Worst Fawlty tower episode - Fawlty Towers (1975) Discussion

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] trisp 18 years ago

The Waldorf Salad.

It was pretty boring most of the time. But it was redeemed at the end with Basil shouting at his guests: "Well, let me tell you something! This is exactly how Nazi Germany started!"

And also liked: "Everything's bottoms, isn't it?"

"HOPSCOTCH!"

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[–] rain_goes_pitap 14 years ago

It did feature one of the best lines in the history of TV though:
"I think we're fresh out of Waldorf..."

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[–] Kram99 14 years ago

I reckon the Waldorf Salad was one of the better episodes.

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[–] Sleepin_Dragon 13 years ago

I don't like Waldorf Salad only because i feel sorry for Basil in it.

'When he said Mr Leeman was dead i thought he said he's still in bed'

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[–] Sparky1873 8 years ago

I liked when Basil got caught acting out an arguement with himself and chef

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[–] dgates64 14 years ago

"John Cleese, commenting for "Fully Booked" has said that "The Builders" episode 2 from season 1 was his least favourite. He bases this on audience reaction and also said that it was a "tight recording" and needed a lot of editing"

Well I guess I agree with Cleese on this one. It just wasn't that good. Also, it probably has the most of Connie Booth than any other episode as well. Booth just wasn't a naturally funny person. Her performances always came across stiff.

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[–] Pooptart19 18 years ago

I agree. That American guy was such a prick. It made me want to punch 'em in the face. But John Cleese makes everything better, he's a comedic genius. I just wish there were more episodes of Fawlty Towers. It's a shame there's only 12 episodes.

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[–] Kudzu78 14 years ago

Then again, I think the American in Waldorf Salad is the only guest in the series to successfully stand up to Basil on behalf of the other guests, who've been browbeaten into submission.

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[–] Merrida 16 years ago

That's exactly what I was going to say, almost word for word. But definitely my least favorite episode and I always skip over it. The reason? Exactly as you mentioned: Only because of the American guest who was irritating, brash, rude, and obnoxious. I find him so unpleasant to watch, that nothing seems worth taking the effort to watch in that whole episode,-- all because of one person.

Bah.

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Sic vis pacem para bellum.

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[–] Doom 16 years ago

Amazing that Cleese considers The Builders on the low-end of the scale. It's always been one of my favorite eps.

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Wait a minute... who am I here?

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[–] eastcoastguyz 15 years ago

Yes, I agree, the Builders is one of my favorites too. If he based this on audience reaction, sometimes there are other things where the audience just isn't a good one at the time.

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[–] mazunderscore 18 years ago

I love all of them each one is as precious as the next!
:)

Last movie watched: Swimming With Sharks (1994) *******

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[–] planetmutty 18 years ago

I agree that the American in the Waldorf Salad episode was irritating but I didn't think it detracted from the episode, which I think is excellent.

The Anniversary is my least-preferred episode, which is a bit OTT when he talks Polly into impersonating his wife. The extremes he goes to in order to cover his tracks are a bit too unrealistic at times. But, as they say, there's a little bit of Basil in all of us!

"AKA Conan the Librarian"

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[–] katinka1969 18 years ago

My least favourite episode is definitely the Waldorf Salad. I felt that the aggression and arrogance of the American guy lent something of a dark side to it. Having said that, Fawlty Towers was meant to be representative of the parochial nature of small British seaside hotels in the 70s, so this scenario was almost certainly inspired by real events.

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[–] eliostar1 18 years ago

My least fav is the wedding party, and I can't believe people dislike the Waldorf salad, it's one of my favs. To each his own.

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[–] instability000-1 18 years ago

"Waldorf Salad" did give the UK the now well used and fantastic phrase "bunch of arse!"

My least fave? The anniversary.

John Cleese has said that he thought "Gourmet night' was the least good.

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[–] salemslot 18 years ago

I'm stunned that so many people don't like Waldorf Salad or The Anniversary. I think every single episode borders on perfection but if I was forced to make a choice it would probably be The Wedding Party. At times it's like a bad Carry On movie with its double entendres, but it's still great.

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[–] Kubi_B 18 years ago

I heard him say that The Builders was the least well-done. Well, I guess he changed his mind somewhere along the line. Personally, my least favourite is the Wedding Party. That's not to say I don't like it, because I still love it!

