In the mid-70's, John Cleese had moved on from Monty Python's Flying Circus to his own creation, Fawlty Towers, which, like Python, aired on PBS stations here in the US.
American producers had tried to duplicate the Fawlty formula three times over a 21 year period, all without success. The first one, 1978's Snavely, never got out of the starting gate, despite the talent of its leads.
Harvey Korman (ex-The Carol Burnett Show) had the title role as Henry Snavely, owner of a modest hotel that seemed to have all sorts of issues. Emmy winner Betty White, whose self-titled sitcom had flopped, played his wife. Writer-producers Roland Kibbee and Dean Hargrove aren't really known for comedy. Kibbee, after all, created It Takes a Thief a decade earlier, and Hargrove would later find his niche in crime drama (i.e. Matlock and the revival of Perry Mason) for the same studio that produced Snavely, Viacom.
Five years later, Viacom tried again, but Amanda's, with Beatrice Arthur, didn't finish its only season. Sixteen years after that, Studios USA (Universal) tried out Payne, another attempt at remaking Fawlty, this time with John Larroquette (ex-Night Court). Eight episodes aired on CBS.
Right now, let's take a look at Snavely:
2 comments:
Interesting. The only one of the three Fawlty Towers wanna be shows that you mentioned here that I've heard of is Amanda's. I saw a couple of episodes of that after seeing some episodes of Fawlty, and I could definitely see where the inspiration came from.
Harvey Korman would later return to the hotel sitcom formula when he starred in the Mel Brooks created sitcom The Nutt House in 1989.
And we'll be taking a look at Nutt House down the line, along with Fawlty, Amanda's, and Payne......
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