Payne

The opening credits mention that it is based on Fawlty Towers. Apart from being based in a hotel run by husband and wife, I think that that is about it. You might as well say that "Four Weddings and a Funeral" is based on "Get Carter", as they are both set in England.

Where is the animosity between the hoteliers? Where is the violence against Manuel? Why is nothing funny? How come everyone is nice to the customers and the odds aren't stacked against them?

Really. None. A poor rip-off of Fawlty Towers but without the charm (or the Cleese) of the original. It's a testament to bad taste that more than one episode was made. If you see this in the listings, do yourself a favour and avoid it like the (bubonic) plague - you can use the time to pull your fingernails out instead (it'll be more enjoyable).

This really ought to qualify as one of the worst television shows of all-time, no kidding. Right up there with Supertrain, The New Odd Couple and all the others in that elite category, that rarefied air. And the fact that it's a cheap knockoff of John Cleese's masterpiece Fawlty Towers isn't even the issue. The jokes and situations are hardly original and the characterizations are downright awful. I actually felt embarrassed for Larroquette, who I think is one of the most underrated comic actors in the world. Granted, he's no Cleese, but he's not that far below him, either. JoBeth Williams was just terrible, as are the Polly and Manuel ripoff characters. It's just plain tasteless, lame and stupid. That Larroquette's character on the show is actually named "Royal Payne" should give you an idea of the intelligence level involved in the humor. "Night Court" and the fabulous "John Larroquette Show" have this turkey beat eight ways to Sunday. An absolute piece of garbage. 0 * out of 4

"Payne" is not "Faulty Towers", and it suffers because of the obvious comparison. While "Payne" may have its occasional moments of amusement, it is a sanitized, cliched and overall dimmer relative to the original British series, that sparkled so brightly with wit and comic timing. Let's face it, John Laroqette is no John Cleese. Not by a long shot...

One of the problems with remaking a previous hit, is that it sutomatically invites comparisons. They tried to do everything exactly the same; same type of building, same type of characters, same type of situations, and here, Payne falls short. No surprise at all. It's not that Payne's actors are poor, but they aren't the originals, nor have the comedic timing of the originals. On it's own, not a terrible show. It has it's funny moments, such as when Mo responded to Payne's sentence 'We're going to make love now', and then the pause, 'So get out', and Mo said 'thank you for finishing the sentence'. Like many other shows, this one fails mostly do to poor casting. Larroquette can't do 'Fawlty'. He's funny, but he can't be that character. And once you've seen Cleese at it, well, perhaps no one else can. JoBeth Williams? Nope, nope nope. Not right for the character. Rick Batalla did well as Mo, but the rest were awful. The only hope is, no one will try to duplicate Fawlty Towers again. It's been 22 years now, and hopefully we'll never see that mistake tried again. Five/ten stars, because it's watchable. But that's about it. The commercials in this American version just rips apart any continuity in what little comedy there is in the show.