Fair Exchange

Well actually I can't recall how good or bad this series was, but I had a terrible crush on Dennis Waterman's character! It was the start, at age 12, of my love affair with Brits. Would love to re-watch them.

Desilu, the studio that produced this mini-classic, didn't know what to do with this show. It was one of the first one hour comedy/dramas ever to be a weekly series. When the one hour version didn't take off as they had hoped, they re-tooled it into a 1/2 hour situation comedy. And when that didn't go over either. The canceled it. Too bad, because the casting was great, the stories real, and everything about it just fantastic. One of the first series I ever remember seeing that really meant something to me. Wish someone would release this, as I would love to see these shows again. Oh, and does anyone remember that other 1/2 season TV classic....IT'S A MAN'S WORLD?

The timing of this show -- one of my favorites -- was off by just about a year. "Fair Exchange" was launched in September of '62, had its last hour-long airing in December, and reappeared in March of '63 in a half-hour format. And then...gone forever! Had it come to life just one year later, it would have coincided with Beatlemania and the rest of the British Invasion of popular music. I'm certain such timing would have given wings to this British-accented comedy and, perhaps, it would be in reruns today! Neville Finch lead singer of a British pop group? Larry Walker fronting a competing American band? There's an hour show! CBS: you were just a year too early!

"Mum, can I have five shillings?" "Whatever for, Neville?" "I need to buy a doll."

One exchange I remember. Neville was doing some science project. Other episodes: Eddie was treating his English friends to a Christmas present of central heating, something very rare, apparently, in the London of the time.

The American girl practicing the Weird Sisters' chant at the beginning of Macbeth.

A sniffy Englishman admitting to one of the Walkers that that there was one American he approved of: "Benedict Arnold."

A rave smash if it could be rerun today.

I adored "Fair Exchange'. It was wonderful, exciting, shocking and so much fun. Risqué for the bravado of both female characters to us here in Australia where few could afford to travel overseas, especially to America. England was still recovering from WWII and still on rations. We were only just coming to grips with the fact that another War was not about to occur - as history had proved to occur so often. 'A FAIR EXCHANGE' was the way we were able to travel & see London. The show was extremely important to those lucky enough to have TV sets. For me it was the ultimate experience & taught me so much about relationships and the difference between two cultures so similar yet so foreign in manner to each other. It was a major teaching tool for so many young people (mostly female), but a teaching tool nonetheless. I'd love to see it again now - to remember when life was simpler & saner, when people had an innocence now no longer found anywhere. The same innocence which produced wonderful books, stories, poetry, and caring people. Not so much of that anywhere nowadays, is there?