History YMMV / FawltyTowers

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The use of broad humour based on obnoxious behavior, slapstick, and shock has been so influential that the series may seem a bit stale to some modern viewers. Of course, just as many will argue that, while often imitated, nobody could hope to do better.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: The Major's cheerfully casual racism ''really'' shouldn't be funny, but... yeah.
--> I took her to see India at the Oval... and the strange thing was that throughout the morning she kept referring to the Indians as 'niggers'! No, no, ''no'', I said. ''Niggers'' are the ''West'' Indians. ''These'' people are '''WOGS!'''
** His ''entire'' bit of dunking on the German guests after his head injury, which culminates in him goose-stepping about while doing an UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler impression. What ''especially'' makes it so funny is the German people's entirely real reaction to it rather than acting like the same comical and stereotypical buffoons Basil and the rest of the hotel staff normally act like: they're horrified, one poor lady keeps bursting into tears, and the rest do their best to try and put up with it before finally angrily demanding he stop.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In "Basil the Rat", most of the shots of Manuel's pet "filligree Siberian hamster" used a real rat, videotaped separately from the main action and edited in. In a scene where the rat scurries across the floor it's obviously a model pulled by a nylon cord, but the main effects failure occurs in the final scene in which the rat pops its head out of a biscuit tin that Polly is presenting to the health inspector. In this scene the rat is a very unconvincing puppet with a rotating head which is operated from beneath the tin by Connie Booth. In a way, the bad effects only make the scene all the funnier.

** Creator/JohnCleese and Connie Booth were already reluctant to do the second series because they were afraid the expectations would've been too high to satisfy, and refused to do any more episodes after that for the same reason.

* CatharsisFactor: The ending of "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS2E4TheKipperAndTheCorpse The Kipper and the Corpse]]" where Basil escapes his usual comeuppance and Sybil is left to deal with all the consequences.
* Following Mr. Hutchinson's superior attitude, rudeness towards Polly and physical abuse of Basil, his receiving a pie in the face and briefcase ks extremely satisfying, and one of the few times Basil shows affection towards Manuel.

** Torquay has embraced the show as part of its legacy. When the renovated Gleneagles re-opened in 2006, Prunella Scales attended the ceremony as a special guest. When the Gleneagles closed and was demolished in 2015, another Torquay hotel took on the name Fawlty Towers. The Gleneagles was replaced by a retirement apartment complex named Sachs Lodge after Creator/AndrewSachs, and there's a plaque noting the connection to the show.

** Mr. Leeman from "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS2E4TheKipperAndTheCorpse The Kipper and the Corpse]]" is played by Creator/DerekRoyle, who would later be best known for playing the second [=LeClerc=] in ''Series/AlloAllo''.

** The Sister from "[[Recap/FawtyTowersS1E6TheGermans The Germans]]" is played by Creator/BrendaCowling, who would later be best known for playing Mrs. Lipton in ''Series/YouRangMLord''.
** Mr. Leeman from "[[Recap/TheKipperAndTheCorpse The Kipper and the Corpse]]" is played by Creator/DerekRoyle, who would later be best known for playing the second [=LeClerc=] in ''Series/AlloAllo''.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The Sister from "[[Recap/FawtyTowersS1E6TheGermans The Germans]]" is played by Creator/BrendaCowling, who would later be best known for playing Mrs. Lipton in ''Series/YouRangMLord''.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc Man hits car with branch.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Creator/DavidKelly appears in "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS1E2TheBuilders The Builders]]" for six minutes, as the builder O'Reilly. Andrew Sachs claims that those six minutes of David Kelly are just about all that fans of the show ever talk to him about. The six minutes also follow David Kelly more than anything else he's ever done.

** Torquay has embraced the show as part of its legacy. When the renovated Gleneagles re-opened in 2006, Prunella Scales attended the ceremony as a special guest. When the Gleneagles closed and was demolished in 2015, another Torquay hotel took on the name Fawlty Towers. The Gleneagles was replaced by a retirement apartment complex named Sachs Lodge after Andrew Sachs, and there's a plaque noting the connection to the show.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: One of the best scenes in the whole series is where Manuel sets fire to the kitchen [[HilarityEnsues during a fire drill]] in "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS1E6TheGermans The Germans]]". The real building (for exteriors, anyway) burned down in 1991.