![]() Comedy wouldn’t be the same anywhere on the globe without Fawlty Towers and it all started here with this excellent first outing.Ĭheers, “Give Me a Ring Sometime” (September 30, 1982) sitcoms picked up on how funny it could be to base a show around such a despicable character a little late with Larry David, Michael Scott, and Kenny Powers continuing the trend. Fawlty’s an early example of a sitcom anti-hero, predating a glut of similarly natured English protagonists that includes Edmund Blackadder, Alan Partridge, and David Brent. The pilot also sets up some great comic foils for him in his bossy wife Sybil and Manuel, a waiter who’s struggling with the English language. Cleese has Fawlty’s duplicitous nature down pat, bitterly bad-mouthing his guests when they’re not around and turning on a dime to cheerily serve them when they are. John Cleese and Connie Booth’s intricately-plotted farce, Fawlty Towers, kicks it into high gear in its first episode, which involves protagonist Basil Fawlty’s attempts to draw classier clientele to his hotel. Written by John Cleese & Connie Both Directed by John Howard Davies With Mary Tyler Moore, Brooks and Allan Burns crafted a TV comedy that was revolutionary in its focus on a central female character who was single and career-driven, as well as a show to which every workplace comedy since owes a debt of gratitude.įawlty Towers, “A Touch of Class” (September 19, 1975) Brooks was only getting started and would go on to become one of the most significant comedy writers of his generation. The humor here is character-based, breaking from the jokey nature of Mary Tyler Moore’s sitcom contemporaries. The show’s first episode introduced an excellent ensemble of characters, many of who would receive their own spin-offs (and deservedly so). Brooks & Allan Burns Directed by Jay SandrichĬhock-full of humor that still holds up over 40 years later, Mary Tyler Moore’s pilot changed sitcoms forever, establishing the foundation for the workplace comedy that’s still an effective and often-used model today. The Mary Tyler Moore, “Love Is All Around” (September 19, 1970) Let’s take a look at some of the best sitcom pilots of all time. Despite the many hurdles that a sitcom pilot must overcome, there have been a few shows that have burst out of the starting gates fully formed. Take Seinfeld and The Simpsons, two of the most influential and beloved TV comedies of all time, as examples of series whose first episodes, while promising, are pretty unremarkable. ![]() ![]() That’s why some of the greatest sitcoms of all time aren’t yet fully developed by the time they hit the airwaves, spending a few weeks to find their groove, develop characters, and figure out what works. More so than drama or sci-fi pilots, which get a full hour (minus commercials) to establish a premise and introduce all their characters, sitcom pilots have an even more Herculean task to accomplish - they’ve got to do all of this while staying consistently funny with only 22 minutes to pull it off.
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