Fawlty Towers

I fear it will be a disaster, just like return of Frasier, as much as I hope I'm wrong.

Can't see it doing well, it'll either be outdated or worse he'll try to update it in his current 'gb news' views.

Yeah, nah.

I found the original very hit and miss with some very dated "jokes" even for the time.  I think this will further tarnish Cleese reputation

Only going to tarnish the legacy ?

Only if he mentions the war

Pointless

Only going to tarnish the legacy ?

Ke?

Iceberg dead ahead, captain.

The basic premise could be rebooted. I haven't watched the original in a long, long time but I don't think it was particularly offensive by the standards of the day. Basil was a pompous fool who kept landing himself in trouble. That format can always be rebooted. The offensiveness was done in irony as far as I can recall. The Major said some things that were quite offensive, but that was the point even back then - he was a relic of times gone by, you were supposed to be laughing at him, not with him.  The "he's from Barcelona" joke has not aged well, but easy enough to recast Manuel as a different stock joke character. Good chance it will be a disappointment, but it's not inevitable.

Dont mention the Culture War

Dont mention the Culture War

This is exactly why he's trying to reboot the format I'd have thought. Bidding war for the show according to some news papers, so it's not a done deal yet.

Cleese has been working on tarnishing his own legacy in recent years by slowly morphing into Major Gowan with his brexity immigration stuff.

I didn't watch many of the originals at the time and the ones I've revisited on Youtube are just irritating, a bunch of toffs being dicks.

On the other hand, Dave Allen, funny and perceptive.

Will the hotel be advertised as Farty Towels again?

It'll be shit and Cleese will blame everyone but himself.

ke?

Surely  "que?" ( with an upside down question mark before it which i cannot get to work)

My Spanish is far from fluent but I think in many instances, como would have been more appropriate than que?

It will be terrible.

I'll watch because its faulty towers and i loved faulty towers... and then I'll hate it because it's not 'faulty towers'!

Can swap 'faulty towers' for other reboots. Still, feel like we were done a bit short on faulty towers with only 12 original episodes.

I predict it will be cringeworthy and used to launch GB News' new light entertainment channel.

Here's the OP's link pulled from the page source.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64563839

WTF is "GOAT"?

Greatest Of All Time

Which of course its not 🙂

Nope

original "Flowery Tawts" for the win; this'll be shite.  Not just by comparison; just shite

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I’ll watch because its faulty towers and i loved faulty towers… and then I’ll hate it because it’s not ‘faulty towers’!

Can swap ‘faulty towers’ for other reboots. Still, feel like we were done a bit short on faulty towers with only 12 original episodes.

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I mean, if you're going for the record of spelling it wrong the most times in two sentences, then fair play, that's a good effort.

Anyway, as for the subject at hand, I predict "excruciatingly awful"

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This new formatting stuff works a treat, dunnit?

The bar is high & I am afraid that the chosen one will quite easily stumble under it..

he’ll try to update it in his current ‘gb news’ views

That is my concern - unless he plays it cleverly and just plays himself up as being an out of touch old man.

Eagerly awaits It Ain't Alf Hot Mum, Mind Your Language and Terry & June updates.

Actually, compared to the comedies that are on at the moment, a Fawtly Towers remake seems quite welcome.

It worked at the time as we had limited choice and the premise was novel enough for the time. Nowadays though, you have loads of shows that are about middle aged or old men having their crisis or breakdown, so it'll just be some light fluff that'll barely be up to normal BBC lacklustre sitcom standards.

I fear it will tread the same path as the absolutely dire Open All Hours remix a few years ago.

Some things are best left alone.

This is exactly why he’s trying to reboot the format I’d have thought. Bidding war for the show according to some news papers, so it’s not a done deal yet.

I guess if he get's no takers it's "Cancel Culture".

Can’t see it doing well, it’ll either be outdated or worse he’ll try to update it in his current ‘gb news’ views.

I don’t believe Cleese is any more ‘racist’ than 90% of his generation. Times change, 600 years ago it was acceptable to burn witches ..

The reboot will be an absolute crock of horse turd however..

It’ll be shit and Cleese will blame everyone but himself.

^^This

I bet he'll thwack his Tesla with a big branch when he can't get the charging plug to go in.

It'll suck.

good job no-one will start watching with preconceptions eh?

good job no-one will start watching with preconceptions eh?

Fair comment, but how many of these reboots haven't been absolutely painfully bad?

I don’t believe Cleese is any more ‘racist’ than 90% of his generation. Times change, 600 years ago it was acceptable to burn witches ..

Cleese has been very vocal with his opinions over the last few years.  He appears to have since recanted to a degree.

