So what are you favourite moments from Fawlty Towers? Since I was born in Torquay, I think it's my duty to bring this up.
Anyone for trifle?
Anyone for trifle?
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Fawlty Towers
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One of mine was the 'deaf woman'.
And Basil trying to hide his race winings from his wife.
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@hermitage59 said:
One of mine was the 'deaf woman'.
And Basil trying to hide his race winings from his wife.
[[:|]]
Yeah - she was great in that. That's the 'herds of wilderbeast, sweeping majestically across Torquay' one, right?
The race winnings - yeah. Been there many times.
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I have trouble deciding, since after all this is the "Sistine Chapel of Situation Comedies." As I told Paul however, the Hotel Inspectors creates what could be conceived of as a perfect crescendo of comedy, with the climactic, fortissimo finale of the double pie/cream pouring upon the obnoxious guest by the even more obnoxious Basil.
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@fcw said:
The whole dead-guest-and-a-fish situation. Unless that's something else.
cleese got the idea for The Kipper and the Corpse when staying at the Savoy. He asked the manager what would be the worst scenario for an hotel manager - the manager replied a dead guest.
Cleese named the corpse after the hotel manager of The Savoy in his honour.
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@Justus said:
Yes, "the Germans" is great, especially for Germans [[;)]]
Did you know that Andrew Sachs who played Manuel was German?
What? [:O]ops:
Andreas Seigfried Sachs.
I think he loved The Germans one. The one called the Germans is nothing to do with Germans at all actually. It's to do with prejudice right from the beginning to the end. It's the one everybody always remembers because it's blatant. The Germans come out looking OK in that one. It's Basil that looks bad - that's the whole point and that's why it's funny.
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@mosso said:
There are so many good moments in Fawlty Towers, but "The Germans" was just genius. "So - that's a Prawn Goebbels, a Herman Goering, and Four Cold Meat Salads..."
Also, let's not forget...
"Basil - turn down that racket!"
"Racket??? RACKET???!!! IT'S BRAHMS!!! BRAHMS' 3RD RACKET!!!"
IT"S NOT FUNNY!!
NOT FUNNY! YOU"RE JOKING!
I like the one where the Australian bird comes to stay in The Psychiatrists - and Basil reaches round the corner for the light switch and finds the Australian by mistake - and his wife walks in at the same time. She calls him a brilliantine stick insect and he calls her a quaffered old sow.
The basis of any successful English marriage in a nutshell.
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No, it's great comedy. It has a very short half-life.
Think of the greatest comedians of the screen -
Buster Keaton - he did some of the most innovative films of his time - like Sherlock Jr. - in a visual sense, as well as great comedies that are absolutely hilarious, but was ruined and became an alcoholic when he signed away his rights to MGM.
Charlie Chaplin - his most perfect films were silent, and when sound came in he was completely screwed up, then was trying to do something different with Monsieur Verdoux and The Great Dictator and Limelight, all of which audiences rejected, then he was accused of communism in America, etc.
Harold Lloyd - perhaps the most consistent of the early silent film comedians, but he lapsed into obscurity until recently when (finally) his silents are being re-released with beautiful scores by Carl Davis and other new composers. Films like "The Freshman" and "The Kid Brother" are tremendous examples of the art of comedy in film and can now be seen as if in a grand movie palace of the 20s, with a full symphony orchestra accompanying them.
Mel Brooks (to skip forward a bit) - after Young Frankenstein he was essentially washed up as a force in comedy. Though he still doesn't understand that. Though also, I don't blame him since it is part of the mind-set necessary, I feel, to create this incredibly difficult form of art.
Woody Allen- one of the greatest comedians ever in cinema, but one who had to change into something much more subtle than his early madcap farces. His later films are an amazing blend of drama and comedy. For example look at Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy - inspired partly by Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, but with a perfect Allenesque (if I may be so bold) style blending a charming comedy of manners with a visually beautiful setting.
I am pontificating here disgustingly, but the point I was trying to make was that all comedians seem to be unable to just keep on cranking out hilarity. It is a very precious product. (As Golem might say...)
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But does anybody know why such a hilarious show had such a short run? What was it, like 10 episodes? Too bad! [:'(]
As I understand it, John Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth, who co-wrote the show, decided that they were done with writing about Basil et al after two six-episode series.
It might have had something to do with them getting a divorce at about the same time they finished writing the second series of the show.
Anyway, British TV shows aren't made under the system that prevails in the US, where a 'season' is generally 20-odd episodes, intended to fill a timeslot for the majority of a year. If a show survives for a few years, it can then go into syndication, which is like a second wind for money-making. Aiming for large annual production runs means that US shows tend to be written by teams of writers. This makes it easier to cope when one writer leaves the show.
The commercial imperative that drives US TV production is almost entirely absent at the BBC, which tends to set the tone for all TV production in the UK. Consequently, big production runs generally aren't aimed for in the UK, so there isn't the same kind of pressure in British TV to keep making episodes of a show that has some success until it's past its prime, just to bulk up the numbers.
Because British TV is made and shown differently, most British comedy shows tend to be made in six-episode series instead, and they tend to all be written by the same one or two writers. If those writers quit, it's harder to continue without accidentally creating a different show that happens to have the same actors in it.
But that also means that shows that are really good can seem to end before we expect them to, especially when their creators decide to move on.