Spatz S1E6 (1990) - FULL EPISODE

Death of a Spatzman. Glamorous soap star Cindy Stewart pops into the restaurant for lunch, and Dexter's efforts to impress her spiral wildly out of control. Meanwhile, a clerical error has led to TJ having a bit of a cash flow problem, and soon has to face the uncomfortable reality that dead people don't receive pay cheques. This episode was originally broadcast on Wednesday, 28th March, 1990. It's difficult to class this as either a Dexter or a TJ episode, so why not both? The theme of the bureaucracy being taken to ridiculous levels is a funny one, and I dare say even more relevant today what with it being all down to a computer glitch. It's funny that Stanley is the expert hacker in the gang, and his misunderstanding over TJ's apparent death, while not really a joke for kids' TV today (or possibly ever), at least ends with a "He put Basil in the ratatouille" type of comedy exit. The generosity of the staff in connection with TJ's being penniless stands in stark contrast to Karen's attitude, but that only makes it all the better, and adds an extra dimension to the furniture gag and ultimate resolution. As for Dexter, well, in case we didn't know already, we find out that he's literally all things to all people, as long as he stands to gain from the arrangement. His giveaway blink and the idea of trying to raise £200 overnight - a not inconsiderable sum today, positively ridiculous back then - obviously cause him no end of bother, but it's good to see him ponder the ethical dilemma of whether he should come clean or not, even if it's in an unbelievably shallow manner. The "Show her some teeth - then lie through them" line sums it all up perfectly, and the "You can't play the guitar" exchange gave me a good giggle. Meanwhile, the outfit Dexter finds himself wearing at the end acts as a brilliant visual underlining of the sheer lengths he'll go to. As a bit of an aside, there are a couple of technical points I'd like to raise, if I may. The first is that the speakerphone bit around 2:53 is surely supposed to have audio effect on it, isn't it? I mean, it needs to sound like it's coming through the phone, rather than the director (maybe) standing all off-mic near the camera. But, more all-encompassing, I have two questions regarding the colour of the picture throughout the series and the fact that it's so orange, and those questions are: what's with the picture colours throughout this series, and why does it all look so orange? I swear it's not my equipment. My theory is that they shot in NTSC and then we were left with a dodgy PAL conversion. Considering this was shot in the UK, surely everyone would have been better off if they'd gone in the opposite direction, but I suppose what's done is done. Here's what I'm talking about, by the way: https://image.ibb.co/ihfCea/spatzcolours.png I'd be (relatively) interested to hear a technical explanation, if anyone has one. Many thanks to Joe for lending me this tape. (To the best of my knowledge, the contents of this video have never been available commercially anywhere in the world. Please also note that I don't monetise any of my uploads. Nevertheless, if you are a copyright holder and have an objection, please don't hesitate to contact me.)