BS: Fawlty Towers

Subject: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Wesley S
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 01:38 PM

Last night I saw a nice retrospective of the British TV series Fawlty Towers. Most of the actors and producers ect were there to talk about the show. It's hard to believe that there were only 12 episodes filmed. I wish it had gone on a LOT longer. But John Cleese was quoted as saying that after 12 episodes they figured it had gone on long enough. They had done what they wanted to do with the idea.

To this day I still mimic Sybil shouting "BASIL". And when I'm confused {often} I'm liable to say "I speak english very good - I learn it from a boook"

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Jeanie
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 02:59 PM

It's one of my favourites, too. Each episode is so very well crafted, and such an excellent cast - not only the main characters, but all the people who come and go. I particularly like Joan Sanderson as Mrs. Richards (who loses money in a vase).

It's amazing to think that these were first shown 30 years ago - they have stood the test of time very well, and I'm so glad that they are being shown to a whole new generation of viewers. The children I teach all know and *love* Fawlty Towers.

I suppose different styles of comedy presentation appeal to different people. I never did "get" "Last of the Summer Wine", though it obviously must have a tremendous following. I think what I like so much about Fawlty Towers is its "stagey"-ness. Even though there are outdoor shots, it is very much a staged production and with a cast of people who were principally stage actors who really know their stuff. I never tire of watching them.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Dead Horse
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 04:04 PM

I do apologise. He's from Barcelona.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: kendall
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 04:14 PM

I could listen to John Cleese reading the phone book. Have you all seen "Clockwise" ?

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: van lingle
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:27 PM

Flowery Twats

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:31 PM

"Nobody mention the war. I did once but I think I got away with it."

every episode was pure magic on the screen. Jeanie thanks for the explanation re the stagey-ness, i never thought of it at the time but you are spot on, that is what made it so special.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:41 PM

Oh, I thought this was a thread about the unsuccessful attempt to demolish a 200-foot high grain elevator in South Dakota last week. They blew out its bottom but it just settled down looked a little shorter and leaning at an angle of 20 degrees.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Wesley S
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:46 PM

Que ?

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Bardford
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:53 PM

Farty Towels

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: autolycus
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:55 PM

Interesting point about the stageyness, because two of the most popular tv formats are sitcoms and soaps. They the most stagey formats, so it beats me why we don't get plays on telly; not "dramas", which are all films, cos they have a location manager and best boy 'n' stuff but plays. Plays win out over films because they tend to be far , far less predictable than films. (Yes,yes,yes, I'm sure there are exceptions - I just mean, generally.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:55 PM

"She go craaaa-zy!" (waving his hands in the air helplessly)

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 06:19 PM

'Would you care for a rat?'

30 years old, hard to believe.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: *Laura*
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 06:25 PM

Fatty Owls

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 06:27 PM

"If you don't start right now I'm going to get out and give you a good thrashing."

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: kendall
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 07:41 PM

..."How in your wildest dreams could you imagine that a young, beautiful woman like that could be interested in an aging, Brilliantine stick insect like you"? (Sybl to Basil)

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 08:20 PM

Don't mind him. He's from Barcelona. Hard to believe they could get up an Armada...

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Ron Davies
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 10:17 PM

"It's Brahms Third Racket"

We've bought the complete collection on DVD. Couldn't recommend more highly.

Priceless--not only all 12 episodes--but just wonderful --and extensive interviews with John Cleese, Prunella Scales and others.

In John Cleese's interview he talks about, among many other things, where the ideas for the stories came from.

For instance, he asked a former manager at the Savoy: what was your worst problem?

Answer: the stiffs.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 01:44 AM

The episodes were written by starting with the ending and going backwards.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Bert
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 02:16 AM

What sort of dog is that?

He's a little shi-itzu.

Yes, but what breed is he?

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST,smiler
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 07:46 AM

Pretentious? Moi?

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST,Mingulay at work
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 08:27 AM

Flowery tarts!!

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: closet-folkie
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 09:12 AM

" Basil, if you're going to grope a girl, at least have the gallantry to be in the room with her"--Sybil

Has there been a better written sitcom? I doubt it.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 10:14 AM

In my estimation it is the single best thing that John Cleese has ever been invloved with

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: closet-folkie
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 10:21 AM

"In my estimation it is the single best thing that John Cleese has ever been invloved with"
Connie Booth, you mean?

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 10:42 AM

Connie Booth was conspicious in her absence from the special I saw the other night. I don't recall seeing her in anything else since then. I wonder what she's up to now ?

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 11:05 AM

" Connie Booth, you mean?"

She's the 2nd best thing...