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[–] soulrebeljc 18 years ago

The American is Waldorf Salad was supposed to be irritating. That was the point. He comes in complaining about the M1 being a little back road...and the cars not having room for steering wheels. I also thought that the whole screwdriver scene (and you can forget the screwdrivers) was brilliant.

I'll agree with Cleese that Gourmet Night was the worst. Still not bad, but not as good as most of the rest. My faves are The Germans (Japanese was it?)and The Builders (Why are you smiling Mr. O'Reilly? Oh, I love a woman with spirit.)

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[–] jeremy3 17 years ago

Not a weak episode. I got a little annoyed, though, when Mrs. Fawlty kept on saying Basil when he was being carted off in the linen basket.

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[–] leetherobot 15 years ago

Surely the American can't be any worse than the spoon salesman in "The Hotel Inspector" or, especially, Mrs. Richards in "Communication Problems", she was so bloody horrible.

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[–] Marcus_Rehnberg 18 years ago

You know those kebab shops were the kebab sizes starts at big. It's the same thing with Fawlty Towers, the least good is still very good. I can't really make my mind up witch is the "worst". But hey... Waldorf Sallad? Americans ARE that annoying.

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[–] christopher_sargeant 18 years ago

I agree with JC - I thought 'The Builders' to be the weakest episode. To me it had the appearance of a typical 'pilot' episode of a prospective new comedy series. In contrast, I was surprised at the strength and quality of the actual first episode - 'A Touch of Class'. You can see how the series developed so, that by the time we reached my all-time personal favourite - 'Communication Problems' - the first episode of series 2 - a high standard and fluidity of character acting had been set.

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[–] pballard-1 18 years ago

I'm a big FT fan but I have never found "The Anniversary" at all funny, not even remotely. The situation is too forced. All Basil had to do was tell his friends - at any time in the episode - that Sybil has unexpected gone out, and it would all be solved.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] lionhart321 18 years ago

I could not agree more; the whole concept for The Anniversary is very forced. I even thought that Manuel's idea about a surprise party could have worked. But the biggest problem with this story is that it has nothing to do with hoteling. A similar story could just as easily been written for a suburban family sitcom. Fawlty Towers was at its best when it mined the hotel biz concept for all it was worth -- bizarre guests, kitchen catastrophes, shenanigans in the bedrooms.
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http://www.historum.com - History Discussion Forums

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[–] zxsmooth 17 years ago

"at any time in the episode - that Sybil has unexpected gone out, and it would all be solved"

Yes then obviously they's have twigged they had an argument and that's why she's gone out. Or they may have just invited themselvs to stay.

Your not the sharpest tool in the box r u r kid ?

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[–] jondelarosa 17 years ago

@Marcus Rehnberg:

Hey now- I'm an American and I found the American guy in the Waldorf Salad to be extremely irritating.

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[–] Mrminisci 15 years ago

I am American and if I had owned a hotel or inn, I would have gladly given him a refund and "bust his a$$". Funny, but when I watched Waldorf Salad, I thought to myself, I bet that is how most Europeans see Americans. I love that episode, but my least fav is The Anniversary, followed by The Wedding Party. All the others are firt rate.

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[–] Jean_Pierre_Camembert 18 years ago

I don't think there are any worst, they are all classic. But, A Touch Of Class gets a bit irritating sometimes. Since it was the firt episode (I hope I'm right on that) it introduced all the characters very well, but it's a little too hectic - even for a die-hard fan like me.

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Nick

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[–] leturtle 18 years ago

I lovd all the episodes EXCEPT for Waldorf Salad. That was just annoying :/ I'll never forget the ingredients fro Waldorf Salad XD

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Uh... hi o.o

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[–] fieldofhats 16 years ago

I recently went over all of the episodes again, and Waldorf Salad was the episode that I skipped. My least favorite, definitely. I actually like the Anniversary very much because I though Ken Campbell was terrific in that episode...the way his character was conitinuosly poking Basil closer and closer to going over the edge. I also really like the Wedding Party, even though the French lady could get a trifle annoying at times. The look on Basil's face when he's looking at Mrs. Lloyd after he saw polly hugging Mr. Lloyd is priceless.

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[–] biggles1111 18 years ago

Gourmet night. The scene with the car was excellent, and the entire episode is good, but the least funny one.

