Reply With QuoteTerrible idea.
He just ain’t funny anymore.
Happy to be proven wrong.
Is this a good idea?
Fawlty Towers: John Cleese to revive series with daughter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64563839
Personally I think not on so many levels.
Terrible idea.
He just ain’t funny anymore.
Happy to be proven wrong.
The idea of bringing a classic piece of near perfect comedy into a "woke" and "PC" 2023 fills me with dread. Especially if it's done by the BBC.
Even money bet that they elbow Cleese and recast Basil as a bisexual mixed race woman.
Edit: just googled his daughter - an LA stand-up comic with no acting chops to speak of. I'm getting less and less thrilled about this. Eugh.
Last edited by kevkojak; 8th February 2023 at 08:15.
Sounds like a terrible idea.
Impossible to imagine, these days. Bad idea.
While I think Fawlty Towers is a comedy gem, it is very much of its time.
I think that because of its legendary status Cleese has probably been rather more feted than his career deserves - in Monty Python he regularly played a nascent Basil Fawlty type character, as he also did in the movie “Clockwise” - but that was made in 1986 so only a decade or considerably less after Fawlty Towers.
Those were both very physical roles. He won’t be able to do that now and would look absurd trying.
This looks like a nepotistic project for his daughter and a pure money making exercise for 83 year old Cleese who clearly isn’t that bothered about how he is remembered.
If I’m wrong I’ll be happy to admit it, but at the moment this looks like a very bad idea up there with making a new series of Benny Hill (which they aren’t).
So clever my foot fell off.
I have always used the short run of Fawlty Towers as a reference point as to the folly of trying to wring out as much footage as possible from a success story. Its enduring appeal stems from the sensible decision to quit while they were winning.
Motivated by money in the bank I suspect.
Whatever you do, don’t mention……… anything at all
In the history of bad ideas, this is very much up there at the top of the list. Excruciating
No, no, no, no.......................... just No!
Just adding my name to the list, not a good idea and I can't see it ending well.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
It can only be dreadfull. I'm not being negative, I'm positive about this.
As above this is going to be awful.
If I was a cynic I'd be thinking this is clearly just a springboard to try and boost the daughters lackluster career...........
Will it be made by GBNews?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
John Cleese is well known to love money.
Of course he's too old for the same physical comedy and all that, but perhaps they'll do something different and interesting with the character. I wouldn't be so quick to write it off. Could be awful, I agree. Might not be.
Strange to think that he was only in his mid 30s when the original series was made.
As does his ex wives....Originally Posted by Mick P
It's a terrible idea. It could be as bad as taking any successful British TV programme and making a version for USA consumption. Think "House of Cards", or indeed the US versions of Fawlty Towers itself. The third of the wholly unsuccessful attempts to transplant Fawlty to the USA was called "Payne" and by all accounts was very aptly named.
F.T.F.A.
I suppose the final retort if you don't want to watch it then don't. Let those who want to watch it do so.
Heard this on R4 this morning. No, no and thrice no, what an absolutely terrible idea.
Of course we are going to watch it.
Just so we can confirm that it’s crap!
Exactly. He probably needs the money..
You’re all going to watch at least the first ep though, aren’t you? That’s why he’s doing it!
Out of interest did anybody see the shocking effort at an American "Red Dwarf"? It never made it past the pilot but that's what the Americans do to our beloved comedy series.
Worse still it almost put an end to the original, the cast revolted when they discovered Robert Llewellyn had been pulled across the pond to co-star while the others had been chucked in the bin.
Fawlty towers... I mean, they are allowing Cleese to write it, but unless this is going to be post-watershed, and use intelligent comedy (not lots of swearing and a laugh-track) then this really is going to fall on its face.
The premise of "The sarcastic Basil hilariously trying to make his way in the modern world and opening a new B&B with his recently divorced daughter..." Its making me nervous.
It’s hard to beat something that’s brilliant.
- Fawlty Towers
- Yes Minister
- Blackadder
The Holy Trinity of classic British Humor. Watch it, don’t touch it.
We still laugh at people from Barcelona though, right? Oh, wait, the Spanish laugh at us now.
