I had been reluctant to continue with Men Behaving Badly because I knew Harry Enfield had left and I had really loved his character (a similar situation I found myself in when I started watching the new Doctor Who, I hadn't wanted to see someone besides Christopher Eccleston) but I decided to give Neil Morrissey a chance. By the third series Tony had grown on me and I liked the chemistry between Morrissey and Clunes. Tony's constant chasing after Deborah was amusing to a point but Tony can be really annoying and whiny which makes him a less desirable character. Martin Clunes looked progressively worse throughout the series and there was so much focus on if he and Dorthy were going to stay together I often wondered why she actually staid with him. Overall their relationship was one under constant attack from both parties stepping out on each other but always going back without little problem. For me it was a strange situation because normally I have major problems with the representation of affairs but somehow the show made it work and more importantly the relationship between Gary and Dorthy made it work. The way their relationship has been set up throughout the series allows the affairs that each of them have to be taken more lightheartedly and allows for a quick forgiveness of the others actions. The best affair by far was between Dorthy and Tony which just seemed inevitable to happen. Although surprisingly it seemed the quickest to be forgiven which is odd given that Tony and Gary are best mates and all other affairs were with people outside their mutual circle of friends.
The subject of sex, which is granted what the show is about got old when the women would dictate when and under what circumstances sex would happen. It was a little annoying that the women were always saying no but I understand that it taps into the time period of post-feminism so it fits but for a 21st century women it is a bit disheartening.
Although I enjoyed the show a lot and I think that the addition of Tony helped because I don't see Dermot ever being successful with Deborah but I think it went on for too long. This may have something to do with the fact that I was binge watching the series without breaks that could have caused an overload but it seemed to lose it's charm in about the 5th series. Most of that is due to the replacement of Les with Ken as the landlord of The Crown. This seems to be a tendency of British sitcoms where they add in another character for comic relief that isn't very funny and it seems to be the same type of comedy that the character represents. Ken seemed to be a ploy to take some of the comedy off of Tony to allow his relationship with Deborah to become more serious and actually happen. In fact once Tony and Deborah got together and the couples were more stable the room for comedy lessened although was still present. I think Tony's best series was the third and he sort of got less interesting after that. The final three 45 minute episodes were hard to watch because of the drastic change in his hair which I really didn't like. The series went on for too long and it was hard to maneuver any sort of growth in the characters to match their aging bodies. It got to a point to where it wasn't funny anymore because Gary and Tony were too old to be behaving badly. This is most poignantly represented in the final episode where Tony becomes the postman and Deborah is no longer turned on by him because of his serious attitude and grown up job. There is a point at which the series can no longer continue which signaled by 'Delivery' but really had come before in the series. In a way it could be read as another additive to laddish culture of not wanting to grow up and face the reality of the world. In the end Tony gives up his boring behavior for Deborah but there seems to be a clear signal that the series wouldn't be able to continue on from this moment and that perhaps this moment could have easily come sooner.
I leave you with a scene from my favorite episode 'Drunk' from the fourth series which is what initially attracted me to the series which nicely sums up the show and its preoccupation with lad culture.
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