Fawlty Towers and John Cleese's (In)sanity

[Robot_Arm]

It’s my belief that Basil died at the end of the last episode, but I admit it’s not explicitly shown as such.

[Baron_Greenback]

@Smeghead

I seem to recall that there was a BBC union strike that also contributed to the long gap between series.

Nah, not a four year gap. It was ITV that had union unrest in the 1970s mostly.

[StusBlues]

@Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew

“Yes you did! You invaded Poland!”

Possibly my favorite line in the whole series.

Thank you for picking up on that.

[Max_Torque]

@El_Kabong

I was a bit surprised to find the long gap between series, but apparently his marriage to series collaborator Connie Booth broke up sometime after the first series, so this may have contributed to the delay. In any event, there seems to be a particularly British tradition of abbreviated seasons for TV series. IIRC, the individual Blackadder series were only six episodes each as well.

I’ve heard that the original reason for the relatively short seasons of British TV shows was that, unlike with US shows, most programs had just one writer, or perhaps a team of two writers working together. American shows use larger teams of writers who work on scripts independently, so it’s pretty easy to crank out a large number of scripts every year. From a single writer, six shows a year is about as fast as you can expect before things get strained.

[Baron_Greenback]

@Max_Torque

I’ve heard that the original reason for the relatively short seasons of British TV shows was that, unlike with US shows, most programs had just one writer, or perhaps a team of two writers working together. American shows use larger teams of writers who work on scripts independently, so it’s pretty easy to crank out a large number of scripts every year. From a single writer, six shows a year is about as fast as you can expect before things get strained.

This is pretty much it. As an example one of our best TV writers, Alan Bleasdale, has a new thing on this week about a ship sunk by a submarine in WWII. It’s only two installments, that’s what the script needed, that’s what the network has given.

[Asympotically_fat]

@Max_Torque

I’ve heard that the original reason for the relatively short seasons of British TV shows was that, unlike with US shows, most programs had just one writer, or perhaps a team of two writers working together. American shows use larger teams of writers who work on scripts independently, so it’s pretty easy to crank out a large number of scripts every year. From a single writer, six shows a year is about as fast as you can expect before things get strained.

Yes this a major reason, the vast majority of the UK’s classic sitcoms were written by teams of usually two co-writers.

The BBC has in recent years used the US model for the writing of the sitcom Coupling which was successful in terms of viewing figures, but got a more lukewarm critical reception.

[Baron_Greenback]

@These are my own pants

The BBC has in recent years used the US model for the writing of the sitcom Coupling which was successful in terms of viewing figures, but got a more lukewarm critical reception.

No, this is wrong. Coupling was pretty much all written by Steven Moffatt, and had a very good critical reception.

[Llama_Llogophile]

@astorian

He’d just gotten tired of the character, and was ready to move on to something else.

Well if he didn’t like making TV shows, he should have gotten another bloody job designing cathedrals or composing violin concertos.

[Two_Many_Cats]

@Mach Tuck

Well if he didn’t like making TV shows, he should have gotten another bloody job designing cathedrals or composing violin concertos.

The Fawlty Towers Concerto, in two movements, both of them hilarious, with a four year hiatus in between.

[vivalostwages]

It’s one of the most hilarious series I’ve ever seen. Twelve glorious eps is better than none!

[Bytegeist]

@Two_Many_Cats

The Fawlty Towers Concerto, in two movements …

*That’s Brahms!

Brahms’ Third Racket!*

[ralph124c]

I still love FT-one of the all-time greats! I liked the weird people who lived in the hotel-including the retired army major-you could hardley understand him. The best episode (IMHO) was when the loud-mouthed American guy came in-he insults Basil and called the hotel a “dump”-extremely funny!

[Markxxx]

@Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew

“Yes you did! You invaded Poland!”

Possibly my favorite line in the whole series.

That was good but the best line was

“Care for a rat?”

[Wendell_Wagner]

It’s interesting that both Connie Booth and Pamela Stephenson decided to give up acting and become psychologists:

Connie Booth

Pamela Stephenson

[Ximenean]

@Baron_Greenback

@These are my own pants

The BBC has in recent years used the US model for the writing of the sitcom Coupling which was successful in terms of viewing figures, but got a more lukewarm critical reception.

No, this is wrong. Coupling was pretty much all written by Steven Moffatt, and had a very good critical reception.

If the poster meant My Family, rather than Coupling, then the observation is accurate, but only for that particular show.

[rowrrbazzle]

@Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew

“Yes you did! You invaded Poland!”

Possibly my favorite line in the whole series.

Definitely one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

[Floater]

And once upon a time there was a US TV company (don’t remember which) that had plans to make a US version. One of the changes they wanted to make was to drop the Basil Fawlty character because he wasn’t nice.

[Bijou_Drains]

There was a recent US version but it only lasted a few weeks. I think it was on CBS.

[TriPolar]

Horrible casting and costuming in that one. I don’t know how the BBC original was perceived in the UK, but from the American’s point of view, they looked very much like the yuppie types that were common at the time, while the US version looked too much like TV stars making talk show appearances, and phoning in their lines, IMHO.

[What_Exit]

There has actually been several tries at an American Version. One had Bea Arthur and I think Harvey Corman, one had John Laroquette and I am fairly certain there was a third. I think Mel Brooks was involved with one of them. Maybe the Bea Arthur one.

Wiki to the rescue:

Three attempted remakes of Fawlty Towers were started for the American market, with two making it into production. The first, Chateau Snavely starring Harvey Korman and Betty White, was produced by ABC for a pilot in 1978, but the transfer from coastal hotel to highway motel proved too much and the series was never produced. The second, also by ABC, was Amanda’s starring Bea Arthur, notable for switching the sexes of its ‘Basil’ and ‘Sybil’ equivalents. It also failed to pick up a major audience and was dropped.[21] A third remake called Payne (produced by and starring John Larroquette) was also produced, but was cancelled shortly after.