He was always so good to his mother

RIP John Inman – I remember first watching “Are You Being Served” in my room on PBS station Channel 8 in Atlanta on a tv set with a smaller screen than the computer monitor I use today as part of the Saturday night Britcom line up (The Paul Hogan Show was in there too, but I didn’t realize he was Australian). Much of the innuendo went completely over my head then, but it was pretty clear what Mr. Humphries was all about, and with the exception of a few overplayed shocked looks by other characters on the show, it was never a big deal. I always liked that about the show, sure it was campy, but it was campy across the board. I saw him most recently when French and Saunders used him in their Star Wars: Phantom Menace spoof and he hadn’t lost any of his comic charm. Obviously today’s television entertainment allows writers and actors to be much more free about sex and sexuality and that’s well and good, but I’ll keep tuning into BBC America to get my doses of innuendo and double entendres and of course to hear Mr. Humphries twitter, “I’m free!”

Amazon is featuring the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Definitive 200, albums that should be in every music collection. What do you think of their selections? And what are your personal top 5 albums of 2007, whether actually released this year, or just purchased by you since January?