Well, that's about the only way they'd ever get me to tune in. I'd watch Kathy Bates read the phone book, so I'll at least tune in for the premiere, assuming it gets picked up.
A prequel to Dexter and spin-offs to Billions are on their way https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/de...UebH87ive90-BYgkEhZ0cv4_XS4etddql7-_eb-D5X3os
This I wouldn’t have seen coming: John Cleese is to revive Fawlty Towers, Co-written with his daughter Camilla Cleese. With (apparently) no input from Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs having died and Prunella Scales suffering from dementia (not to mention that Cleese hasn’t made anything funny in years) my hopes for this are lower than expectations for another Fawlty gourmet night https://variety.com/2023/global/new...d=51&cx_testVariant=cx_2&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s
That is going to be controversial. Hopefully good as well but either way the internet will be outraged. Then again when is the internet not outraged.
I'm not surprised as to Connie Booth's non-involvement; she got out of TV and movies decades ago, became a psychotherapist, and is now retired, and has rarely spoken about her time in the entertainment industry.
In development are two Bosch spinoffs, one show about Renee Ballard and the other show about Jerry Edgar.
It’s not a surprise (she and Cleese divorced years ago, perhaps surprisingly, before finishing S2 of Fawlty), but it does mean the absence of one of the writers (and stars), a big factor in the success of the original. Cynthia, co-writer of this new one, is her and John’s daughter, so let’s hope that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. She’s also married to Ed Solomon, the talented writer of MIB & the Bill and Ted movies.
Fawlty Towers will be like those legendary bands who go on tour decades later with only one remaining original member, like Survivor and Jethro Tull.
Basil Fawlty would be the perfect vehicle for Cleese to poke a stick in the eye of the modern day-political correctness he loathes. I just hope it's a worthy successor to the original. Fawlty in the 2020's is a terrifying but fascinating idea. The original stands as one of the greats; it would be a real shame to mess with the series' legacy with some half-baked follow-up.
I don't have a lot of hope for Cleese's revived Fawlty Towers, for all the reasons folks have mentioned. I've never found Cleese that funny without a strong team around him, whether it was the six Pythons or Connie Booth co-writing and co-starring in Fawlty Towers with Scales and Sachs rounding out the cast. I'll no doubt check it out but, even with the orginal two series, which I have on DVD, several episodes are easily skipped on re-watches. Between this and the Fraiser revival with only Kelsey Grammer... It's just not appealing to me.
The Splash remake isn’t yet, ahem, dead in the water. I was sure someone had said “fin” to that idea but the scales haven’t yet fallen from their eyes. There could be a sting in the tail yet. I’ll shut up now. https://www.empireonline.com/movies...LexGLMIxivIbeGiQXQW2d7sbXLBIPoDzkHTduIbdRzK8Q
Starz is bringing Spartacus back to “explore uncharted territory and new journeys of the original series’ iconic characters.”
I Am Legend sequel in the works. Michael B. Jordan to join Will Smith. Will use the alternate ending of the first movie instead of the theatrical cut ending.