I realize that this show is billed as a romantic-comedy, but I just can't quite put the comedy title on the show myself. Sure, I laugh hard at a lot of the show, but I can't believe a "comedy" would put tears in the eyes of an old man (and sometimes cause out-loud, though muffled, sobs to escape his lips! (Sometimes it is good that I watch TV alone.)) I am not quite sure what word should come after the "Romantic-" part.
I do believe that most of the quality of this show is centered directly on the actors (and maybe the Director). In many other shows these days, if there are characters in a scene that are just there to take up space and have no "active" part, the actor seems to have no idea how to play the part. If they react to the scene at all it is sometimes ahead of the dialog!
But in this show they always react to the scene appropriately. A glance in the right direction at the right time, a facial expression that matches the situation and does not occur until just the right amount of time AFTER the line being reacted to is delivered!
I hope this is not too much of a spoiler for anyone but, my favourite example of this "inactive part" acting is during the wedding scene. A couple of rows behind the happy couple is a woman that really seems to be only semi-interested in the wedding... I suppose she is a "business acquaintance" of Jean. When Lionel deliberately miss-announces his name, the reaction by this woman is priceless and in perfect relationship to the dialog. A few seconds later a man just in front of her and to the right also has the "correct" reaction to a piece of dialog. This typifies the quality of all the acting done on the show.
Excellent show!
I do believe that most of the quality of this show is centered directly on the actors (and maybe the Director). In many other shows these days, if there are characters in a scene that are just there to take up space and have no "active" part, the actor seems to have no idea how to play the part. If they react to the scene at all it is sometimes ahead of the dialog!
But in this show they always react to the scene appropriately. A glance in the right direction at the right time, a facial expression that matches the situation and does not occur until just the right amount of time AFTER the line being reacted to is delivered!
I hope this is not too much of a spoiler for anyone but, my favourite example of this "inactive part" acting is during the wedding scene. A couple of rows behind the happy couple is a woman that really seems to be only semi-interested in the wedding... I suppose she is a "business acquaintance" of Jean. When Lionel deliberately miss-announces his name, the reaction by this woman is priceless and in perfect relationship to the dialog. A few seconds later a man just in front of her and to the right also has the "correct" reaction to a piece of dialog. This typifies the quality of all the acting done on the show.
Excellent show!