Fawlty Towers Aired From September 19, 1975 - October 26, 1979
the story:
Although it only had 12 episodes, which originally aired between 1975 and 1979, the British sitcom Fawlty Towers remains an all-time favorite. The hotel is owned by Basil Fawlty – a snobbish, miserly, xenophobic and sexually repressed paranoiac who is desperate to belong to a higher social class – and his wife Sybil – an effective but rather lackadaisical manager. The episodes typically revolve around Basil's efforts to get ahead and his frustration at mistakes, both his own and those of others, which prevent him from doing so. Much of the humor comes from Basil's insulting and sometimes aggressive manner, engaging in angry but witty arguments with guests, staff, and in particular his frightful wife, whom he addresses with insults such as "my little piranha fish" and "my little nest of vipers".
The two other major characters are Polly Shearman and Manuel. Polly is the hotel’s waitress who is often stuck doing many other jobs. She often stands as the voice of sanity during chaotic moments in the hotel, but is frequently embroiled in ridiculous masquerades as she loyally attempts to aid Basil in trying to cover a mistake he's made, or to keep something from Sybil. Manuel, the waiter/bellhop/oddjobber, is a well-meaning but disorganized and constantly confused Spaniard from Barcelona with a poor grasp of the English language and customs. He is constantly verbally and physically abused by his boss.
the main cast:
John Cleese Basil Fawlty
Prunella Scales Sybil Fawlty
Andrew Sachs Manuel
Connie Booth Polly Shearman
Farty Towels (the paperboy rearranged the letters for the Fawlty Towers sign at the beginning of each episode):
In 2000, British Film Institute voted Fawlty Towers first in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. It was also voted fifth in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" poll in 2004 and second only to Frasier in The Ultimate Sitcom poll of comedy writers in January 2006.
The show’s depiction of a dysfunctional "family" in the workplace has influenced many popular sitcoms since and a Lonely Planet Tourist Guide of London summarized its critique of the bad state of London hotels by stating that "Fawlty Towers was really a documentary."
info compiled from wikipedia.org
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