Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Re: Fawlty Towers (was Re: Big news from JMS...)
That was the one. Laroquette played a character named Royal Payne, which should give you a good idea of where the series was headed right there. That was also the show's original title, but I believe they cut that to just Payne, which is what the audience was feeling. I usually like John Larroquette (and JoBeth Williams, who I forgot was even in the thing), so I'm sure I watched the pilot, but the sheer awfulness of it must have caused me to repress all memory of the event. The fact that I also forgot Julie Benz was in the show will give you an idea of how really bad it must have been.
According to the IMDB 9 episodes of the thing were shot, and 8 of them aired in March and April of 1999. There is no air date listed for the 9th show. Not sure if it means it never aired or if the IMDB contributor just couldn't find the air date.
The American version of Coupling not only made it past the pilot, it made it on the air. They seem to have commissioined a number of scripts, then shot them out of the intended air date order. In any event the IMDB lists episode 0 (Original Pilot), then episodes 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, and 11 for a total of 7 shows, only 3 of which have air dates listed on IMDB.
On the other hand, the American version of The Office seems to be doing well. (I've never seen either version, so can't comment on quality.)
Regards,
Joe
That was the one. Laroquette played a character named Royal Payne, which should give you a good idea of where the series was headed right there. That was also the show's original title, but I believe they cut that to just Payne, which is what the audience was feeling. I usually like John Larroquette (and JoBeth Williams, who I forgot was even in the thing), so I'm sure I watched the pilot, but the sheer awfulness of it must have caused me to repress all memory of the event. The fact that I also forgot Julie Benz was in the show will give you an idea of how really bad it must have been.
According to the IMDB 9 episodes of the thing were shot, and 8 of them aired in March and April of 1999. There is no air date listed for the 9th show. Not sure if it means it never aired or if the IMDB contributor just couldn't find the air date.
The American version of Coupling not only made it past the pilot, it made it on the air. They seem to have commissioined a number of scripts, then shot them out of the intended air date order. In any event the IMDB lists episode 0 (Original Pilot), then episodes 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, and 11 for a total of 7 shows, only 3 of which have air dates listed on IMDB.
On the other hand, the American version of The Office seems to be doing well. (I've never seen either version, so can't comment on quality.)
Regards,
Joe
