Rating: 
Summary: John Cleese at his best
Review: I'm not going to write a lengthy review, because this series is just simply hilarious. I roared with laughter the first time I saw it, and I still do today. If you like to laugh, then buy it and experience true humor.
Rating:
Summary: A must add to your collection!
Review: I absolutely adore this set of twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers! I'm a much younger fan and was given this as a present, so hats off to the cast for enticing younger viewers (innapropriate language aside)!. Basil Fawlty runs a hotel with his bossy wife, college student waitress, a waiter from Barcelona and a handful of other guests and acquantainces. Everything goes wrong for Basil-and you'll just have to watch. This is for anyone who loves comedy!
Rating:
Summary: Your Kind of Comedy
Review: Just like to say that Fawlty Towers has the sort of comedy that you either like or get worn out by. I personally find it hilarious, thats why i gave it 5 stars. However, some of us Brits found it tiring and just a racket (most didn't though). Having said that, you will not. I know you Americans like everything bigger and better. You will love this. This is the British - American comedy. BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: Funniest show ever made
Review: Fawlty Towers is absolutely hilarious. You can select any episode at random and you are guaranteed to laugh until it hurts. John Cleese is priceless as the henpecked , social climbing hotel owner and the rest of the cast all have their moments. The dialogue is witty , intelligent and quick. Cleese combines physical comedy with an amazing abilty to deliver barbed commentary and mutter insults under his breath.
This is really funny stuff that holds up well after repeated viewings.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars Plus!!!
Review: John Cleese and Prunela Scales have the greatest chemistry playing a married couple always disagreeing! If you love comedy, this is a collection that is A MUST SEE! My favorite episode is when Basil (John Cleese) hires cheap labor to remodel his hotel. This is by far a unique comedy from England! There is nothing like it.
Rating:
Summary: HILARIOUS!!!!!
Review: I saw just a couple episodes and became an instant fan so I ran out and bought the complete collection with no regrets. Every episode is hilarious and the replay value is very high. I have only had it for about a week and I have watched them night after night. John Cleese keeps you laughing the entire time. Get yourself a copy and you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Classic comedy.
Review: Fawlty towers really does still make you laugh hysterically along with the young ones, only fools and horses and monty phython it is one of the all time top British comedys. If you've never seen fawlty towers before then you're missing out on the funny walk and manuel getting beaten up on a regular basis for a start, i suppose it could be considered slapstick humour but with a strong amount of wit and an ittellectual foundation. Fawlty towers is set in a hotel where guests come and go and go again due to the ego mad Basil Fawlty most of the time anyway, check out the one with the Germans that is one of the great episodes.
Rating:
Summary: For fans of British Comedy and Monty Python!
Review: One of the funniest British Comedy series ever produced ... some of John Cleese's finest work for the small screen. Much of his inspiration for his character in A Fish Called Wanda can be seen germinating in this BBC Television series.Recommended for anyone having a bad day ...
Rating:
Summary: Classic & Timeless British Comedy
Review: Now almost 30 years old, this classic comedy series is still holding it's own against today's more contemporary material, and being discovered by a whole new audience. US viewers who may not have been exposed to it, may miss some of the more subtle aspects, but any fans of John Cleese, or more recently Mr Bean, will certainly find it memorable. It is NOT however Monty Python type material, for those expecting more outrageous, and off the wall satire. Basil Fawlty (Cleese) is the owner and operator of a modest seaside Hotel, and is more than ably supported by a great ensemble cast. Ever hen pecked by his domineering wife, often outsmarted, or assisted by his clever maid, and constantly frustrated by his pidgeon English speaking waiter, the results are hilarious, witty and very amusing. Some of the episodes can make the viewer cringe a little (at the frustrating aspects of Cleese's character) but the overall picture is enormously pleasing. If you have never seen Fawlty Towers, you have certianly missed out, and the DVD collection is the best buy, with ALL epsiodes, and some great extra material included. You will laugh, and laugh again at each side splitting episode which manages to be funny, without be overtly sexual, full of innuendo, and reliant on cheap laughs. Great entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: The best sitcom ever produced...
Review: Sitcoms in general give me hives. They often have the feeling of being thrown together at the last minute, or are typically filled with predictable, contrived, and unchallenging humor, or are simply hollow vehicles for advertising to help put viewers "in the buying mood." These trends seem to be evolving more in favor of the advertiser than the viewing public, so it's refreshing to see that something wonderful can be done with the sitcom medium. Fawlty Towers is a meticulously written and acted British sitcom in which nearly every line and movement delivers a laugh. In the realm of the sitcom it has no equals, which also explains why only 12 episodes were produced. At the rate at which most sitcoms (British or North American)are shucked out it's just not possible to consistently crank out material of this quality. Each episode on these DVDs is the result of months of research, drafting, writing, rehearsing and editing. John Cleese was offered to do the series in the United States, but interest waned when Cleese told them how long each episode takes to produce. Sitcom producers generally don't have the patience for hardcore quality material. The show is set in a British Hotel that is run by a racist snob (Basil Fawlty played by John Cleese) who, once he discovers that someone is a Lord or a Doctor or someone of "importance", he stops being rude to them and takes on a disgusting deference. This theme alone drives almost half of the episodes. Other episodes deal with racism (between the English, Germans, Indians, etc.), Basil's weakness for parsimony or gambling, health inspectors, removing a corpse from a hotel indiscreetly, and the classic misunderstanding. For first time viewers of Fawlty Towers, if any of the humor seems stale it's likely because it's been badly imitated somewhere else. Don't blame Fawlty Towers for this. In many ways it set the standard (though never exceeded) for sitcoms after it. Entire series were built off of one idea presented in one episode of Fawlty Towers (i.e., the 'misunderstanding' in "The Wedding Party" was probably the entire inspiration for years of second-rate "Three's Company" episodes). "The Germans" is probably one of the best shows ever made, though it's not for the PC-sensitive. Racial slurs abound (so I won't quote from it) and Basil, with a head injury, continually makes references to World War II while serving a group of German tourists. No, it's not nice or culturally sensitive, but as the saying goes, "If it's funny, someone's probably going to get hurt." It's only television after all, which usually gets taken far more seriously than it deserves. If there is anything negative to say about this collection, it's the bonus features. The interviews are great but the production quality is dreadful (did they hash these out to interns?). Bizarre and sometimes out of focus camera angles look more careless than experimental. At one point the camera outright violates John Cleese's personal space. If you can ignore the bad production, the interviews with John Cleese, Prunella Scales (who played Basil's wife), and Andrew Sachs (an English actor who played Manuel, the "Spanish" waiter who provides an incredible amount of comic relief, which I guess technically counts as "brownface") are a great watch. The only one missing is Connie Booth, who co-wrote the series and who's input is sorely missed. Also included, though again badly produced, is a documentary about the origin of Fawlty Towers. If you're a huge fan (like me) you won't want to miss this (but just try and ignore the bizarre shots and wildly fluctuating audio levels). Overall, it's hard to believe these shows were produced in the 1970s. They retain their freshness due to the painstaking work that went into them. There are few, if any, sitcoms from the 1970s (or even from today) that can make that claim.
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