This misguided remake is missing two ingredients of the original: 1] The main character; and 2] Laughs. By casting Bea Arthur as the title character, and writing the character to gibe with her well-known-to-the-audience persona, they essentially had to eliminate the main character of the source material (Fawlty Towers). It could be said that the characters of Basil and Sybil Fawlty were combined to make Amanda--but if true....WHAT A STUPID MOVE! Since the primary conflict of FT was between Basil and Sybil, and whether she caught him "misbehaving," the only outlet for emulating that successful formula on Amanda's would have been for her to suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder.
I actually think Fawlty Towers itself is a tad overrated. I have loved watching many of the episodes, but from time to time, especially when watching more than one episode in succession, the frenetic pace and shouted dialog's gets to be too much. That said, Amanda's never even approaches the level of Fawlty Towers.
I actually think Fawlty Towers itself is a tad overrated. I have loved watching many of the episodes, but from time to time, especially when watching more than one episode in succession, the frenetic pace and shouted dialog's gets to be too much. That said, Amanda's never even approaches the level of Fawlty Towers.