What I can see noone mentioned "The Germans" here yet....I guess I'm not the only one who love that episode.....

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[–] mixedvixen77 18 years ago

I would have to say my least favorite was The Anniversary. It was funny, but it seemed like they had to make an episode and they didn't really know what to do so they made this one. I love this show because it has to do with all of the problems Basil gets himself into while running a hotel, but this episode had nothing to do with the hotel and it lacked the goofiness that the others have.

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[–] retrogal83 18 years ago

I actually really enjoyed the Anniversary! The Builders was one of the lower ones on my list (together with the Psychiatrist) but for sheer bottom-of-the-listness my vote would have to be for...

The Wedding Party.

It's just tedious and reminds me of those farcical sex-comedies which sees everyone jumping to everyone else's bedroom and back again, with daft misunderstandings. It just became too silly to be credible.

(OK, I know the Kipper and the Corpse wasn't exactly reality, but it had a fuller plot and tighter writing, which gave it an edge).

*´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ It's a load of old Pony...

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[–] Evil_Bob 18 years ago

Honestly can't think of a worse one. They're all great.
I personally love the builders because its got my favourite basil moment in it:
"You're a naughty boy Fawlty"

I wish my hair was Emo so that it would cut itself

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[–] laslopaniflex 18 years ago

The Anniversry does indeed seem to be the least favourite, i don't mind it myself (mainly because of Ken Campbell "Oh Roger!" constantly picking holes in Basil's ever mounting web of deceit!) but you're right, there is something missing. I find it's one of the few episodes where it would have been easier (therefore no point obviously!) just to tell the truth (although that could be said about every episode.)
Because it's Basil's close friends, and he was (for once) doing something nice for Sybil... so his friends would have understood the mix up causing no need for the frantic farce. Whereas all the other episodes are Basil keeping something from strangers (i.e guests) or people he dislikes (i.e guests again...or Sybil!) for purely mercenary reasons (or penny pinching!)

In the Anniversery you actually feel some compassion towards both Basil and Sybil, so i makes the deception of each other somewhat harder to swallow... Whereas The Kipper and the Corpse, Hotel Inspectors, Basil the rat etc has some higher purpose to the deceit because of the risk of the hotel closing down!

My fave is Communication Problems simply because it's purely Basil's self preservation (and part of you almost wishes he'd win that one!) and The Wedding Party is just his selfish neurosis trying to sabotage anyone else's good time...

Lesson learnt (or learned for American readers!) Basil is better when he's being nasty... trying to be nice = not a funny!

"What are you, some kind of doomsday machine, boy?"

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] emilyjackson27903 18 years ago

I find funny bits in all the episodes, but if I had to pick my least favourite episodes they would be gourmet night and the anniversary. I thought that the storylines in the anniversary and a touch of class were not really believable.

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[–] Cryptically_Simple 18 years ago

My least favourite are 'Gourmet night' and 'The Kipper and the Corpse'

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[–] AnonUK 17 years ago

They're two of the best! 'Communication Problems' is the best, though.
'A Touch of Class' has nice episodes within it, but is too character- based, which I suppose is inevitable for a pilot, while 'Basil the Rat' has too much establishing dialogue and Polly isn't very good in it.

"This is typical! Absolutely typical! The kind of arse I have to put up with from you people! You ponce in here..." (repeat ad infinitum).

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[–] brandy5 17 years ago

My only non-favourite was 'The Anniversary' because I thought Sybil's friends were too pushy. When told that she wasn't well (even if it wasn't true) I think they should have backed off and left.

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[–] mosquitor 18 years ago

Walorf Salad is by far the worst episode. Did they really expect us to sympathize with that American *beep*

What bugs me most is the end, and the way the American idiot and his wife (Jesus doesn't she need a better choice of husband) just walk out when Basil is having his breakdown. The thing is, as badly as the hotel may have been run, at that point it should be obvious that this man needs help, he is having a serious mental breakdown and he needs urgent treatment. To walk out on him at that moment is purely insensitive. This is the moment when the show breaks the boundaries of comedy and verges on being insensitive by making a mockery out of someone with an anxiety problem. That is where, in my opinion, this episode went wrong- by going much too far. I find this episode sort of unpleasant to watch and am not sure quite what they were thinking.

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