Fawlty Towers revival

[JohnC]

Anyone hear the sound of a car crashing?

 

John Cleese is behind the reboot, writing and starring. Also starring will be his daughter Camilla Cleese, who will play a daughter Basil only discovered he had. They team up to run a boutique hotel.

 

I'm not sure if this is a totally new start or if it's to be the same Basil 40+ years later. I have no idea about Camilla. Apparently she does stand-up.

 

https://deadline.com/2023/02/fawlty-towers-reboot-john-cleese-camilla-cleese-rob-reiner-castle-rock-entertainment-basil-manuel-1235252175/

[little che]

No

[Mogster]

Oh no.

 

Quote

news that will bring joy to a generation of British comedy fans.

 

No. Not joy. Fear! Terrible, terrible fear!

 

Cleese is a complete dinosaur these days and should stay as far away from TV as he can to preserve what reputation he has left.

[makkuwata]

It took me far too long to block him on Twitter. What a sad decade of decline.

[Commander Jameson]

 

Sweepstake on the first mention of "woke" and "cancelled"?

[merman]

Unnecessary and pointless.

[JohnC]

"Don't mention the culture war", while mentioning it at every opportunity.

[cubik]

Another innocent victim of cancel culture is silenced. Poor guy, imagine that your only outlet is your own show on a news channel, stories in every single paper that'll listen to you and then to top it off, your very own high profile sitcom.

 

We'll never understand how some people suffer in silence.

[Clipper]

well I for one am happy to see Cleese starring in a new Fawlty Towers!

 

Because this will mean that Patrick Stewart won't be the most egrigious example of an octagenarian taking a well loved character with a real pedigree and utterly fucking it into the bin.

[cubik]

Aren't nepo babies all the rage these days?

I for one am sure that Camilla Cleese isn't actually benefiting from nepotism and definitely has a proven track record which makes her a natural for starring in a very high profile sitcom.

 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4770650/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

 

Erm... 

[Nick R]

My main objection is to the way the thread title and the Deadline Headline refers to this as a "reboot".

 

It's only a "reboot" if cast and/or continuity restart from scratch! It sounds like Cleese is playing the same character as before, in a continuation of the old series, which makes this a revival!

 

 

EDIT: Variety get it right: https://variety.com/2023/global/news/fawlty-towers-revival-castle-rock-john-cleese-1235515583/

[schmojo]

Of course you couldn't make Fawlty Towers today. 

 

You couldn't make anything today. Nothing exists but The Void.

 

And they're trying to cancel that.

[Fletch]

This sounds great! It would be extra amazing if they managed to get Corden to appear alongside John Cleeses daughter. 

 

[El Pibe]

Russell Brand signed on to play the hotel's waiter.

[makkuwata]

This just made me remember Shit My Dad Says was a show that existed.

[Darren]

On Radio 6 news this morning they said it was going to be about "elderly Basil Fawlty trying to cope with the modern world" or something along those lines, so basically it's going to be Cleese as Victor Meldrew complaining about the tofu eating wokerati every episode.

[Commander Jameson]

39 minutes ago, Darren said:

On Radio 6 news this morning they said it was going to be about "elderly Basil Fawlty trying to cope with the modern world" or something along those lines, so basically it's going to be Cleese as Victor Meldrew complaining about the tofu eating wokerati every episode.

 

More like a documentary then.

[ImmaculateClump]

"London's not as white as it used to be. Of course you can't say that nowadays without somebody thinking you've got some sort of problem. Did I ever tell you, there's a very easy way to spot a transvestite?"
"Would you like some money, John?"
"hmmm?"
"Would you like some money? To stop talking?"
"Well, it would come in handy. Horrendous blood sucking women. Did I ever tell you about my latest divor-"
"John! We're going to give you lots of money. You could use it to make a new show"
"Oh, that's very kind of you. It would have to be something new and fresh of course."
"Off you fuck then. In your bastard grave."

 

That's how the pitch went. Crafty old John just treat it like any other interview. They were throwing money at him just to get him out the door!

[Plissken]

1 hour ago, Darren said:

On Radio 6 news this morning they said it was going to be about "elderly Basil Fawlty trying to cope with the modern world" or something along those lines, so basically it's going to be Cleese as Victor Meldrew complaining about the tofu eating wokerati every episode.

 

Fawlty couldn't cope with the modern world in the original.  That was the point.

[JohnC]

And he usually faced some sort of comeuppance at the end. I wonder will that still happen, or will the trans guests be brought to heel by the heroic Basil.

[Art Vandelay]

An embarrassing old tosser struggling to accept their irrelevance as time grimly marches forward without him. Honestly, where does he get his ideas.

[James Lyon]

The only hope is that it's so anti-woke that it becomes a hilarious Partridge-like parody of itself.

[Vespa Alex]

10 hours ago, Darren said:

On Radio 6 news this morning they said it was going to be about "elderly Basil Fawlty trying to cope with the modern world" or something along those lines, so basically it's going to be Cleese as Victor Meldrew complaining about the tofu eating wokerati every episode.

Write what you know

[makkuwata]

The Meldrew point isn’t what it used to be, so that’s being very charitable to Cleese.

 

[JohnC]

Cleese gave some more details. It won't be on BBC because he wouldn't have enough freedom. It'll be set on a Caribbean island. Which, coincidentally, is where he lives. He also promises it won't be an "anti-woke nightmare."

[Ste_S]

I'd imagine if he did want to do an 'anti-woke nightmare' the BBC would be all over it and cast Geoff Norcott as a waiter.

[schmojo]

7 hours ago, JohnC said:

Cleese gave some more details. It won't be on BBC because he wouldn't have enough freedom. It'll be set on a Caribbean island. Which, coincidentally, is where he lives. He also promises it won't be an "anti-woke nightmare."

 

In theory, making the white English expat the 'Manuel' in another country would be one of the more palatable approaches to the concept.

 

However I can't help but think the setting will be used for entirely worse purposes.

[Mike S]

16 hours ago, JohnC said:

He also promises it won't be an "anti-woke nightmare."

 

 

And then finished with "it will be an anti-woke dream!".

 

When was the last time Cleese was involved in anything worth watching? Maybe A Fish Called Wanda almost 35 years ago? Since them all he has done is become ever more out of touch and irrelevant.

 

I now almost want to see this just to see how astonishingly bad it will be.