Fawlty Towers

"Will you stop talking about the war?" "Well you started it." "No we did not." "Yes you did, you invaded Poland."

A great britcom. The only thing that I dislike is that they only made twelve episodes. This show is about a man who owns and runs a hotel. My favorite episode is the one where one of the guests beats the crap out of John Cleese. I give Fawlty Towers a 4 star rating.

Some of the funniest and most clever humor to come of of England (other than Python). The dialog is so packed with humor and wit that sometimes it helps to get a copy of the screenplays in print (which are available) just to read some of the lines that you might miss (either because they were delivered too quickly, or because you can't hear them due to accents, etc.) Recommended.

Brilliant! Cannot watch more than one episode in one sitting. John Cleese wears me out he is so revved-up. Prunella Scales was the perfect Mrs. Faulty. I can't believe anyone would rate this less than four stars.

If the show had a fault it was that a versatile comic like John Cleese was restricted to a single character, however that is  a minor quibble.  Cleese's Basil Fawlty is a petty, nasty man who still manages to be likeable in a strange way.  He and the other characters are people that you have encountered in your life and the situations are life's little tragedies writ large by Basil's over-the-top reaction to them.  In the great British television tradtion, they didn't run the program into the ground, it was a handful of great episodes and then off to something else.  Thank goodness it didn't go on for years and get crappy.

I never heard of this show till now. It didn't have anything to do with a 911 prophesy, did it?

didnt make enough fawlty towers think they only made 12 episodes

I LOVE this show. Even thirty some years later, it has me in stitches. Basil is a hero of mine.....lol. Its a prime example of TV comedy at its finest.

I've seen a few episodes of this show, and they were okay, but nothing inspiring (or excrutiatingly funny). 2 and a half stars

Why is this rated so low? Basil Fawlty and Manuel belong to the list of funniest characters ever on tv. Most series rated higher than this gem have very predictable scripts. If you' ve seen one episode you' ve usually seen all. Every episode of Falwty Towers is unique and hilarious in it's own way. A few are very predictable, and return : Basil's arrogance and bad luck, his bad relationship with his nagging wife and the fact that Manuel is from Barcelona. Enjoy, but don't expect to see herds of wildebeast sweeping majestically....

Hilarious. I'm surprised it is so far down on the list.

One of my favorite TV shows, British or American. A superlative, classic series (every episode is damn-near flawless) highlighting the comedic genius of John Cleese (and Connie Booth, who co-wrote much of it with him). I wish they had filmed more episodes, although I fully understand and appreciate Cleese's reasons for not doing so. One of those extremely rare series (the only other one I can think of off-hand is "The Honeymooners") that I can watch over and over again endlessly and laugh out loud every single time. Never has there been a more loathsome, sexually repressed, cravenly class-conscious and uptight, or hysterical couple in the entire history of television as Basil and Sybil Fawlty...

John Cleeses Basil was the model for poor service and a hilarious one at that.I think whoever wrote this show had to reside in New Jersey the worlds capital for bad service and where he must have gotten thses ideas.

The episode where they lost the body was hilarious.

menwel i need a hammer my hamster no not your hamster god i love this show i still watch it every saturday night

Basil Fawlty is the poster child for bad service. He embodies every rude, snooty and down right nasty person associated with bad customer service. This show is probably one of the funniest shows ever. The best one is, the one were they have the German guests. It is truely Hysterical. John Cleese for ever.

It should be in the Top 10! Funny show.

Funny as hell!!! Never gets old or boring, even after seeing it a million times!

There's something about British sitcoms that never ceases to amaze me. You can't beat its off-the-wall hilarity

I love Fawlty Towers to this day! I have it on DVD and it never fails to cheer me up with things have gotten a bit stressed for me. John Cleese is super!

How anyone can rate this below 5 is beyond me! The only show better was Seinfeld.

No more than two days will go past in my house without a video of Fawlty Towers being watched by myself or someone in my family. The show's appeal lies not only in the main character, Basil, but the other 'supporting' characters. Manuel, the Spanish waiter, struggles to comprehend the English language and Basil's short temper consequently erupts. Basil's wife, Sybil, is argumentative and tough, often putting her husband in his place. Polly (the waitress/maid) is the voice of reason, playing the 'normal person' character, as is Terry (cook). Situations at the hotel are very funny also. For example, the man who Basil believes to be a hotel inspector and therefore treats him with over the top courtesy; the guest who dies during the night and Manuel and Basil do what they can to conceal the body while keeping the hotel functioning; the con-man acting as a Lord in the hotel while he steals from jewelers in the town during the day. My favourite episode is Communication Problems. In t... Read more

A gem.Should not be on a list with the American shows of this time ,this show was funny.

John Cleese at his best.

I remember this being hilarious years ago, when I first saw it. I recently revisited it, and found it to be quite unfunny. I guess I've changed, my sense of humor certainly has.

How can anyone not like Fawlty Towers? It was written by John Cleese and Connie Booth (who were married from 1968 to 78). Connie did have a small role in Monty Python & The Holy Grail as the 'witch'. This fabulous show also starred Prunella Scales who was absolutely hilarious as Basil's wife. My favourite episode must be when they had some Germans stay in the hotel and Basil kept saying to everyone 'Don't mention the war' He takes a bang to the head, and then it keeps on slipping into his sentences when he talks to them! To top it all off, he does a fantastic German march! This show was one of a kind.

we got this show on pbs on friday nights in canada. at first it was just somthing my father watched however it made him laugh(which he didn't much of) so that got my attention. what can i say i discovered why it made him laugh. john cleese(now working for mi6 q branch) was brillant, funny,etc. however the character who really got to me was manuel the waiter never failed to do something funny. classic stuff

I know comedy doesn't always travel well across the Atlantic,but i'm extremely surprised by the lowly rating Fawlty Towers gets here.I can only second Dickdirk's approval,by saying i found it the most side-splittingly funny T.V.sitcom i've yet seen(in Britain, there are many who would agree.)Several episodes had me rolling,and i often think of it when the service at a restaurant or hotel leaves something to be desired,though fortunately it's never been quite so painfully ridiculous as on the programme.I only hope there may be some more American converts.Non-believers must think us quite mad!?

Dull and unfunny sitcom that was big in England, but never worked here in America.

ONE OF THE BEST COMEDY SHOWS EVER, NEXT TO MONTY PYTHONS FLYING CIRCUS.

No comment necessary even if you've only seen the one with the pedigree Siberian hamster!

This show was hysterically funny - John Cleese at his best. The politically incorrect scenes with Manuel, the Spanish speaking bellboy were especially funny (the one in which Manuel is trying to hide a dead body was one of my favorites). I remember watching this show with my dad as a little kid and loving it.

Hellooooo Kris Kristofferson, if that's your REAL name - just WHAT is your big buggaboo with British TV? If it hadn't been for the very British likes of Monty Python and several others we probably wouldn't have some of the great "American" comedies such as “Sanford and Son” which was taken directly from England’s “Steptoe and Son”. This is not to say that America doesn’t also come up with its share of good original sitcoms. But give credit where it is due, aside from importing some wonderful, witty television, we also "borrow" a lot of ideas from across the pond. And just why would we do that, because it's FUNNY! Though it wasn’t quite as wacky or groundbreaking as Monty Python, “Fawlty Towers” was a hilarious vehicle for John Cleese. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s still being shown today on PBS – usually when they want to draw a larger audience when hawking memberships. And besides, this section is for rating “Classic TV Shows”, not “Classic American TV Shows”. So open your... Read more

This show has no part in the US. Keep in Britain where it belongs.