Amanda's

This was another attempt to make an American version of the hit British series Fawlty Towers. Ms. Arthur was the owner of a hotel. Just like on the British show, her character had to deal with insufferable guests. Ms. Arthur is excellent at put-downs and sarcasm. However, it wasn't enough to keep this show going.

Based on the successful British BBC-TV series FAWLTY TOWERS starring John Cleese, It stars Bea Arthur and falls competely flat. Many reasons contribute to it's demise. First, Arthur is very good at put-downs, but unlike TOWERS, Arthur needs to be the butt of the joke a lot more often. But at a time when American women were looking for more role models and independence, the writers may have been hesitant to try and degrade Arthur's character. Also missing from this show is the physical humor in the TOWERS series. The way Cleese bent, fell, wobbled, crawled, skipped, ran, etc is non-existant. Archie Bunker was a closer match to Basil Fawlty than Amanda Cartright.

My son and I watched two of the shows and we laughed and laughed...we are going to watch the rest of the shows...

Preceded by "Snavely Manor" ( Harvey Korman, Betty White ) followed by "Payne" ( John Larroquette, JoBeth Williams ) this second attempt to Americanize the classic British sitcom "Fawlty Towers" pulls a gender bender switch by casting Bea Arthur as the owner of a small country inn.

While the sharp tongued Arthur (Maude, Golden Girls) was well suited for the verbal jousting of the role, the series lacked the pure physical slapstick of the British original.

While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery I recall being outraged to discover that the credits for the program made no mention of "Fawlty Towers" even though many scenes, particularly in the pilot, were lifted directly from the original.

I seriously wonder why some even bother to attempt to emulate, imitate or just copy what was perfect in the first place with the original. Sort of like someone attempting to "re-write" Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Cleese & Booth wrote a perfect series with the perfect cast. They are "real" characters whereas this series is a "characature" of the original, i.e. one dimensional stereotypes. The pace is good, some of the jokes are o.k. but there certainly is none of the self inflicted stress & situations that Basil Fawlty would find himself in. Never try to imitate the original especially if it is/was great in the first place. Many have tried that route & usually always fail. There's only one Laure & Hardy, Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd & there's certainly ONLY one Fawlty Towers! Be original & do something NO ONE else has yet done. That's how the greats did it hence why they're great.