So after their continued success with series 2 of Flying Circus it was fairly inevitable that a third series would come about and it came crashing in on the 19th of October 1972 with an Icelandic saga followed by a nude Terry Jones playing the organ, John Cleese saying “and now...”, the it’s man, then the opening. The addition of the nude organist and cutting down the continuity announcer’s line has a feeling of attempting to innovate purely by adding more stuff instead of trying to do something innovative with it which can be something seen in the series as a whole, really.
Series three has an awful lot of good moments; some of my favourite sketches are in there, The Cheese Shop, Dennis Moore, Dr. Gumby, Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion visit Jean-Paul Sartre, The Argument Clinic, Anne Elk (Miss)’s Theory of the Brontosaurus and many others. These sketches do make this series well worth watching and I did enjoy it, but that doesn’t change the fact that this series is something of a downward spiral towards the end of the TV series.
Series three has an awful lot of good moments; some of my favourite sketches are in there, The Cheese Shop, Dennis Moore, Dr. Gumby, Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion visit Jean-Paul Sartre, The Argument Clinic, Anne Elk (Miss)’s Theory of the Brontosaurus and many others. These sketches do make this series well worth watching and I did enjoy it, but that doesn’t change the fact that this series is something of a downward spiral towards the end of the TV series.
While many of the sketches are funny, the links between them are more tenuous, more and more punchlines seem to be seeping in, the style had been somewhat lost and it’s a real shame to lose something as integral to the show as the stream of consciousness style. Though much of the original unusualness can still be seen in Terry Gilliam’s wonderful animations, but even they can feel a little tired up to this point.
Then there’s The Cycling Tour, something of a strange experiment this one, episode eight of the series isn’t the usual sketch show style but is instead one continuing story where Michael Palin and Terry Jones only play one part each, this would be the style they would later adopt in two of their films. True within it there are sketches like the British embassy run by Chinese people and the ineffective Russian firing squad but they really leave something to be desired and the episode as a whole just feels lacklustre. This is one of the worst episodes of the show and it really brings down the series.
Then there’s The Cycling Tour, something of a strange experiment this one, episode eight of the series isn’t the usual sketch show style but is instead one continuing story where Michael Palin and Terry Jones only play one part each, this would be the style they would later adopt in two of their films. True within it there are sketches like the British embassy run by Chinese people and the ineffective Russian firing squad but they really leave something to be desired and the episode as a whole just feels lacklustre. This is one of the worst episodes of the show and it really brings down the series.
So yes, series 3 of Monty Python’s Flying Circus has a lot of good things going for it and I would still recommend the majority of it, but some ideas just start to bring it down, the sketches feel less original and the style has somewhat fallen by the wayside. Overall not the worst that Python got, but not quite the best either. I have conflicted feelings about it, but moments like The Money Program can make it feel worthwhile.