Fawlty Towers (Reboot) Tv Series (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

I looked his daughter up. She is a comedian by trade. I watched a few minutes of her doing a routine. I hope she is better in this reboot, because she was not remotely funny in the few minutes that I could bother with. To be fair, though, it is the rare stand up comedian that I find funny.

 

[Wiseguy]

The very first time I watched it (when I was about 17), I didn't much like it, either. I bought one of the 3-episode VHS tapes, watched it once, and didn't give it another try until I was about 20. Then, I "got it", I guess, and had to see the rest of them!

Maybe it's just that it's (even today) a bit unusual for us Yanks to see such a rude, self-centred character as the head of a sitcom?

I'd suggest giving it another try. You might want to consider which episode to start with. I'd recommend "Communication Problems" or "The Psychiatrist". I'd steer well-clear of "The Anniversary" until you've seen most of the others.

I presume those are the same tapes I bought the full set of back in the 1990s.
I didn't like that they linked the three episodes on the tape and deleted two of the opening credits (with the letters of the hotel sign rearranged) and two of the closing credits (although not many of the episodes had a scene during the closing credits-I think they put such an episode in the third position so the scene would play out - so the episodes weren't in order either).

 

[Garysb]

I presume those are the same tapes I bought the full set of back in the 1990s.
I didn't like that they linked the three episodes on the tape and deleted two of the opening credits (with the letters of the hotel sign rearranged) and two of the closing credits (although not many of the episodes had a scene during the closing credits-I think they put such an episode in the third position so the scene would play out - so the episodes weren't in order either).

So were the tapes produced so that they played as though they were one long episode or a movie?

 

[EricSchulz]

So were the tapes produced so that they played as though they were one long episode or a movie?

It was about a million years ago that I first watched this on PBS but I seem to think they may have broadcast multiple episodes on Sunday nights. That and MFFC were required viewing!

 

[Garysb]

I hope they don't kill off Sybil and Manuel to account for their not being there. As it is not set in the UK, I trust they will not have Manuel deported due to Brexit.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

So were the tapes produced so that they played as though they were one long episode or a movie?

Yes, as was common for TV on video releases in the early-to-mid 1980s: one set of opening/closing credits. For Fawlty, they remade the closing credits to include all the guests for all 3 episodes. Instead of just text, they played a brief clip of each guest actor under their individual credit.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I hope they don't kill off Sybil and Manuel to account for their not being there. As it is not set in the UK, I trust they will not have Manuel deported due to Brexit.

it wasn't Brexit...it was a bad case of hoof and mouth!!

 

[Wiseguy]

So were the tapes produced so that they played as though they were one long episode or a movie?

More or less, yes, although I believe they overlayed the title at the beginning of each episode.

 

[billO']

No.

Just... No.

If this had been initiated ten, even twenty years after the original, then OK (begrudingly). But there comes a point when you have to "gracefully surrender the things of youth." Getting the band back together when you're 80 years old is just a recipe for embarrassment.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

No.

Just... No.

If this had been initiated ten, even twenty years after the original, then OK (begrudingly). But there comes a point when you have to "gracefully surrender the things of youth." Getting the band back together when you're 80 years old is just a recipe for embarrassment.

Yep.

John himself once said that there would never be another Monty Python film ("Graham has seen to that" was more of less the comment, referring to Chapman's death). Chapman was one-sixth (or one-fifth, depending on how one counts Terry G) of the group.

In the case of Fawlty, one-half of the group is unable to participate (Sachs is dead, Scales has dementia/Alzheimer's), and Booth wasn't even consulted or asked to participate. By his own earlier standards, there is even less of a reason for a revival here.

I say this is financially-motivated, or mostly to do with the daughter, or both. I don't for a second believe this is for artistic reasons.