Fawlty Towers - Series 1 Complete

just wish they made more series of these as they were funny manwell is a classic numpty and cleese is halarious

Enough said about FT - best comedy ever made in UK - 5 stars - done! BUT, beware of these DVDs. Won't play on one player and only half of the six episodes played on another player - Very annoying. Checked on Amazon and it's a common problem with these BBC discs.

Fawlty Towers, without a doubt, is true comedy.

What happened?! Why don't we see comedy to this standard any more?!

I must say, I love it.

The characters and casting are perfect.

Ther personalities are genious.

And the gags actually have me laughing out loud.

Im only young, and this series has been around since a decade or so before I was born yet the first time I watched this series as a young child, they still had be laughing uncontrolably.

Genius.

Basil Fawlty is one of British comedy's finest creations. Quintessentially misanthropic and snobbish, he is a prototype for characters like Alan Partridge. Some people claim he is too objectionable, impossible to sympathise with. Yeah, and? Since when was that the keystone of great comedy? Anyway, what makes a person sympathetic is relative to the individual's ideology. For example, I don't find Del Boy sympathetic, I think he's a cocky, swaggering, unscrupulous little bigot with few if any mitigating qualities, but most people seem to think he's a salt of the earth character. However, I don't let that impair judgement of the programme. There are extenuating circumstances anyway. If I lived with a woman as loquacious as Sybil, I'd probably go mad as well. As for the guests, they are often every bit as obnoxious as Basil in my humble opinion. Circumstances do conspire to bring out the worst in him. As for the obtuse comment someone made that Basil lacks humanity, that he is too cartoonish (the implication being that he lacks psychological plausibility and ambiguity), well, in that case, you can pretty much use that critical framework to devalue pretty much all comedy! Norman Stanley Fletcher, Albert Steptoe, Alan Partridge, Edmund Blackadder, Richie and Eddie, Del Boy, Captain Mainwaring, David Brent etc, all these had certain larger than life characteristics that defy verisimilitude. It is this heightened reality that leaves such an indelible impression on viewers. How unimaginative some people are in their conception of the potential of comedy! Then there's the comment about it being dated, a flagrantly abused adjective that continues to haunt the general discourse with it's stultifying presence, concerning things that weren't made in our degenerate cultural age. I would accept it if it wasn't being used pejoratively, because there can be little doubt that this kind of comedy is out of fashion, mainly because no one around at the moment could possibly achieve such brilliance! It is mental laziness to use the word 'dated' predicated on the absurd notion that just because something is not in vogue, it must be inferior. The language of Shakespeare is dated, but that does nothing to alter the fact he is one of if not the pre-eminent writer in the english language and that there isn't one upstart in the theatre today who would even be worthy of bringing him his slippers in the morning! Then there's the fallacy of criticising it for supposedly being too predictable. Poppycock! Yes we know that everything is going to go wrong for Basil, but it's the seeing how that impels the fans interest. As far as I'm concerned, its greatness is imperishable.

I love modern comedy but this is still as good today as when it was made. I would watch this over anything that is made today. The physical humour and the gags make me cry with laughter every time. Love it!