gridoon2024 Review of Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974)

Classic, influential, ingenious - and wildly uneven

[7/10 · 27 April 2018]

It's....."Monty Python's Flying Circus". This show has too many memorable, priceless bits to count - and not a few duds. At their best, the Pythons invented a new language for comedy (and TV): anything goes, anything can happen, at any time and any place. It bends the mind. Perhaps as good a summary of their primary purpose as any can be found in a Graham Chapman line: " we need to cure people of their sanity". But sometimes they take an idea that's not very funny in the first place, and they stretch it out too long. The first two seasons are generally the strongest; the third is also good but more uneven; the fourth is by far the weakest (though it still has its moments) - their hearts and minds were more in the upcoming "Holy Grail" by that time. Objectively speaking, an episode like "Mr. Neutron" is as awful as "The Spanish Inquisition" is brilliant. But my single favorite episode has to be the early "Ant - An Introduction" - don't miss it! *** out of 4 as a whole. P.S. Carol Cleveland - what a WOMAN!