Fawlty Towers | Tellyspotting

Posted March 10, 2011 - No Comment

Connie Booth on the origin of Fawlty Towers

Posted February 7, 2011 - No Comment

Monday scattershooting….Paul the alien, Ricky Gervais, Bond23 and more….

Meet Paul, the 21st century E.T., premiering tonight Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the genius minds behind Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, star as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America’s UFO heartland, where they meet ‘Paul‘, an alien who alters their universe forever. Let’s just say, this isn’t your parents E.T. The film premieres tonight in […]

Posted February 4, 2011 - No Comment

The return of the sitcom, old-school style….finally

Before you begin reading, please understand that this isn’t even close to being a knock on the greatness of The Office, Outnumbered or The Thick of It. I also don’t want this to seem like a planting of the flag for the good ‘ole days syndrome. Merely a celebration, as The Independent‘s Tim Walker brilliantly […]

Posted January 28, 2011 - No Comment

More on British sitcoms: Class warfare on the horizon?

Working class sitcoms vs. Blue collar comedy. Fawlty Towers vs. Father Ted. The Telegraph vs. The Guardian. No matter what side you’re on in this rather ridiculous issue, what viewers ultimately want is good comedy. While Telegraph readers tend to lean more towards the Conservative Party and a centre-right view, the majority of the Guardian readers […]

Posted January 16, 2011 - No Comment

Good British comedy = oil. Good customer service = water.

They just don’t mix. Where would we be if the world of British comedy adhered to the real world high expectations of good customer service? Think about it. No Fawlty Towers, no Black Books and no League of Gentlemen. According to customer service gurus, Michel Roux and Mary Portas, the aforementioned British comedy series come […]

Posted January 13, 2011 - No Comment

Take the UK to US TV export challenge

With all of our talk over the last 14 months about the US “difficulty” with respect to exporting brilliant UK product and putting the U.S stamp on it, whether it be comedy or drama (seems like we’ve mastered the art of the game show/reality show remake), the BBC has come up with a quick 7-question […]

Posted January 3, 2011 - No Comment

From the British comedy vault of greatness – Ripping Yarns

Over the past several months there seems to have been a number of well-deserved programs revisiting classic British comedy series such as the celebration of the 30th anniversary of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, a look at the early days of Morcambe and Wise and the return of Ronnie Corbett in The One Ronnie. For my […]

Posted January 2, 2011 - No Comment

2011 resolution: Say no to American re-makes

Seeing as though we’re only days away from another questionable American remake of a really well-done British television import, I thought I’d immediately put in the request for my first 2011 New Year’s resolution. You know the drill. Have written about this many times. Readers in the UK, I apologize for taking up space and […]

Posted December 18, 2010 - No Comment

Ricky Gervais gets 'out of The Office'

The brilliance of The Office ranks right up there with the genius of Fawlty Towers in the fact there were only 12 episodes (plus, two 45-minutes specials) ever produced. Since quitting the Wernham Hogg Paper Company and leaving the world of David Brent and his life in Slough, Berkshire behind, Ricky Gervais has been a busy, […]

Posted December 14, 2010 - No Comment

SitcomGeek's Recipe for Sitcom success

British situation comedy. Whether it’s Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, The Office, or the classics of Keeping Up Appearances or Are You Being Served, these are programs that we’ve all watched for years but probably never gave a second thought as to why we laugh. Aside from the brilliant writing, no one really has simplified the mechanical structure […]