I sampled some of Cleese's other work, and it failed to amuse me as much as this series, which I saw more than a decade ago. I laughed abundantly, especially in the episode where Mr. Fawlty is trying to catch the womanizing lowbrow only to appear lowbrow himself. The main theme is the failure of stress management. Time and again, Mr. Fawlty tries to eschew stressful situations only to be plunged into them with a vengeance. I also remember the inspector and the rat, and the Major saying we must shoot those rats, and Mr. Fawlty pleading: "Forgive and forget", and the psychologist inquiring "How often do you and your wife manage it?", and a hamster called Basil, and Mr. Fawlty yelling at his incompetent cook, only to be found yelling to no one in particular by his cantankerous American guest, and Mr. Fawlty disregarding his wife's injunction against hiring cheap, incompetent carpenter O'Reilly, and Mr. Fawlty trying to hide his big quarrel with his wife on their anniversary, with well-wishing guests arriving, one of them perceptive, and Mr. Fawlty being seized by irresistible frankness when tending to German guests, and the Japo-Norwegian fish, and the thief-inspector, etc. Yes, I guess it was and is funny.
Review of Fawlty Towers
