AHC: Save Faulty Towers

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Only lasting twelve episodes, as well as being savaged by critics during its original run in 1975, Faulty Towers, headlined by John Cleese, is now seen as one of the greatest British Television Shows of all time.

The challenge is prevent this hindsight-reality from happening and save the show from cancellation during its original run.
 
Only lasting twelve episodes, as well as being savaged by critics during its original run in 1975, Faulty Towers, headlined by John Cleese, is now seen as one of the greatest British Television Shows of all time.

The challenge is prevent this hindsight-reality from happening and save the show from cancellation during its original run.

This wasn't want happened though. The show ended up being well received and gained high ratings during both series'. Cleese thought that it had run its course (remember - most British shows only have one or two writers, not a whole team) and was happy to leave it at twelve episodes.

I suspect that it could run for another six episodes or so, but you'd have to change John Cleese's view, not the Beeb's.
 
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It was good because it only had twelve episodes. Anything overdone becomes a disgrace.
And it's amazing that even if you watch it side-by-side, you'd barely notice the difference between the two seasons.
 
This wasn't want happened though. The show ended up being well received and gained high ratings during both of series. Cleese though that it had run its course (remember - most British shows only have one or two writers, not a whole team) and was happy to leave it at twelve episodes.

I suspect that it could run for another six episodes or so, but you'd have to change John Cleese's view, not the Beeb's.

Yeah, this. The show didn't need 'saving', it was perfect and, like all great British sitcoms (and it certainly is one), it knew when to stop. There isn't a single filler episode because it never tried to carry on for the sake of it.

It's a bit like saying 'save The Office (UK version), it didn't have enough episodes'. No, it did.
 
Agree with the above posts. For all its faults British TV doesn't often produce too many episodes of a series and "jump the shark".(OK there are exceptions Casualty springs to mind as one but it at least changes its cast every so often)
In the case of Fawlty Towers, John Cleese, as mentioned above, didn't want to make any more because he felt he had done what he set out to do.
 
I agree with the views that enough was enough. There is very little fat to be trimmed on what we had, enough character development over 12 shows, and the quality is stratospheric throughout.

As an aside, however, I find The Germans unwatchable now having living in the Bundesrepublik for 20 years.

I think any show has a built in sell buy date. 12 episodes was perfect for Fawlty Towers and The Young Ones.

Black Adder had one near perfect series before the BBC lost their nerve and invited Ben Elton to turn it into Rentaghost with knob gags.

Red Dwarf managed eight great (and occasionally very different) seasons before it degenerated into a series of unfunny in-jokes.

The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads worked by examining the same characters at different times in their lives. If it weren't for James Bolam's stubborness...
 
Blackadder Goes Forth Was Grear. Didn't have any grotesque episodes in it like the ones my father avoided showing when I and my siblings were younger. And I don't blame him as they weren't even funny. Baby eating? Pairs of fake breasts? The third and fourth seasons were the most mature and well done of the bunch.


Anywyas, just look at the U.S. Look at Futurama. Comedy Central made a lot of horrid episodes, some which I still haven't been able to make myself watch the entirety of.
 
OK there are exceptions Casualty springs to mind as one but it at least changes its cast every so often
Little Britain... by the third episode. Though, I suppose that's less a matter of jumping the shark and more a matter of repeating the same five jokes over and over and over and over and etc. ad infinitum... The "computer says no" skit was hilarious the first time round, but when you got the very same joke with slightly different set dressing EVERY BLOODY EPISODE and sometime twice and episode...
 
Question is, would a longer Fawlty Towers mean a longer The Nutt House?

They didn't air half the episodes, so if they simply showed them all then you could double the amount seen. If The Nutt House is twice as long though, how about Full House?
 
Little Britain... by the third episode. Though, I suppose that's less a matter of jumping the shark and more a matter of repeating the same five jokes over and over and over and over and etc. ad infinitum... The "computer says no" skit was hilarious the first time round, but when you got the very same joke with slightly different set dressing EVERY BLOODY EPISODE and sometime twice and episode...

Never watched it! I've never "got" either Matt Lucas' or David Walliams' humour.This probably makes me a minority of one!:D
 
In the commentary on the FAWLTY TOWERS DVD set Cleese says flat out they never intended to do any more than those twelve episodes, and I agree it was a good idea not to jump the shark.

I love RED DWARF but it really needed to end around seasons 6 or 7...

The US version of FAWLTY TOWERS (PAYNE with John Larroquette) was a hapless attempt to import this to America and it was very poor, the US version of ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS was even worse...
 
Yeah, as others have said, this is a misunderstanding of British television in general and Fawlty Towers in particular.

There were actually two series of six episodes, the first in 1975, the second three or four years later. A series of six episodes is by no means uncommon in UK television. Neither series was cancelled, and I've never seen any evidence that Cleese and Booth had any intentions to do any more. Even if I did, it would be in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary from multiple sources.

Knowing when to call it a day can be tricky, but television culture in the UK makes it easier than it appears to be in the US. Meadow citing The Office is a perfect example again. It said everything it wanted to, wrapped up the story with the Christmas Specials and packed up. Hanging around for the sake of it, with no fresh ideas other than 'got to keep running', tends not to lend itself to good comedy. In the same vein, I believe Only Fools and Horses should have ended with Del, Rodney and Albert walking into the sunset, having won all that cash.
 
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