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| Patricia Routledge in 2012 at the local (Hyacinth Bouquet in a public house?!) |
It looks like Keeping Up Appearances has unceremoniously been removed from WCNY in my area, as it has from many other PBS member stations over the years. While Britbox (a joint venture of the BBC and itv) if not other streaming services would now carry it, the shows cancellation from channel 24 would be inconvenient for those who can't afford streaming, or are unfamiliar with newer technology, even DVDs, which are available. Hyacinth Bucket, I mean Bouquet (Patricia Routledge) would be straight on her white, slimline telephone with last minute redial to complain! Some may even consider her an OG Karen like Mary Whitehouse perhaps! If her Sheridan were here, he would be appalled!
In fairness, I've seen every episode hundreds of times. Saturday night won't be the same. I may have wiped any episodes from my DVR, which I now regret. Other Britcoms have also been discontinued over the past few decades. Affiliates have to pay extra for the rights, and the pandemic has dominoed into just about everything, including the station and viewers' budgets. Also, Friday and Saturday nights in the past thirty years have left low ratings in the Nielsens as people go out in normal times, so the show became a lower priority after playing it all that time. It used to even air on BBC America, which is now BBC in name only for commercial purposes. Might as well watch Channel 4 (rival pubcaster in the UK which our Hyacinth thinks is for a lower class of people)! She had a good run over here.
UPDATE: It's alright! The show is back on again. Looks like it was just on another hiatus for a period. We were firm! It has gone off of other stations however. Now we just need a free photo of missus for Wikipedia since this one isn't suitable and the one from To Sir with Love had merely a legal loophole.
