Review: American "Fawlty Towers" Remake w/John Larroquette
Corey Klemow
(IMPORTANT NOTE: What I am reviewing is a taping of a pilot of a new
show that has not yet been picked up for series, or even for a trial run
of six or so episodes. At the moment, there are no further episodes
given the go-ahead. Pilots are often "retooled" after the initial
shoot, somtimes in minor ways, sometimes in major ways. Also, the
taping lasted almost five hours, with all scenes being done at least
twice, with major pauses between each take as the cast and crew reset
themselves -- refocusing cameras, etc. It's possible that I might have
had a somewhat different perspective on the show had I seen the stil
non-existant final product.)
I just got back from a taping of the new American version of FAWLTY
TOWERS, starring John Larroquette (not to be confused with the previous
American version of FAWLTY TOWERS, called AMANDA'S, starring Bea Arthur
as Amanda, a mildly acidic combination of both Basil and Sybil).
Hmmmmm... a mixed bag, I think.
It didn't seem to bode well that, according to my ticket, the show was
called "John Larroquette" and according to the website from which I made
my reservation was only "based on FAWLTY TOWERS". Distancing themselves
from the original already, are they?
Upon entering the studio, I saw a reassuringly Fawlty-esque country
mansion on the screen (actually a building somewhere in Bel Air, we were
later told) with the logo "Payne" over it. Turns out that *that's* the
working title. It's not called FAWLTY TOWERS 'cause they've renamed
Basil Fawlty. His name is now Payne. Royal Payne. Gosh. Isn't that
clever. Still, they had the admirable restraint never to refer to him
by his full name at any point in the show; he was always either "Mr.
Payne" or "Royal".
All the other names have been changed as well ("Fawlty Towers" is now
the "Whispering Pines", incidentally), along with certain elements of
the character.
The most faithful translation was JoBeth Williams' portrayal of
Constance Payne, the "Sybil" character. A touch blander than Sybil, but
still close enough.
Then there was Rick Batalla as Mo (aka Mohammed), the "Manuel"
character. Now, when Andrew Sachs, a Brit (I presume) played Manuel,
the character was a Spaniard. Now that Rick (a Hispanic) is playing the
character, they've gone and made him an Iraqi defector. Go figure.
Some may miss Manuel's cries of "Que?" and "I from Barcelona", but Rick
is very funny and definitely steals the show clean away from the rest of
the cast whenever the focus falls on him. I've performed with Rick
(though he's no friend of mine), and he's been doing a version of this
character for years (most recently as ship's cook "Ami" in the
still-running L.A. cult-classic musical farce "Butt-Pirates of the
Carribean" -- no, really -- and previously as a Filippino named "Paki"
in the DeadpanHanders' "Curse of the Golden Hat" sketch show), and he's
got the innocent-but-clueless foreigner schtick down to perfection. A
great bit of casting. Not quite Latke Gravis ("Taxi"), but the
potential is there.
"Polly" has now become "Breeze" (I've forgotten the actress' name).
Instead of the self-assured "I don't really have to be here" character
Polly was, "Breeze", judging from her portrayal tonight, seems to be
just a bit of a ditz. Still, it's hard to judge. Breeze wasn't given
much to do other than serve as Royal's conscience in one scene; she
wasn't put in a Polly-esque situation where she had to single-handedly
straighten out one of Royal's major messes. At the moment, the
character seems under-developed.
John Larroquette as Royal Payne was... well, he was John Larroquette.
Some nice zingers, but Basil's manic energy just wasn't quite there;
Royal is more the usual Larroquette sleazy smoothie. And this is a
central problem with the whole show. The whole tone, pace and energy of
FAWLTY TOWERS was taken off of John Cleese's hyperactivity. With
Larroquette underplaying, the rest of the show never takes off either.
I don't know if it was Larroquette's decision to play it this way, or if
the director or the network is deliberately holding him back. Either
way, the show suffers for it. Towards the end, the manic energy starts
to build (and, in fact, the final scene was filmed four or five times,
with Larroquette playing it bigger each time) -- but that energy, at the
end of the show, was where Cleese would get to within the first five or
ten minutes of a typical FAWLTY TOWERS episode.
The script, a different treatment of the classic-FAWLTY premise of a
food critic visiting the hotel, was okay, and I was happy that it ended
on a Fawlty-esque high note of general hysteria rather than having a
final "button"/wrap-up scene typical of American sitcoms. But again, I
still feel it didn't go far enough. Some basic elements were there, but
it never quite tipped over into full-fledged insanity. I'd give
examples, but I don't want to spoil anything this far in advance of
airing.
The problem I have with the show that I saw tonight was that it simply
didn't go far enough. All the elements are there; it has potential and
it *is* amusing, but it feels like it's being held back and deliberately
watered down. It's kinda zany when it should be incredibly frenetic;
it's mildly naughty when it ought to be completely outrageous.
In summary: In comparison with Basil Fawlty, Royal Payne is just Mildly
Annoying.
Richard Schultz
Corey Klemow (CKl...@compuserve.com) wrote:
: ("Fawlty Towers" is now the "Whispering Pines", incidentally)
Does this mean that instead of "Flowery Twats," we're going to get
"Swiping her penis"?
-----
Richard Schultz sch...@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system
of government."
LtJr Rich
>: ("Fawlty Towers" is now the "Whispering Pines", incidentally)<BR>
><BR>
>Does this mean that instead of "Flowery Twats," we're going to get<BR>
>"Swiping her penis"?<BR>
><BR>
I personally liked "Farty Towels."
Zaphod7717
>I personally liked "Farty Towels."
Now go, and never darken my towels again!
Dagny, official predicter of the past
"Time flies like an arrow; fruitflies like a banana"
Groucho Marx
"What does time flying have to do with fruitflies? I don't get it."
a few confused freshmen
Corey Klemow
Richard Schultz wrote:
>
> Corey Klemow (CKl...@compuserve.com) wrote:
>
> : ("Fawlty Towers" is now the "Whispering Pines", incidentally)
>
> Does this mean that instead of "Flowery Twats," we're going to get
=giggle=
Seriously, though... I suspect the signboard jokes won't be a feature of
PAYNE. I could be wrong, but since they obvsiouly want this to be an
ongoing series, I think the joke would exhaust itself rather quickly...
Perishing P. Wines
CKl...@compuserve.com
Bob G. Oblin
> I personally liked "Farty Towels."
>
I personally prefer my towels NOT to be farty.
--
el señor lyons
BOBGOBLIN EXTRAORDINAIRE
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Amphitheatre/8009/bobgoblin.html