I also have to say this sounds as though it will be awful but, as someone else pointed it, I can see me watching the first episode or, at least the first ten minutes of the first episode.
Regarding the USA messing up British comedy, I would agree but also, would point to the US version of The Office about which I was very cynical before being convinced to 'give it a try'. However, they appear to have made a success of that although it did drag on for far too many series in my humble opinion. Perhaps the secret there was to employ the original writers as consultants during its production.
No, just No. It will be woke.
Parrot-phrasing Monty Python, comedy is dead, it is no more, it is ex-comedy
will watch it to see, no doubt they will try to push what they can get away with but you have all these moaning morons who have nothing better to do than make complaints because a joke offended them
Would have been nice if Sybil could have made an appearance, but of course Prunella Scales is now retired. I hope she'll still feature somehow. She probably divorced Basil some time in the early '80s.
No I'll let you lot watch it - then decide
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Shocking idea but as said here - he is always getting fleeced by his ex-wives so no doubt he needs the cash and deep down also prob thinks its a stupid idea!
No, leave it alone
You really should give your prejudices and the rest of us a rest. BTW you forgot "disabled" in your putative description.
It's an idea being worked out between Cleese, his daughter and Rob Reiner from Castle Rock Productions, who bought the production company from Warner Brothers TV. Reiner is a staunch democrat and Cleese is drifting towards old codger, right wing fogeyism, a place where you clearly feel at home.
Will it even get made? Possibly not.
If it were, could it ever compete with the original? Not likely.
Anything to do with the BBC? No.
Is it a means of boosting his daughter's career? Possibly.
Getting him some money? Probably.
And here's a countervailing view of why it could be an anti-woke nightmare.
Gosh, you're absolutely right. Bisexual, Mixed race, DISABLED woman. Thank you ever so much for the correction.
Putative? No. Just a satire on the BBC's recent trend of making everything equal and even, shoe-horning in ill-fitting characters to tick boxes to please every demographic. If that went over your head, perhaps a new John Cleese vehicle isn't for you fella. Stick to the news.
Prejudices? Erm, I think you missed the point if that's how you read it. Try again.
Came here to say exactly this, but you put it far more eloquently than I could have.
I'll be watching the first episode however...
a) I can't imagine it being any funnier than it was, and if something can't be improved upon then no-one should try to do so.
b) there's a reasonable chance that it will tarnish the original series.
c) Cleese isn't going to get away with the same humour this time around, and it was that humour that made Fawlty Towers.
The original was so good that it's borderline impossible to think that a comeback will be anything other than worse.
Went to check his age and number of UK papers commenting on what a terrible idea it was.
Can you imagine the wokeism after the first head slap of poor Manuel. White privilege, racist bullying
Sometimes things are not meant to be brought back to life
Along with the Slovenians and the Estonians I believe.
Don’t mention the war.
I’m prepared to keep an open mind but there’s no way they could get away with half the stuff they did the first time round. It wouldn’t even get close to being aired !!!
I was too young to have watched FT the first time round but tried when it was repeated and hated it. Python too only had a few funny sketches but there was over twenty hours of TV.
Maybe cleese just doesn't tickle my funny bone, I can't see the new series changing my mind. The last series he did on the BBC was terrible.
To be fair, they did well converting The Office. Made a very different but equally good show.Out of interest did anybody see the shocking effort at an American "Red Dwarf"? It never made it past the pilot but that's what the Americans do to our beloved comedy series.
According to the t interweb Cleeses’ net worth is north of $20 million. I bet a fair proportion of that was made filming his excelled “ Video Arts” training films. Cant see why an 83 year old needs mor than 20 mill unless it’s purely for his daughters career.
Fawlty Towers
Dads Army
Father Ted
The Young Ones
Only Fools & Horses
Best left on their pinnacles and not degraded.
I know that was a quote from the show, but bugger them, there are 6 million reasons not to forget it.
A lot more than that. Some estimates are near 80 million dead for ww2.
Sent from my Redmi Note 9S using TZ-UK mobile app
Even more reasons to keep talking about it even if you have to ram it down their throats.
Now if they made it set in a migrant hotel........
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