Glad some of my post cocktail comedy is perceived in the err... spirit in which it is intended!
So Haunt Me Page 2
Quote: don rushmore @ March 28 2009, 10:20 PM GMTGlad some of my post cocktail comedy is perceived in the err... spirit in which it is intended!
ooops
Quote: Aaron @ March 28 2009, 6:25 PM GMTIt ran for 19 episodes over three years and three series. Quite long! I don't know whether her casting turned it into a bit of a vehicle, but it certainly wasn't intended as such. Indeed, it was regularly attracting 14 million viewers at its peak.
Well I must have stopped watching it long before it finished then.
Maybe it was shit, after all. 
This was a sitcom that was getting 14 million on a Sunday and those dunce schedulers at BBC1 killed it by putting it opposite Darling Buds Of May or A Touch Of Frost (can't remember which one it was). Typical BBC! Feh!
Quote: Marc P @ March 29 2009, 9:51 AM BST
I'm glad somebody got that one!
So Haunt Me is the type of show that critics won't rave about but the general public like to watch. Too many shows now have more good write-ups from critics than viewers. Peep Show is lauded and still only scrapes a million viewers.
It's very easy to sneer at popular shows but they have their fans too and that big audience isn't really being catered for these days. Also what happened to So Haunt Me shows why scheduling is key.
BBC1 had a hit show and they killed it!!! 
No mention yet that So Haunt Me starred the great Miriam Karlin (perhaps best known from The Rag Trade and A Clockwork Orange) and it was produced by the late amazing Verity Lambert, who was the founding producer of two of the best shows ever: Dr Who and Minder.
Quote: Kenneth @ March 29 2009, 10:40 AM BSTNo mention yet that So Haunt Me starred the great Miriam Karlin (perhaps best known from The Rag Trade and A Clockwork Orange) and it was produced by the late amazing Verity Lambert, who was the founding producer of two of the best shows ever: Dr Who and Minder.
I thought the show was a vehicle for her? She was the dead Jewish grandmother so I assumed they had to build it around her.
Quote: cylon6 @ March 29 2009, 10:43 AM BSTI thought the show was a vehicle for her? She was the dead Jewish grandmother so I assumed they had to build it around her.
I know not of these vehicles, though Miriam Karlin did get top billing. I only saw a couple of episodes and thought it was crap - even worse than The Ghosts of Motley Hall. Whereas I loved Richard Carpenter's previous show, Catweazle. Perhaps I was a bit too old/snobby for So Haunt Me and don't get off on Jewish stereotypes.
Quote: cylon6 @ March 29 2009, 10:43 AM BSTI thought the show was a vehicle for her? She was the dead Jewish grandmother so I assumed they had to build it around her.
Not at all. It was devised by Paul Mendelson for his own amuseument, and almost by pure chance ended up with Verity Lambert. I believe it was how he got into sitcom in the first place, so considering that May To December had started 3 years earlier, it must have taken quite a while to develop.
Quote: Aaron @ March 29 2009, 1:08 PM BSTNot at all. It was devised by Paul Mendelson for his own amuseument, and almost by pure chance ended up with Verity Lambert. I believe it was how he got into sitcom in the first place, so considering that May To December had started 3 years earlier, it must have taken quite a while to develop.
I did not know that. Always had a soft spot for May To December, I liked the first Zoe the best. And Anton Rodgers was an unsung sitcom actor.
Quote: cylon6 @ March 29 2009, 2:38 PM BSTAlways had a soft spot for May To December, I liked the first Zoe the best.
Definitely. I found the second to be too stereotypically attractive to be believable in the role.
Joining Aaron in a name drop - I got to know Miriam Karlin quite well while she was filming So Haunt Me. It was during my year of enforced minicabbing and I must have picked up her up at least 20 times from her flat in Earls Court. Lovely lady, really kind to me at what was a horrible time (divorce going through, enormous car crash near Berlin at the start of the year and insurance wouldn't cover either the wrecked car or several weeks' worth of European hospital bills, etc etc). Though she was quite old school there was nothing "luvvie" about her whatsoever, thank God.
I keep checking Imdb to see if she's still alive, 83 and still going strong.
Fun fact: did you know she was in A Clockwork Orange?
Wow, impressive tale there. And I too was a bit surprised she's still around. Would love to meet her.
Aaron, if you dropped her a line I guarantee she'd say yes.