Fawlty Towers

A topic that is sure to generate a lively discussion at any gathering is determining the best television comedy series. It is the question that perhaps indicates what kind of person you are, even more than "Who is your favorite Beatle?" Usually when asked this question my snap response is All in the Family, while recognizing that like most popular shows, it ran its course long before it went off the air.

Certainly in my top ten would be Fawlty Towers, which, like the BBC version of The Office, benefits from its brevity. There are only twelve gem-like episodes of this British farce, created by Monty Python-alum John Cleese and his then wife, Connie Booth. The were two seasons of the show, the first which ran in 1975 and then a second season of six fours years later, and then nada, not even a reunion special. Cleese is clearly a man of integrity--there is no shark-jumping involved with this show.

For Christmas I received the boxed set of DVDs and over the last month took a look at all twelve episodes, plus a bit of the many interviews. I had seen most of them before, but was reminded how ingenious the premise was, as well as the beautiful comedic structure of them, which reached great heights in three or four episodes.

The show is about, of course, a hotel run by an incredibly rude man. The origin of the character was a hotelier in Torquay, a seaside resort on the South coast of England. Some members of the Monty Python troupe stayed there, and were appalled at how rude the manager was. They decamped for another hotel, but Cleese and Booth stayed, fascinated by him. They studied him, and a few years later, when looking about for ideas for a show, hit on the idea of basing a sit-com around him. Basil Fawlty was born.

Cleese provides commentary on all the episodes, and he states that Fawlty's essence is based on a fear of his wife, the diminutive but steely Sybil, played by Prunella Scales. This is true, to a point. He does fear her, but will go to great lengths to edge around her, particularly if money is involved. In "The Builders" he is insistent on using a cut-rate contractor, and in "Communication Problems" he is determined to bet on a horse, even though he has been strictly banned from doing so by the Mrs., his "little nest of vipers." He is also keenly concerned with social status, constantly turning his nose up at those he finds beneath him, yet overly fawning on anyone with status, such as a doctor or nobleman. In confluence with that, he is also a prude. All of this combines to make Fawlty a character that is infinitely at odds with his surroundings, as he will do anything to avoid embarrassment, which is the impetus for almost all of the episodes.

Fawlty is also enhanced as a comedic character by the physical nature of Cleese. The original hotelier in Torquay was a small man with a large wife, but Cleese, readily admitting he can't play small, as he is six-foot-six, turned it around, and made Basil a large man, a "brilliantined stick insect" while Sybil was tiny. He moved through the hotel like a giraffe on roller skates, and the episodes that have him running up and down the stairs, or making mad dashes into town (especially the great episode "Gourment Night") especially delicious.

The relationship between Basil and Sybil is curious and perhaps best left unexamined. Certainly there is a bond there, but who knows what it consists of. In an interview, Scales speculates that Sybil found Basil "posh," and perhaps a step up, society-wise. There are mixed clues about their married life--in one episode he kisses her on the cheek, and she tells him to stop it, but in another, Basil mishears a question and thinks he's being asked how often he and his wife "do it." He's embarrassed, but defiantly answers, "two or three times a week." The mind reels.

The company also included Booth as Polly, the waitress/maid, who pretty much served as a straight woman. Booth, who had avoided interviews for years, appears on the DVD, and talks about being Horatio to Basil's Hamlet, that is the calm listener to the other's mad tales. She hates working there, but always finds herself Basil's confidant, trying to help out his schemes almost againt her better judgment. In "Communication Problems" there's a wonderful scene in which she takes the responsibility for betting on the horse, and when Sybil asks her the name of the horse, he tries to act out in charades. "Flying tart!" Polly cries out, when Basil tries to mime "Dragonfly."

Then there's Manuel, the perpetually confused waiter from Barcelona. It was weird to see Andrew Sachs, his creator, interviewed, as the actor has a mild-mannered British accent, while Manuel of course is Spanish. The scenes between Basil and Manuel are some of the greatest slapstick since the glory days of film comedy, and I will never forget the tableau that ends "The Wedding Party," with Manuel, flat on his face, with Basil straddling him, in his underwear, holding a frying pan high above his head.

What are the best episodes? I think the show hit its stride toward the end of Season 1 with "Gourmet Night" and "The Germans" (which features Cleese doing his silly walk and a talking moosehead) and then the first two shows of Season 2, "Communication Problems" and "The Psychiatrist," which are dizzying farces of the highest level. The show I least liked was "The Anniversary," which had Basil trying to throw a surprise anniversary party for Sybil but her thinking that he had forgotten, and leaving in a huff. The lengths he went to convince the party guests that she sick in bed seemed forced.

Fawlty Towers certainly deserves its acclaimed status, and is still the best comedic farce series ever to air on television.

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