Amanda's

1 9 8 3 (USA)
12 x 30 minute episodes

This ABC sitcom was an obvious (though unacknowledged) US adaptation of British comedy classic, Fawlty Towers (starring John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, the manic manager of a British seaside guest house). In this American version, the central character was turned into a female, Amanda, and played by Maude's Bea Arthur. The guest house in Torquay was now "Amanda's By The Sea", a homey little hotel overlooking the Pacific, ruled with a rod of iron by Amanda herself.

Her fractious staff included Marty, her hotel management-graduate son; Arlene, his spoiled and citified wife; Earl, the excitable chef; and Aldo, the confused bellhop of indeterminate foreign extraction (that would be Manuel, then!).

Stories concerned burnt steaks, fussy guests, travel guide writers who had to be impressed, and the threatening banker, Mr Mundy, who was always about to foreclose on the hotel. In the last few episodes brother-in-law Zack showed up to meddle and to woo Amanda.

The US had another shot at a Fawlty Towers adaptation in 1999 with the lackluster Payne starring John Larroquette.