Two's Company is an oddity. In one sense it's a funny take on the stereotypical characteristics of Americans and Britons. On the other hand, it comes off as being an extremely long-winded joke that keeps going until it finds the funny. Not everything is classic about Two's Company, but there are a few shining moments.
The series tells the tale of Dorothy McNab (Elaine Stritch), a successful writer who employs a British butler named Robert (Donald Sinden) to cook the meals and clean the house. Because the two are from different countries and completely different backgrounds, the usual tensions occur.
Each episode plays on this theme — sometimes in rather thin plotlines.
An episode in particular that is a good example of this is "Dorothy's Electrician" in which Dorothy hires an electrician to work on the house. Obvious to the audience, but apparently not to her, is that she has hired a bad one. I could perhaps see this work for a five-minute sketch, but not 30 minutes.
The shining moments of Two's Company come when the show has a full plot and more characters to even out the bickering between Stritch and Sinden's characters. The two best come from the second series — "The Guests" and "The Cleaning Ladies". The first is easily the best out of the two as the house is invaded by a group of hippie children. The second is funny if only to see Robert's blood pressure rise as a couple of new nannies are brought into the house.
The fact that this series lasted for four years surprises me. I would have ended it at the second series. The long-running joke of whether an American and a Brit could live together can't last without something fresh being added to the mix.
At the end of the day, I wouldn't purchase Two's Company. I would however get a Netflix account and rent the series for the two good episodes that I mentioned. You don't really need to watch from the beginning (the pilot wasn't that good anyhow) to get the gist of what's happening.
For a better taste of British comedy, I would suggest Are You Being Served? or even the original BBC version of The Office before I would recommend this show.
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