Dan is all on the page and mathematical about story breaking, and these guys that Justin hired were like, ‘Look, I drew a turd with eyes, let’s do a story about that,'
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to me given how much I like Community, but I now understand the split in my most favourite and least favourite aspects of Rick and Morty.
This is going to be awful, isn't it? John Cleese has turned thoroughly bitter and a tad unpleasant in recent years, based on interviews I've seen him in and comments he's made. Even if he was in his prime, Fawlty Towers was a product of its time and they had the good sense not to drag it on. I can only think that Cleese sees Basil Fawlty in the modern day as a viable platform to spout his "anti-woke" rhetoric, which is going to be painful.
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:07 am
by Hatredsheart
Really mixed feelings about this.
Why has everyone in the industry got a need to revive/reimagine beloved classics at the considerable risk of tarnishing their memory? Or to make them appeal to "modern audiences"?
They did it with Open All Hours and Porridge and to be honest the modern versions compared poorly to the originals.
I can only conclude that after his various divorces Cleese must really need the money.
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:21 am
by Lenny Solidus
Bloody terrible idea, just awful. Next they will say they are planning on bringing back Alf Garnett.
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:33 am
by Sly Boots
How long until we get a CGI Leonard Rossiter in a revived Rising Damp?
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:34 am
by Raid
Cleese is something of a dinosaur struggling to understand that times have changed since his heyday. Fawlty Towers was the perfect sitcom because it was both hilarious and brief. The humour never grew old because there wasn't enough of it to ever reach that point. It absolutely would have become stale eventually because there's only so much material you can write for the setting.
This is an utterly stupid idea, and I'd be surprised if it ever actually got made. It smacks of a headline from someone attempting to remain relevant.
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:36 am
by Wrathbone
I'm fully expecting predictable, horrible scenes such as Basil fretting over which toilet a trans person should use, or a gluten-free vegan in the hotel restaurant with increasingly picky requirements that drive Basil to exasperation.
God, there's probably going to be a scene with O'Reily's son failing to build a disabled ramp, isn't there?
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:47 am
by Raid
Yes, I suspect that's exactly how it'll be written. It just sounds like a vehicle for Cleese's viewpoint which he's been fairly outspoken about in the press.
The new series will explore how the cynical and sarcastic Basil navigates the modern world.
Yes, I suspect that's exactly how it'll be written. It just sounds like a vehicle for Cleese's viewpoint which he's been fairly outspoken about in the press.
The new series will explore how the cynical and sarcastic Basil navigates the modern world.
Yeah this was my first thought also.
Re: General TV News
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:21 am
by Maturin
Fawlty Towers was so fresh. Not just when it was released, but also on TV re-runs during the 80s. It was just simple, perfectly observed and is still mostly timeless (apart from one or two remarks from the Major which are usually cut these days).
Also, a massive part of its brilliance was the physical comedy. Cleese and Sachs' work together on that show is legendary, although Sachs did suffer for his art.
Neither of the above are going to exist in a remake, even if it turns out to be not terrible. It'll just be a pointless vanity project.