That Basil is unsuited for the job is a situation of sorts, however the comedy stems from the character of Basil himself rather than the specific situation; as HITW seems to suggest, you could put Basil into any job/ situation and the humour would be much the same.

Those 3 guys who had to bring up the baby (and it interfered with the love lives, etc, hahaha) were not particularly funny in or of themselves; neither were Genie, the guy who lived with Martian, the other guy who lived with a talking horse, or any of the characters on Gilligan's Island funny in or of themselves. In each of these sitcoms, it was the premise of the situation which created any humour (and some had very little, in retrospect). Thus, these are sitcoms.

"Some Mothers Do Have 'Em" and the old "Charlie Drake Show" both revolved around an inept character trying and failing at a succession of jobs so that the "situation", while not specifically set, was a thematic set-piece. However, in both of these cases, and with Fawlty Towers, the humour derives from the characters themselves and would probably be a whole lot less funny without the essential humour of the character (or specific 'actor', might be more to the point).

It is interesting to note that the term TV sitcom was first used, in the 50's to describe *any* comedy which was not the then typical sketch or revue type comedy show: Red Skelton, Jackie Gleeson, Abbott & Costello Shows come to mind. Hence, "I Love Lucy", which followed Lucy and Desi in a single storyline each week was perceived to be different and 'sitcom' as a term was born. This is exactly the sort of show that I would, now, argue is not a sitcom at all!

I am not sure whether to be worried at the amount of thought that you seem to have put into this....

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

I love Lucy? Wonderful programme...

Many of the early "I Love Lucy" shows were acted in front of an audience in real time and broadcast live (in the US, anyway). Timing to fit the timeslot was of the essence and if they fell short of time they often "padded" with improvisation or came out and greeted the audience at the end; you can often spot Lucy looking off-stage at the director who is probably signalling how much time is left.

Desi gave his famous patriotic defence of Lucy during the communist witch-hunts before one show; and once, when they ran overtime, the network switched them off and went to the next program. The next week, Desi came out and verbally explained how the previous week's show had ended, for the benefit of the TV audience who had missed it!

Those were the days.

Afternoon All!,

I thought Basil Fawlty was employed to train customer service officers at telephone companies.

Have I been misguided, or was this only part time work and he does other training as well?

OOOH you is after such a slap there, Bunyip!
Someone hold Bunyip down for me!

I think I have some string somewhere in the avalanche of matter in my room...

I like "an avalanche of matter" (though I'd prefer something a little more pertinent than 'matter'). It creates the image of a heap of personal treasures, trivia and brickabrack forever caught, yet forever tumbling downwards upon Bib's head.
Yes. I like that. Especially the last bit.

As for Kitten's onslaught against poor Bunyip: Kitten, I thought that you have worked for charities, soliciting on the phone (doing something for the right reason anyway); I didn't know that you had worked for the 'telephone companies' that received a well-aimed Bunyip broadside. If it has been the latter, could you tell me which recorded voice is yours, because none of the telcos - in my experience - actually employ anyone with life in their veins to answer calls.

I lie. I once did, finally, get through to someone who worked for Telstra. We had accidentally left the phone off the hook for some months when we went overseas and when, on return, I picked it up to replace it, the muzak and ads saying how important my call was *** suddenly stopped *** and someone said, "Telstra". I started trying to explain the situation when the voice on the other end said, "Are you a c... cus... custo... custom... " and I interupted, brightly interpretting, "A Customer? Yes! I am!" The person said, "All of our available service lines are busy at the moment, you have been..." But I hung up.

Speaking of recorded voices...I'll quote a favorite film -

"You have two minutes to reach minimum safe distance."

First to guess gets a Valentine (but may have to pay for the postage).

Actually, yes, I did work for Telstra mobile... For quite a while too.
And incidentally, I trained customer service staff.




Oh, and it's Aliens. Because nothing says Be My Valentine like a slimy black rubber (oddly phallic) toothy monstrosity bursting out of your chest.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2008 03:52PM by Bonzai Kitten.

My good mate "Turtle" Fredrickson has an "oddly phallic, toothy monstrosity bursting out of his chest"; it emerges from between his shoulders.

Ok, Kat, I know Aliens is way too easy. Consider yourself valentined, though. I'll try to think of some harder ones for St. Patrick's Day.

Yay! That makes a grand total of (mumble).

BK'

Look out for an avalanche of spuds!!!!

Going back to things emerging from chests is anyone else a 'Spaceballs' fan?

Best catch line (in this writer's humble opinion) is 'Praying to God' often heard around this household after the utterance of a phrase seemingly like 'I'm going in'.