British Comedy Guide

What if classic sitcoms had cast different actors? Page 3

On Gold there was some programmers recently about Fawlty Towers origins. And the point was made there that without John Cleese it couldn't have been such a hit, indicative for authors were foreign remakes which had been not so funny. And an American Red Dwarf (complete flop) comes to mind in this respect as a point that Craig Charles and Chris Barrie were just in their place. On the other hand hindsight makes many things look like they were as they should have been.

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 19th October 2015, 5:01 PM BST

He's not called Broadbent for nothing.

I wonder if he's a bit like broadband - i.e. he drops out in certain areas?

Quote: rrr 969 @ 19th October 2015, 7:25 PM BST

On Gold there was some programmers recently about Fawlty Towers origins. And the point was made there that without John Cleese it couldn't have been such a hit, indicative for authors were foreign remakes which had been not so funny. And an American Red Dwarf (complete flop) comes to mind in this respect as a point that Craig Charles and Chris Barrie were just in their place. On the other hand hindsight makes many things look like they were as they should have been.

Absolutely. I recall reading in Andrew Sachs' autobiography that they had loads of attempts at re-making FT across the globe, but as you correctly state, none were successful. I wonder if it could be re-made now, but if the re-boot of Reggie Perrin is anything to go by, there's no flipping point.

Quote: TheBlueNun @ 19th October 2015, 10:34 PM BST

I wonder if he's a bit like broadband - i.e. he drops out in certain areas?

Well he did used to go by the name of Jim Dialup

I wonder what Married with Children would've looked like if Hunter Carson played bud.

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