Cast Change

You've just been named the casting director of your favorite television show (or movie franchise). The catch: you must replace the entire cast — with your friends and family. Who gets which role?

This is great, isn't it?  A real gimme.  Thing is, most of last year actually felt like I was living in an American sitcom, more specifically some bizarre mash up of The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.  It's easy, really, looking at last year's roster, and allows for the necessary overlaps as and when.  There are the obvious cues, of course - our very own Cardinal Sin is Barney, while Madame Mim could almost be an exact double for Robin, to an uncanny level of detail.  Things begin to blur a little bit from here, but you can equate Lily and Marshall with The King of Canadia and his young lady, although instead of heading for Judiciary service on a State Supreme Court, he's more suited to oh I dunno, something a little more Prime Ministerial.  Those two great fools are harder to pitch though.  On balance, der Sohn is more like our Raj equivalent than not.  The Prodigal son is possibly the best mirror we have of Howard, even if he isn't Jewish, and he's still waiting for his Bernadette.  At a push, Mr. and the future Mrs. Murray are a mixture between Leonard and Penny and Marshall and Lily.  And me?  Isn't that obvious?  Why, I'm the worst parts of Moseby and Cooper, in one unhappy package.  

It's easy to find parallels with television in life, especially character based sitcoms like the above, especially if you look hard enough.  While I no longer live communally, as soon as you get into that environment, people fall into roles that fit the particular dynamic.  They fulfill certain archetypal roles in a group.  Sometimes, everybody listens to the loudest person in the room, in a race to the top for sheer dominance.  Sometimes that leads to the invasion of Poland, but now isn't the time for Historical commentary really.  Living in a close knit group like the Scholars do here, not only living together but singing services and more often than not propping up bars together every day.  Something like HIMYM's scenes set in MacLaren's, often featuring Barney spouting the phrase "challenge accepted" might as well be a mirror to being sat round the table at the local JD Wetherspoons establishment with Cardinal Sin detailing his latest Tinder success, or listening to the Swedish Chef talk about the hot barmaid he'll never speak to.  The feeling was much more like the unrelated yet familial dynamic in most American sitcoms, the kind of thing you find airing in double bills on E4 of an afternoon.

The big question now, of course is what will this year turn out to be like?  What must-see light comedy with tinges of sadness and the occasional profound statement will mirror this year?  This year really is all to play for, and as we stand on the brink of it all starting again, it's worth letting it work itself out before defining it.  Last year was pretty simple to compare, because two of the major players were Canadians.  Now, two of our arrivals are from within a mile of each other in London, with the third hailing from God's own county.

Of course, I suppose the real challenge is taking this life and fitting it for screen?  I mean, you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried...