''Amanda's'' (also known as ''Amanda's by the Sea'') is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

television series based on the 1970s

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. British sitcoms have predominantly been recorded on studio sets, while some include an element of location filming. Live audiences and multi-camera ...

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional ...

'' that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

from February 10 to May 26, 1983. The series starred

Bea Arthur Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress, comedienne and singer. She began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving worldwide recognition for her work o ...

as Amanda Cartwright, who owns a seaside hotel called "Amanda's by the Sea" and was Arthur's first return to series television since her sitcom '' Maude'' ended in 1978. Thirteen episodes were produced, with three remaining unaired following the series' cancellation.

Synopsis

Amanda Cartwright (Bea Arthur) is the formidable owner of "Amanda's by the Sea", a struggling California seaside hotel overlooking the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

whose fractious staff includes her hotel-management-graduate son Marty (Fred McCarren); her spoiled daughter-in-law Arlene (Simone Griffeth); Earl, the bumbling chef (Rick Hurst) and Aldo, the bellhop of foreign extraction (Tony Rosato). The comedy revolved around burnt steaks, fussy guests, travel-guide writers who had to be impressed, the banker Mr Mundy (Keene Curtis) – who constantly threatened to foreclose – and brother-in-law Zack (Kevin McCarthy), who was out to woo Amanda.

Production

''Amanda's'' is the second attempted American adaptation of ''Fawlty Towers''. The first, ''Snavely'' (also known as ''Chateau Snavely'') starring

Harvey Korman Harvey Herschel Korman (February 15, 1927May 29, 2008) was an American actor and comedian who performed in television and film productions. He is best remembered as a main cast member alongside Carol Burnett, Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence on the ...

and

Betty White Betty Marion Ludden ( White; January 17, 1922December 31, 2021), known professionally as Betty White, was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television with a career spanning almost seven decades, she was noted for her vas ...

, was produced by

for a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in 1978, but the transfer from coastal hotel to highway motel proved too much and additional episodes were never filmed after the completion and review of that pilot.

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

, co-creator of the original British sitcom, was critical of this first adaptation, in particular Korman and White, saying they "played it too slow and were embarrassed by the edgy dialogue". ''Amanda's'' was created by Elliot Shoenman, who had previously written six episodes of Arthur's 1970s sitcom '' Maude''. Since ''Maude'' concluded in 1978, Arthur had been approached with numerous ideas until Shoenman showed her some tapes of ''Fawlty Towers''. Loving the original, Arthur agreed to take part in a remake. Later, however, she recalled "complaining bitterly" about the show and, in particular, the plot and character changes. Amanda, unlike her original counterpart Sybil, did not have a husband (she was a widow) but instead had a son and daughter-in-law. Arthur noted the only fundamental similarity between ''Amanda's'' and ''Fawlty Towers'' was the adaptation of the character

Manuel Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

, known in the remake as Aldo.

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...

, a friend and former colleague of Arthur's, looked at the sitcom and told Arthur: "You don't have a character...you're not playing anything." In a 2009 interview, Cleese described the occasion when American television producers spoke to him about their development of ''Amanda's'': ''Amanda's'' was taped in front of a live audience at

ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. It was canceled in May 1983 after a four-month run of ten episodes, with three unaired episodes remaining. A&E channel broadcast reruns of the show during the late 1980s. Arthur later described the show as "a big disappointment". Two years after the cancellation of ''Amanda's'', Arthur was cast in the sitcom ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty ...

''. A third remake of ''Fawlty Towers'', titled '' Payne'', was developed sixteen years after ''Amanda's'' ended. Produced by and starring

John Larroquette John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' (1984–1992; 2023–2025) for ...

, the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

series was cancelled after the broadcast of its eighth episode on April 28, 1999.

Cast

as Amanda Wilkerson Cartwright * Fred McCarren as Martin "Marty" Cartwright * Simone Griffeth as Arlene Cartwright *

Tony Rosato Antonio Rosato (26 December 1954 – 10 January 2017) was a Canadian actor and comedian, who appeared in television and films. He was best known as a cast member on both '' SCTV'' and ''Saturday Night Live'', and for voicing Luigi in '' The Adven ...

as Aldo * Rick Hurst as Earl Nash *

Keene Curtis Keene Holbrook Curtis (February 15, 1923 – October 13, 2002) was an American character actor. Early life Curtis was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to Polley Francella (née Holbrook), a teacher, and Ira Charles Curtis, a railway and civil-servi ...

as Clifford Mundy *

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January until he was Remova ...

as Zackary Desmond "Zack" Cartwright

Episodes

Broadcast history

The series was shown in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, under the title ''Amanda'' in the 1980s on

Rete 4 Rete 4 (in English Network 4, also known as Retequattro) is an Italian free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope MediaForEurope, officially MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., formerly Mediaset Grou ...

. It was also shown in Sweden from June 15, 1984.https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0084973/releaseinfo ''Retrieved May 27, 2020.''

US television ratings

References

External links

* * {{Fawlty Towers 1983 American television series debuts 1983 American television series endings 1980s American multi-camera sitcoms American television series based on British television series American English-language television shows Fawlty Towers Fictional hotels Television shows set in California Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television series by CBS Studios American Broadcasting Company sitcoms