I was in quarantine a couple of weeks back after moving across country and bored with little to do, so I pulled this show up on Amazon Prime and started watching. Never really seen much of it before. Am not half way through season 5. It really is a sweet show, holds up (mostly) even though it's retro comedy, and is enjoyable. Like many others, I think Sylvia steals every scene she's in, she's great. It's interesting that post season 2 the kids barely have anything to do - even in episodes where they should. Like, in the early seasons if one of them was having problems in school, Fran would go to sort it out with the kid in tow. Now she takes Yetta or Val with her instead, and the kid just walks on earlier in the episode, says a line or two and leaves again. Perhaps due to school commitments with the younger two? And Nicholle Tom I believe was doing a lot of other acting at the time (there is a blooper at the end of one episode where Nicholle stuffs a line up and Fran's like: "Hey, you're in 2 Lifetime movies a month at the moment, I don't blame you for forgetting lines" or something).

Also, it was probably the realisation that Val, Yetta and Sylvia are better comedy material too. Still, I thought the kids were some of the better child actors out there.

I'd also say it's starting to feel a bit looser now, like the actors are VERY comfortable in their parts. I've noticed this since about season 4. Also, on the topic of Niles' accent, while he always sounded to me very "American comedy series British", now he's pretty much letting it slip regularly, sounding a lot more standard American to my ears.

All in all, an enjoyable way to pass the time, though I think it's first 3 seasons are the best. Fran's comic timing is wonderful, but she's also surrounded by other great comic actors, so it doesn't become too much of a vanity project (and it could. There are so many scenes of Fran descending the staircase to whoops from the audience, but thankfully Drescher also doesn't balk at making herself look ridiculous or the butt of jokes too).

It's interesting to see it as a reflection of the times too. The first three seasons have quite a number of references to the Menendez brothers for example, which I guess was huge then. Also, I have to admit, there are SO many guest stars, but I feel the majority of them must've been very "of the moment" because I only recognised a handful of the bigger stars. Many other times the audience is cheering someone and I have no idea who they are meant to be, even after seeing their names in the credits.

I have a soft spot for CC too, and I like that they went from making her the sole butt of Niles' one liners and pranks, to getting her own back too. There's that episode, for example, where Fran and Maxwell come home to find the house has been burgled and everything stolen, and Niles tied up in the living room. CC assures Max she will take care of it, and then the show ends with her just cracking up laughing at him when the others have gone.