12 TV Sitcom Remakes That Completely Bombed
2. Amanda's (ABC, 1983)
Fawlty Towers has been the subject of four different remakes, only one of which (titled Payne and starring John Larroquette) met with John Cleese’s approval. Another starred Tim Curry as a washed-up soap actor and a young Steve Carell as the Manuel character but the strangest approach to adapting Fawlty Towers is Amanda’s.
Starring Bea Arthur, Amanda’s took the basic premise of Fawlty Towers but made the baffling decision to write out Basil Fawlty. Instead, folding both Basil and Sybil into one person while adding in a son and daughter-in-law as supporting characters. And no, it’s not just you. John Cleese couldn’t believe it either.
Arthur later described Amanda’s as a big disappointment and thought that the only element of Fawlty Towers being adapted was Manuel. Which, no matter how many different Fawlty Towers plots and jokes the first episode throws together, is right on the money. To Amanda’s credit though, it at least does try to add something new with a rival hotelier as a supporting character and the threat of bank foreclosure frequently on the horizon.
Considering the decision to remove as much Fawlty Towers content from this Fawlty Towers remake as possible, it’s no surprise that only ten of thirteen episodes were aired. While Bea Arthur would later star in The Golden Girls. Which, as we discussed, ITV ruined years later. The circle of sitcom is complete.