Fawlty Towers - Season 3

PostFawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Sprouty** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:17 pm

Fawlty Towers is returning with a new series

Often regarded as one of the best series of all time, Fawlty Towers is set for a return after a small break of several decades. The new series will feature John Cleese, but none of the supporting cast (sadly, most have passed away or suffering from illness).

What are your thoughts? Are you excited, or should it be left alone?

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **OrangeRKN** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:23 pm

Fawlty Towers is brilliant, this unfortunately won't be.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Robbo-92** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:36 pm

Oh no this is a nightmare :dread:

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **rinks** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:49 pm

strawberry float off. At least call it something else.

"Still Open All Hours" did well I guess, but given Cleese and his politics just now it's going to be filled with lots of "anti-woke" shite isn't it?

Nah, think I'll be skipping on this one.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by KK » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:08 pm

He’s too old, doesn’t have the comic timing he used to, can’t do the physical comedy he used to, and hasn’t been in anything funny since he played Q in James Bond. In terms of an actual comedy, probably A Fish Called Wanda whenever that came out. Late 80s/early 90s.

I did watch him in some sitcom relatively recently on BBC1 alongside Alison Steadman, Jason Watkins and Shobna Gulati and I didn’t find it remotely funny.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Memento Mori** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:08 pm

Memento Mori wrote:Don't mention the culture war!

Cuttooth wrote:How have you managed to get an advance copy of the script?

Memento Mori wrote:Imagine the hackiest thing they could possibly do in a Fawlty Towers sequel, that's going to be the script. See also the Frasier reboot.

So Basil's daughter is going to be a complete character transplant of Sybil despite the fact that she's apparently not Sybil's daughter going by the article.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **rinks** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:09 pm

At a 2009 reunion event filmed for the Gold channel as Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened, Cleese said that the cast would never make another episode of the series because they are "too old and tired" and expectations would be too high.

I guess it's OK, now he's significantly lowered those expectations.

I wonder if Connie Booth was consulted.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by KK » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:15 pm

Look at some of the other reboots they’ve done that have been truly awful, like Porridge and Reginald Perrin with Martin Clunes.

Only one that has kind of worked is Open All Hours, which fills that Last of the Summer Wine slot and is quant rather than uproariously funny, just like the original. Stuff like Fawlty Towers, One Foot In The Grave and Only Fools and Horses are rolling in the aisles rather than just smirk inducing.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by KK » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:29 pm

This was at least 7 years ago:

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Tomous** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:38 pm

A grumpy old racist clinging to the Past. Zero chance it isn't terrible.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Moggy** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:46 pm

I just don't see how this will work.

Nobody under 50 is going to give a gooseberry fool.

Cleese just isn't going to be able to get this on a mainstream channel if he wants to use the racist/sexist/xenophobic stereotypes that 70s comedy relied on. But if he does thot, then his target audience will be crying that "it's gone woke, it's ruined".

It'll have to be a Fox News/GB News production.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Rocsteady** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:48 pm

Even the original ones are shite.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **rinks** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:48 pm

Foxy Towers.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Vermilion** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 6:55 pm

This will be terrible, and will take a massive crap over the original.

Reminds me of what happened with Ghostbusters 2016.

Rocsteady wrote:Even the original ones are shite.

The original series' were decent, even though they were very much of their time.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Sprouty** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 7:17 pm

Wow, universal ~~praise~~ dread!

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Dowbocop** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 7:58 pm

Is the actual hotel they filmed the outside of still standing? I can only find info about the shitty hotel that inspired the series.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Moggy** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:01 pm

Dowbocop wrote:Is the actual hotel they filmed the outside of still standing? I can only find info about the shitty hotel that inspired the series.

No. It was destroyed in the early '90s.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **Imrahil** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:03 pm

The original series is brilliant, and with the Major's racist lines now removed from current re-runs it's actually pretty tame in that sense. The show really leans heavily on Fawlty being a complete buffoon - even the German episode ends with them just standing there shaking their heads at how ridiculous he is (while he's sitting there knocked out by a cheap moose head).

But back then he was driven purely by comedy, whereas now he's driven by being contrary towards modern culture - and seems to revel in the anti-woke stuff. Plus, being frank, watching him now on talk shows he's lost the wit he used to have anyway. I don't think he would even know how to write a sitcom again, he'd probably need a bunch of writers doing most of it for him.

PostRe: Fawlty Towers - Season 3 by **rinks** » Thu Feb 09, 2023 8:24 pm

Is it just me getting captchas instead of images?

Fawlty Towers - Season 3

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