The second season is off to a rousing start. "Communication Problems" has vaulted to the top of my of my list. I found it both consistently funny from the first scene to the end, but also earned a laugh-out-loud from me that was so abrupt and hearty I think I startled myself. I'm tempted to say this episode "perfected" the format of FAWLTY TOWERS, adding elements that I hadn't noticed were "missing" from the first six but which made the episode work even better.
I think this is the first episode where all four principal actors were equally involved in the plot. It seems to me in the first six episodes, Sybil, Polly or Manuel were reduced to a minor role; most episodes would primarily juggle two or three. Here, all four actors were equally involved in the plot, each given their own laughs and opportunity to shine.
I think of the first six episodes, the guests were all hapless victims of Basil's temper and snobbery (except perhaps the snotty kid who wanted salad cream). This episode adds a new twist: Basil dealing with a guest who's worse than he is. The results were the funniest interactions in the series to date. Mrs Richards was a terrific comic foil for not just Basil, but all four. Even Sybil, usually unflappable, was rattled by her. Most sitcoms would have been content with a character being demanding and haughty, but FAWTLY adds in hard of hearing and poor of vision to squeeze as many gags as possible. If FAWLTY had gone longer than 12 episodes, Mrs Richards would have been a great recurring foil.
I had to pause the episode to look up the actress playing Mrs Richards; I assumed she was a character actress I've seen dozens of times. Nope. Of the nearly 80 credits for Joan Sanderson, I've only seen THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen that in 20 plus years. I jumped over to Youtube to watch that scene and was surprised to find she shared it with none other than John Cleese. Now I'm wondering if these were two random pairings or if Cleese and Sanderson worked together frequently. The scene in MUPPET CAPER was very funny, which I guess explains why Sanderson was familiar to me all these years later. The MUPPET CAPER scene also makes me wonder if I've overlooked Cleese as a consistent comic performer. My impression of his career is a lot of obscurity with a couple notable high points.
Back to FAWLTY. This episode will definitely warrant a rewatch, possibly before I move onto the next episode. It's packed with nonstop gags and inspired comic bits. My favorite moment was Basil gaslighting Mrs Richards into thinking her hearing aid wasn't working; when he finally shouted into her hearing aid is what startled me into a loud laugh.
All of the scripts have been notable for juggling a few plots that converge in the finale, but none have been as masterful as this. Every detail and every gag builds on the next and just as it seems like Basil has the upper hand for once, it all crashed down. Notable too that the hysteria was dialed down in this episode and I found it funnier, it works better when the entire episode doesn't play at 100% capacity.
Brilliant episode and I suspect I will have more thoughts after my second viewing.
Do you feel this helped with continuity and consistency when it came to the way the characters behaved and details such as their likes/dislikes?
I do think shows written by the same small group of writers tend to be more consistent in characterization and detail. I think staff writers were more common on shows back in the 50s and 60s, but 2 writers being solely responsible for four seasons was unusual. The volume of work produced by Carroll & Pugh can be explained -- they were rather literally locked in a room every week and not allowed out until they had a working draft of a script. And therein lies why I made the connection. Pity no one locked Cleese & Booth in a room every week for four years. Maybe they couldn't have matched the output, but perhaps we'd have 18 episodes rather than 12.
