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Rating: 
Summary: The strongest episodes of one of the best comedy series ever
Review: Fawlty Towers was the Doug Flutie of comedy series - a lot from a small package. This short-lived British series of only 12 episodes (I keep waiting for "lost" episodes, though I guess there aren't any) is such a consistently funny series one can't help but worry about losing control of bladder functions.The Germans may be the cream of the crop from the series, with inspired performances from Cleese as a concussive twit who keeps accidentally mentioning the "War" in the midst of his German guests: replete with his famous Nazi walk (ala house of silly walks), a talking moose from Barcelona, a fire emergency and a spat with an ugly nurse. Gourmet Night is another great episode which epitomizes the arrogant British spirit Cleese is poking fun at throughout the series. As he mentions in the included interview, the series is based on an actual innkeeper he and the other Pythons had the ill fortune to encounter in their travels. I don't feel the other two episodes are quite as strong, but they still outclass almost all sitcoms besides maybe Seinfeld. The extras are well worthwhile - the interviews are recent and very interesting. They cover more than just the Fawlty Tower series, so they will be of interest to Python fans as well. The sound and picture are an improvement over the BBC and PBS airings I recall, as well as my 15 year old VHS copies. No wonder. Cheers.
Rating:
Summary: The strongest episodes of one of the best comedy series ever
Review: Fawlty Towers was the Doug Flutie of comedy series - a lot from a small package. This short-lived British series of only 12 episodes (I keep waiting for "lost" episodes, though I guess there aren't any) is such a consistently funny series one can't help but worry about losing control of bladder functions. The Germans may be the cream of the crop from the series, with inspired performances from Cleese as a concussive twit who keeps accidentally mentioning the "War" in the midst of his German guests: replete with his famous Nazi walk (ala house of silly walks), a talking moose from Barcelona, a fire emergency and a spat with an ugly nurse. Gourmet Night is another great episode which epitomizes the arrogant British spirit Cleese is poking fun at throughout the series. As he mentions in the included interview, the series is based on an actual innkeeper he and the other Pythons had the ill fortune to encounter in their travels. I don't feel the other two episodes are quite as strong, but they still outclass almost all sitcoms besides maybe Seinfeld. The extras are well worthwhile - the interviews are recent and very interesting. They cover more than just the Fawlty Tower series, so they will be of interest to Python fans as well. The sound and picture are an improvement over the BBC and PBS airings I recall, as well as my 15 year old VHS copies. No wonder. Cheers.
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