Fawlty Towers DVD Review
Everyone already knows that Fawlty Towers is the greatest British situation comedy ever made, and is arguably the greatest sitcom ever made anywhere (though fans of shows as wide ranging as I Love Lucy, MASH, Cheers and The Simpsons may well disagree). John Cleese's Basil Fawlty is a deeply ingrained part of global pop culture and the series has been an extraordinary international success - if you haven't seen Fawlty Towers yet you need to do so as soon as possible.
This DVD presentation delivers the entire run of 12 episodes - each episode has been digitally reasserted and they all look superb - considering the show's surprisingly small budget and the less than phenomenal productions values afforded by it. There are director's commentaries for each show and the quality of presentation and information given varies. It's a shame Cleese himself wasn't in hand to add to the commentaries but he, along with co-stars Prunella Scales (Sybil Fawlty) and Andrew Sachs (Manuel) can be found in a series of fascinating and useful interviews.
There are also highlight reels that not only collects the best of Basil and Sybil's verbal warfare or Basil's brilliant abuse of his staff and guests but also shows all the best variations on the Fawlty Towers sign (Farty Owls and the like). There are a couple of minutes of outtakes as well which is nice.
The cast bio section is similar to the those found on the Blackadder discs in that they are narrated instead of merely being a paragraph of two of hard to read text. A nice touch is the inclusion of bio-spots on key supporting and guest thesps.
Add in a guided tour of Torquay and a short but bittersweet look at what eventually became of the hotel that served as the face of Fawlty Towers and you have a very generous, and top quality, package of extras.
All in all an indispensable set. The best presentation yet of the greatest TV comedy ever with a plethora of neat extras. Essential.
Program Notes
History Channel International (newly available on DirecTV and already carried by many satellite and cable systems) airs a facilitating and highly entertaining sci-reality show Time Team. Lead by Blackadder's Tony Robinson a team of archeologists investigate a different historic site each episode for a weekend of digging and deducing. Time Team is sort of a Ground Force for history buffs and is highly recommended.
BBC America has some dark fun on the horizon for Halloween with the broadcast of
Everyone already knows that Fawlty Towers is the greatest British situation comedy ever made, and is arguably the greatest sitcom ever made anywhere (though fans of shows as wide ranging as I Love Lucy, MASH, Cheers and The Simpsons may well disagree). John Cleese's Basil Fawlty is a deeply ingrained part of global pop culture and the series has been an extraordinary international success - if you haven't seen Fawlty Towers yet you need to do so as soon as possible.
This DVD presentation delivers the entire run of 12 episodes - each episode has been digitally reasserted and they all look superb - considering the show's surprisingly small budget and the less than phenomenal productions values afforded by it. There are director's commentaries for each show and the quality of presentation and information given varies. It's a shame Cleese himself wasn't in hand to add to the commentaries but he, along with co-stars Prunella Scales (Sybil Fawlty) and Andrew Sachs (Manuel) can be found in a series of fascinating and useful interviews.
There are also highlight reels that not only collects the best of Basil and Sybil's verbal warfare or Basil's brilliant abuse of his staff and guests but also shows all the best variations on the Fawlty Towers sign (Farty Owls and the like). There are a couple of minutes of outtakes as well which is nice.
The cast bio section is similar to the those found on the Blackadder discs in that they are narrated instead of merely being a paragraph of two of hard to read text. A nice touch is the inclusion of bio-spots on key supporting and guest thesps.
Add in a guided tour of Torquay and a short but bittersweet look at what eventually became of the hotel that served as the face of Fawlty Towers and you have a very generous, and top quality, package of extras.
All in all an indispensable set. The best presentation yet of the greatest TV comedy ever with a plethora of neat extras. Essential.
Program Notes
History Channel International (newly available on DirecTV and already carried by many satellite and cable systems) airs a facilitating and highly entertaining sci-reality show Time Team. Lead by Blackadder's Tony Robinson a team of archeologists investigate a different historic site each episode for a weekend of digging and deducing. Time Team is sort of a Ground Force for history buffs and is highly recommended.
BBC America has some dark fun on the horizon for Halloween with the broadcast of
The copyright of the article Fawlty Towers DVD | Halloween | Black Cab | Mr. Bean Toons in British Television is owned by . Permission to republish Fawlty Towers DVD | Halloween | Black Cab | Mr. Bean Toons in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
