Fawlty Towers (A Touch of Class)

The list of candidates for “greatest sitcom pilot of all time” might be more crowded than you’d think, but “Fawlty Towers”’s pilot has my vote for GOAT. This should be a template for all workplace sitcoms, with everything either setting something off or paying off a punchline, and that it isn’t is through no fault of what’s accomplished here. John Cleese, of course, makes the most of this madcap script (which he co-wrote with his then-wife Connie Booth), but my introduction to this show came from reading its scripts and goodness are they a masterclass in comic timing. A masterpiece.

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