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71 sats \ 17 replies \ @siggy47 20 Sep 2023 \ parent \ on: Stacker Saloon
I had the same experience of only being able to find British comedy on PBS: Python, Benny Hill, Fawlty Towers. Obviously pre internet.
Fawlty Towers is one of the great little-known (in the US) treasures in all of television history. God that show was genius. THanks for the reminder.
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It’s shown in Europe with a trigger warning for those who find it disrespectful to Germans, Spanish waiters etc.
The true genius was in pulling it after 2-seasons. The UK version of The Office did the same thing and is better than The Office US for that reason IMHO. It’s almost a ‘Bitcoin scarcity quality’ vs ‘printing fiat quantity’ argument.
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100%. You can get that when the creatives are in charge. Not sure if you can get it otherwise. An interesting contrast w/ the American version of The Office, where money printer went brrrr for many years after the show should have ended.
Is there some special British sensibility involved in this, too? Hmm.
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I think its a British financial indictment. They don’t tend to do long comedy series - they have to get recommissioned and it is hard as there is a very small pool of buyers (they only had 4 channels for a looonng time.)
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Wait a minute. Is John Cleese bringing back Fawlty Towers with his daughter? I don't think this is a great idea.
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Apparently. Pay for one of his divorces I suspect… bad idea.
Question; how many American versions of Fawlty Towers were made?
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I didn't know there were any
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3…. All disasters apparently
It may not look hard, but I don't think it's easy to capture the John Cleese essence
I feel like my wife and I were were among the few people from U.S. who saw British Office first. Big Ricky Gervais fans. Speaking of which- Extras scene w David Bowie still kills me.
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…little fat man, sold his soul…
I remember the scene and thought it was heartbreaking as Bowie seemed really cruel. I didn’t realise (until later) what good friends they were and how Bowie was his inspiration for most of the things he had done with his life. Gervais’ current project After Life is a good watch as well.
First watch through of the office and I genuinely thought it was a documentary.
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After life is very good too. We seem to get all his stuff on Netflix now
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I have to go find some episodes on YouTube now
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Basil! 🥄
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