LOL

Biography for
Connie Booth
http://imdb.com/name/nm0095665/bio

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Stu
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 01:39 PM

"Is this a piece of your brain?"

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 02:18 PM

"Have you ever seen my wife make toast?"

My wife walked in on me making a sandwich the other day and I happend to be singing "Camptown Ladies" to myself... as she walked up to me I glanced at her and finished the song "I did it myyy way".... She looked at me... shook her head and just walked away....

Heh

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Chris Green
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 03:20 PM

Flay otters.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: MuddleC
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 06:03 PM

-just checking the walls----

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 09:24 AM

"Just going to insert a garden gnome in O'Riley, dear."

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: alanabit
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 09:45 AM

Through gritted teeth to Manuel:
    "You're a waste of space!"

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 10:48 AM

No, not pigs, pigeons... like your English!

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: *Laura*
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 02:29 PM

"Coming..... my little piranha fish.. coming!"

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: nager
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 04:42 PM

Basil to the Major who is holding a gun and muttering about shooting vermin (Basil think he means Germans) in the lounge room:

Ah, not strictly legal any more Major...

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: GUEST,tdl
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 06:43 PM

Is pedigree Siberian Hamster!

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: nager
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 09:50 PM

Manuel: WHAT!!! You put Basil in the rattouille???

Terry the chef: I haven't made any bleedin' ratatouille!!

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: JennyO
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 08:45 AM

"Mr Hamilton: Could you make me a Waldorf Salad?
Basil: Oh, ... ah, ... wa?
Mr Hamilton: Waldorf Salad?
Basil: I think we are just out of Waldorfs."

[

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: *Laura*
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 09:26 AM

Mr Hamilton - "Couldn't find the main road! Had to take a little backstreet called the M5"

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: clueless don
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 12:14 PM

My enjoyment of Fawlty Towers was limited by the fact that I didn't have anyone to root for. On the one hand, Basil was genuinely put upon from many directions, which might have made me root for him. But he did so many awful things that I couldn't root for him.

One of my favorite moments in the show was when a guest was checking in, and Basil made some remark (I forget the details) about what he had to put up with in Manuel. The guest and Manuel then began having an animated coversation in Spanish, much to Basil's chagrin. The message seemed clear: Manuel isn't an idiot, he just doesn't speak the language.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 01:50 PM

I can sit and howl at episodes of "Fawlty Towers," no matter how many times I've seen them. The show drives my wife nuts, however. Maybe it's a gender thing. . . .

She likes "The Red Green Show," though. Strange.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: MuddleC
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 02:22 PM

'No, it is not possible to reserve the BBC2 channel from the commencement of your televisual feast until the moment of the termination of its ending, thank you so much'

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 02:53 PM

Anyone see the American remakes?

"Amanda's" (1983) with Bea Arthur as Amanda Cartwright, the Basil Fawlty counterpart.

"Payne's" (1999) with John Larroquette as Royal Payne, ditto.

Both were shameless copies of the "formula" of the original and both were miserable failures.

Memorable Quotes from "Fawlty Towers" at IMDb.

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: Linda Goodman Zebooker
Date: 09 Dec 05 - 01:20 AM

My favorite:

Basil and Sybil in their twin beds getting ready to go to sleep. Basil trying to read, Sybil on the phone sympathizing with a friend. You could hear Sybil intone over and over "Oh, I know, Oh I KNOW, I know. I KNOW. Yes. .....I know." Meanwhile, steam coming out of Basil's ears-

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: closet-folkie
Date: 09 Dec 05 - 08:49 AM

Basil and Sybil in their twin beds getting ready to go to sleep. Basil trying to read, Sybil on the phone sympathizing with a friend. You could hear Sybil intone over and over "Oh, I know, Oh I KNOW, I know. I KNOW. Yes. .....I know." Meanwhile, steam coming out of Basil's ears-


"Well, why is she telling you then?"--Basil

Subject: RE: BS: Fawlty Towers
From: darkriver
Date: 09 Dec 05 - 09:12 PM

Clueless Don --

I once heard Cleese speak about the 3 main characters (Basil, Sybil, & Manuel) and about audience perceptions of them. It seems that the audiences had the most sympathy for Manuel, and the least for Sybil, because Manuel is perceived as being the most powerless, while Sybil as the most powerful. Basil, of course, is in the middle, and probably the most hapless, and therefore the funniest.

Cleese also mentioned that an inspiration for his character was the typical Brit stiff-upper-lip, Great-Chain-of-Being middle class male, who yearns for a strong class structure but can't rise out of his own class, and who tries desperately to sublimate an intense rage. That's certainly one of Cleese's specialties--the barely supressed rage of a put-upon male who believes in fair play.

These shows had me laughing till my sides ached.

Doug