.E. "The voice of reason". )

The show was canceled mid-way through season 2 because the ratings just weren't there. A shame too because the show was very well written and was at no time silly or slap-stickish. It was intelligent comedy,which is what one expects from CBS. Ten stars for a rating. If ever you see this on DVD,buy it! I sure will! The set up of this show was later used on ABC's,"Who's The Boss?" when a woman advertises for a housekeeper and get a macho Italian/American male with a daughter.

Peter Cook passed away in the '90s.

I used to watch this show in its time and was actually enrolled in an acting class with Dana Hill about a year before this series aired. Dana was a joy to be around and not a bit pretentious - unlike so many others of her age that had gotten gigs as coveted as some of hers.

As with most any TV series from thirty years ago, its age would no doubt show to most viewing it these days. But good comedy is good comedy and when it hit its mark, as it did often, "The Two of Us" made me laugh, and probably still would if I saw it today.

Correcting the other reviewer from 2007: Mimi Rogers was once married to Tom Cruise, not Mimi Kennedy.