Fawlty Towers

series 2 much better than 1, but class programme as we all know.

i like the one with the cat in it.

[Terry is examining a piece of possibly-poisoned veal the cat had been chewing on]

Terry: Right! Now, how's the cat?

Basil Fawlty: [Incredulously] How's the c...? How's the cat? We're about to take the life of a public health inspector and you want to know "how's the cat"? IT'S GONE TO LONDON TO SEE THE QUEEN!

i cant really remember the cat. im just rewatching them again and obviously cant have got that far yet.

the builders is a really average episode compared to some of them. gourmet night is probably the best episode of series 1. when basil looks inside the trifle for the duck, priceless moment.

Basil Fawlty was based on a real-life character - the owner of a hotel where the Python team stayed.

The fire-alarm scene is very funny. In 'The Germans' episode iirc

fire! fire! f f f fire!

The cat  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k6T_MT7jNs           3-20 in

What was the name of the horse, Polly?

Flying Tart. No, no, it got off to a flying start

Bob, Basil calling Manuel a dago is lighthearted, and the whole point of the Majors racism was that he was obviously going senile and very much stuck in a past where these things were commonplace. Showing it in the way they did, along with his senility made us laugh not at his racism, but at how much of a senile old fruitcake he was.

My brother knows every single line from each episode....as a family we have had to re live him acting as Basil everytime we meet up

The major was my favorite character,he seemed to have the perfect life,
its how i hope to end up.

it wasnt basil calling him a dago twit, maybe basil does at some point as well i dunno, it was an extra. not sure if it was one of the irish builders or the bloke who delivered the gnome. one of those anyway. didnt seem lighthearted the way he said it.

However, in the same episode, the p1ss was also taken out of the Irish.

No-one escaped p1sstaking in that programme, which is very much a staple of comedy from Python members.

No one nation or race was solely targeted. The English had enough moments where they were made to look stupid as well.

I remembered a few moments ago that I actually once e-mailed Gold to ask them out of interest why they cut out Del boy saying the word p**i, but not the major's scene. They replied (they had to due to subject matter imo) and informed me that Del boy is cut due to him being a mentally stable individual who is well aware of racism and political correctness. However, the Major's scene is left in as he is deemed by the censors to be suffering from a form of dementia and is unaware of the concept of racism. He cannot absorb current social attitudes and therefore still deems racist terms as normal vocab.

Incidentall, it must also be noted that the BBC do cut it now. Gold obviously more liberal.

I wonder why

Of course the major may be the most same, and even liberal of all the characters.

"lick of, lick of paint, give us a biscuit"

In the German episode , the whole Fire alarm practice scene is the best thing in the whole series

My grandfather died laughing, watching the scene where Basil is hitting his car with a branch.

Slightly ironic given that by all accounts he was a miserable sh*t.

Victor Meldrew 's funnier than Basil Fawlty , Yes/No

That's like the thread on Football Mc Moonbeam - George Hagi or George Best.

Have watched them again and again down the years and will continue to do so. Loved the 70's and 70's TV and imo this topped the lot. I sincerely hope Gold retain the full versions and not start tampering for fear of offending. As for the best episode, would marginally nominate the one with the talented Geoffrey Palmer playing the Doctor who pronounces Mr Leeman is dead.

As for the 70's in general I always say if I could choose a shop to or work in it would be Grace Brothers, if I worked on public transport I would want to work with Stan and Jack on the buses, if I shared a bedsit I'd want Paula Wilcox, Richard O'Sullivan and Sally Thomsett as neighbours, and if I needed the Police I'd want Columbo to turn up.

and if you had a black neighbour ..........

It'd be Don Waddington, of course.

Surprised you were offended Bob. To me the racist is made to look the fool by their statements.

verbotene great memories there, how I had a crush on sids wife in bless this house, lusted after nina baden in love thy neighbour, and would love to be lord of the manor with Penelope keith

I bought the "luv thy neighbour" boxset and very good it is

Yes indeed, Sid's wife had something about her - I saw the Bless this House film on holiday in North Wales, in the Cinema in Bangor High St. Must also add that if I went back to school I'd want Mrs Richards as headmistress, John Alderton as a rteacher, and Peter Cleal as a classmate. And talking of John Aderton brings me to Pauline Collins, in the Upstairs Downstairs role....

Mad Vlad, you've reminded me that I'll have to start purchasing some of those boxsets from that era.I honestly couldn't name a single present day sitcom.