Thus and so,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63197829

Cleese has been very vocal with his opinions over the last few years.  He appears to have since recanted to a degree

My old man and his mates are always saying stuff that I roll my eyes at. None are card carrying national front members, and none of it is particularly offensive (to me at least). But it’s not in tune with what the majority of younger folks probably think nowadays

god forbid what kind of trouble they’d get into if they had the same platform for their views as cleese

always surprised me there were only about 12 episodes of faulty towers ever made, I must not have realised I was watching the same episode again and again when I was younger!

god forbid what kind of trouble they’d get into if they had the same platform for their views as cleese

But that's rather the point, isn't it.  Your dad might well be a loveable old racist, but he doesn't have six million followers on Twitter.

how many of these reboots haven’t been absolutely painfully bad?

Perry Mason was pretty good. The new Quantum Leap is pretty much the same as I remember the old one.

Like all sitcoms it was hit and miss at the time, and some of it hasn't dated well. They knew when to quit while they were ahead. (Stone the unbeliever!)

I'd be surprised if this proves worthwhile.

how many of these reboots haven’t been absolutely painfully bad?

It's meant to be a current, old-aged version of Fawlty dealing with the modern world, not a straight reboot. And if you look at it that way, taking characters from an earlier programme, there are several similar sitcoms that worked. Frasier stands out as being obvious. Also, Rob Reiner is involved, albeit as executive producer.

But, I'm not expecting much. 😀

Is Cleese having another marital breakdown? That’s what made the writing so edgy in the first. They knew when to stop.

My best friend “retired” from corporate life to run a guest home in Torquay. He could offer up the premises. Not for me, I have to say.

Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice. Why has the whole genre appeared to have relied on Not Going Out and Mrs Brown's Boys in recent years?

Father Ted, Black Adder, and Only Fools and Horses,  are becoming an ever more distant memories.

Some quality double acts  would be nice too.

Nowadays though, you have loads of shows that are about middle aged or old men having their crisis or breakdown,

Which shows are these? (I have 4 women in my house so may have missed something here in the Ice Dancing on Love Island after a 1st Date Wedding mix.)

Only Murders in the Building is a pretty good comedy-drama with Steve Martin and Martin Short.

 but how many of these reboots haven’t been absolutely painfully bad?

Which ones? I'm not aware of any

This will very likely be a complete car crash. Rob Reiner's involvement does intrigue tho.

Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice. Why has the whole genre appeared to have relied on Not Going Out and Mrs Brown’s Boys in recent years?

You've obviously missed the Good Place, Ghosts, This Country etc...

It’s meant to be a current, old-aged version of Fawlty dealing with the modern world, not a straight reboot.

So, it will be like the new Top Gun film?

Can only assume Cleese is running short on money again...that seems to be his reason for doing tv stuff - can't be bothered with all this TV stuff so I'll stay away from it and then an offer is made and he is suddenly all for it (probably like most folk, but the sums of money are likely to be much more here).

A new Quantum Leap - I hope they make reference to the previous attempt at this rather than pretending it never happened - reading the bio bit on IMDB it is set 30 years after the original - so they didn't learn anything, or did they? Probably not if they've managed to get someone lost in time again.

There have been some new (non US!) sitcoms, but shortlived and almost hidden away - I loved This Way Up (kinda serious), Frank of Ireland, Newark Newark and The Walshes. Ghosts is nice, but not really hilarious, just amusing.

Just been thinking on this and remembered an article I read many years ago when Cleese (on announcing he was going to do a sitcom about a hotel owner in Torquay) was told it was a dreadful idea that would never work. Maybe, just maybe, he can pull it off again?

that seems to be his reason for doing tv stuff

Keep up, the wokerati won't let him get on TV apparently.

Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice. Why has the whole genre appeared to have relied on Not Going Out and Mrs Brown’s Boys in recent years?

I think the format has changed a bit, so now there are more comedy dramas like Inbetweeners or Spoof docu's like The Office, People Just do Nothing, This Country. Still some funny TV out there. Ghosts was quite sitcom, I liked that a lot.

Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice.

Put Gold on, it's just an unending wall of Dad's Army and Vicar of Dibley interspersed with occasional Keeping Up Appearances and One Foot In The Grave...

I never really liked Fawlty Towers, it was always too OTT and stereotyped, even back then.

Blackadder was genius - there's long been talk of rebooting that with the original cast (or some of them anyway) but thankfully they've left well alone.

The original 12 episodes stand up to scrutiny as very well crafted examples of the genre for the period of original production.  But that is where the story should end; Cleese has been in steady decline since and it is difficult to envisage modern attempts improving on the legacy.

"Put Gold on"

Yeah I get that you can see 30-40 year old sitcoms repeatedly.

I should have been more specific....... Some up-to-date fresh sitcoms on the telly would be nice.

Part of the appeal of the old sitcoms which enjoyed huge viewing figures was that they were new and unpredictable. In the case of Only Fools and Horses, for example, they followed a vague storyline which added to their appeal.

Father Ted being a racist will still make me laugh 25 years later but not as much as it did the first time I saw it.