Decent show but overrated , similar to Only Fools and Horses in that regard...

verbotene, sadly that cinema called the plaza now turned into a dominos shop,

Oct 26, 2013 -- 9:18PM, akabula wrote:

Surprised you were offended Bob. To me the racist is made to look the fool by their statements.

wouldnt say it offends me, more it just wasnt funny or necessary.

everybody seems to agree that it shouldnt be cut, but personally i think it should be cut and the bcc were right if they cut those lines. id even go as far as saying the dvd set should have both versions, as it is it only has the uncut ones.

i dont like censorship, but those few fairly irrelevant lines cast a dated shadow that serves no real purpose. its not a big deal, virtually nobody would find it offensive but it adds nothing to the show and feels like it doesnt fit. the racism in porridge i think fits really well. its actually incredibly sweet compared to real life and it is a prison after all. the porridge scripts were light years ahead of their time, the fawlty towers ones sadly not quite up to that standard.

I never found the FT racism any worse than the Porridge racism.

Amazing comments from sideshowbob he sounds a right bundle of laughs.
He must make his living out of stirring the sh!te.

Have to chime in here...
If I recall correctly the Fawlty Towers clip plays on the Major apparently being appalled at N word, but in reality he is nit picking because the "correct" racial slur was the W word.
Is that the clip?
If it's the same one,I think the Fawlty Towers one is genius.

Oct 26, 2013 -- 11:43PM, Dr Crippen wrote:

Amazing comments from sideshowbob he sounds a right bundle of laughs.He must make his living out of stirring the sh!te.

typical response from a typical ****

Now now Bob I hope that wasn't racist

nope, it was c u n t

Sexist then

not at all. i didnt say he had a vagina, merely that he is one.

typical oh woe is me, you cant say anything these days without being locked up everythings gone pc mad blah blah bullshit merchant. every other episode managed to be funny, without the racist words. he is basically saying nothing can be funny without racist words. which is utterly fecking absurd.

you are feeling very sleepy very sleepy very sl..

actually i am feeling very sleepy.

if anybody can actually read, i quite clearly said the racism in porridge is fine with me. and that the racism in fawlty towers was very insignificant and i dont find it offensive. but obviously THE TRUTH of what i said doesnt fit certain peoples agenda now does it? so yes, lets pretend i said things i never said so wew can can all have a good fecking whine about how britain is going down the **** and you cant say anything anymore.

who wants to start?

Right I'm off to bed. Chill pill time Bob. Goodnight.

Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett
dream double
think i've died and gone to heaven

Yeah, I've always wanted to give them two a good seeing to.

pretentious, moi?!

Oi loike a woman with spirut; i do ido ido

would you like me to move the hotel an inch to the left?

German women good card players!

night major

The germans is of course the best episode.  The best scene is the fire alarm one as someone correctly mentioned.  "Its a whole semitone higher"   "Oh well of course if there was a fire alarm you would all be standing here"

But how did he get out of the cage?

I leave door open so he can exercise in shed.

You dago dodo.

Hard to calculate the number of levels on which the word dago is funny there.

treble
26 Oct 13 22:18   
I never found the FT racism any worse than the Porridge racism.

That's because there wasn't any.

Mind you, I thought Porridge was boring.

Most People do.  If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

I think we're just out of waldorfs

typical response from a typical ****

That comment from Sideshowbob shows that he's no better than the ones that he condemns for calling others names.

In fact he's worse then them, nobody swore in the clips from F/T.
And sideshow bob is being malicious into the bargain.

He can see the chip in someone else's eye, yet he can't see the plank in his own.

As for the 70's in general I always say if I could choose a shop to or work in it would be Grace Brothers, if I worked on public transport I would want to work with Stan and Jack on the buses, if I shared a bedsit I'd want Paula Wilcox, Richard O'Sullivan and Sally Thomsett as neighbours, and if I needed the Police I'd want Columbo to turn up.

...and if I was arrested by Columbo, I'd want Petrocelli to defend me

The comedies from the 70s were of their time. It's fruitless to apply "today's racism" with what was thought of as unacceptable in 1975.
Similarly, one of the best children's books ever written is called Little Black Sambo, written in 1899 - by today's terms, unnacceptable. However, in the day it was written, perfectly fine. In fact the woman who wrote it was very liberal for her day and wrote it as an allegory for the British presence in India.
Got to view things differently depending on the era they were produced imo.

on the buses, love thy neighbour, bless this house, father dear father, man about the house, dads army, fawlty towers,some mothers do ave em, George and mildred, please sir,steptoe, rising damp, porridge, open all hours, good life, manor born,yes prime minster,fenn st gang,allo allo, up Pompeii,terry and june, some greats in there

Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Robin's Nest and Citizen Smith shocking omissions, for me

cant remember them all

FT is the GOAT, no question about it. Very hard to pick a fav episode with so many classics to choose from. But the one that has been in tears the most is The Psychiatrist - and it's not the dialogue (although brilliant), it's slapstick humour (Basil checking for the door handle fondling the Aussie bird's tits, and going up the ladder and knocking on the window) at its very best.

I loved Ken Campbell in the wedding anniversary episode.

"A BASIL brush. BROOM BROOM!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Campbell