Good to read the comedy experts of Singletrack who think they know better than Cleese, have taken time off from being health experts, legal eagles and generally being holier than thou and have already written this off. Phew, saved myself from the inevitable misery.

If you are not interested in opinions and in an exchange of veiws why do you log on to a forum?

I do it to confuse myself, as a middle aged man, struggling to navigate a rapidly changing world with social skills and attitudes from the 1970's.

I am John Cleese and I claim my £10

##edited for spelling

Where did I state I wasn't interested?

I think its fascinating that some have already written it off without knowing hardly anything about it.

It’s meant to be a current, old-aged version of Fawlty dealing with the modern world, not a straight reboot.

So, it will be like the new Top Gun film?

Or Top Gear with Clarkson et al?

Keep up, the wokerati won’t let him get on TV apparently.

It's true! He said so! On TV....

how many of these reboots haven’t been absolutely painfully bad?

Does Cobra Kai count? Loved that.

I think its fascinating that some have already written it off without knowing hardly anything about it.

Not sure people have written it off as such - just expressed (valid) concerns that John Cleese as been drifting further to a right wing populism and pro-Brexit standpoint alongside making various accusations of cancel culture - what right wingers like to call it when no-one finds them funny any more and doesn't book them for any work.

Kind of like how Neil Oliver wasn't bad in the early days of Coast but is now just a conspiracy theory mouthpiece and total **** on GB News. In fact Cleese himself is supposed to be hosting a slot on GB News later this year.

Hotel guests to include Clarkson, Piers Morgan, Katie Hopkins, Prince Andrew and Kevin Spacey. Lizz Truss as the Maid and Anne Widdecom as the Wife.

I think its fascinating that some have already written it off without knowing hardly anything about it.

the original was weak and dated even in its day relying on casual racial sterotyping and sexism for "jokes"  It was cruel humour.   Cleese has become unbearably right wing as he has aged.

The mix of the two does not give rise to hope for good TV

the original was weak and dated even in its day.

Bollox.

IMHO obviously

sorry - should have had an IMO on my post 🙂

🙂

Even if he hadn’t turned into a bit of a dick the guy is 83 years old now so the chances of him making us laugh seem pretty slim. If he tries to attack his car again he’ll probably snap.

Well if he's got six million followers he's obviously doing something right.

****ty Owls MK2 will be shite, or may absolutely hilarious in an unintended way...

the original was weak and dated even in its day relying on casual racial sterotyping and sexism for “jokes”

far from being dated in its day, I’d say it was at least of its day if not even ahead of its time.

as for racial stereotyping, you’re just talking nonsense. I’m totally unaware of Spanish people being characterised as bumbling, inept and a bit dim. Manuel just happened to be a person with those traits that was born in Spain. Nothing wrong with that, you seem to be the one projecting the inferred racism. The black doctor wasn’t portrayed in anyway stereotypically and the Germans were portrayed as perfectly ordinary people trying to cope with a bit of a nutcase. The Irish builders weren’t portrayed as thick  as per the 70s English stereotyping.

The closest thing I can see as stereotypical were the upper class gin soaked Major and the neurotic, reactionary middle class, middle aged Englishman.

Thats your opinion.  Mine differs.  I remember looking forward to it and finding it utterly cringeworthy using cheap stereotypes to laugh at people not with them.   Just having the builders as Irish is a stereotype and the handling of the Manual character was offensive and yes - a cheap stereotype.  Never heard of "spanish practices"?

I found the humour cruel - laughing at people.  I loathe that

It was certainly very dated when it came out.  No doubt at all in my mind.  It looked and felt like it was a decade earlier

Edit - Why was Manual spanish if not to laugh at furriners?

That tit T*te also has 6 million followers, Jambourgie. I'll complete your offensive racial sterotyping of the males with the sexist sterotying of the females, TJ. And that piped laughter, awful.

TBH didn’t Manuel speak Catalan rather than Spanish ,him coming from Barcelona?

the Manual character was offensive and yes – a cheap stereotype. Never heard of “spanish practices”?

The terms Spanish practice or old Spanish customs are British expressions that refer to irregular or restrictive practices in workers' interests. Typically, these are arrangements that have been negotiated in the past between employers and unions.

In what way does the Manuel character relate to Spanish practices?

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That tit T*te also has 6 million followers, Jambourgie. I’ll complete your offensive racial sterotyping of the males with the sexist sterotying of the females, TJ. And that piped laughter, awful.

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What's your point? Is AT a comedian? I thought he was a kind hustle philosophy grifter? Must be pretty successful at it if he's got six million followers...

Six million followers suggests to me a lot of people find him funny. So, as a comedian, he's doing something right.

But because you don't like it they're invalid. Is that it?

What about... hmm... Sir Paul McCartney, he's probably got six million followers too. Does that suggest he's a successful musician?