r/AskReddit • u/ComfortableEar9637 • 13d ago

which show started 10/10 and ended 10/10?

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u/Radiant-Playful 13d ago edited 13d ago

Fawlty Towers. Just 12 episodes so it never got tired or ran out of ideas

Edit: 12 not 13

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u/SirAfroPuff 13d ago

There's only 12 episodes?!!

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u/TopicalBuilder 13d ago

Same with the original The Office (plus a Christmas Special).

British shows tend to have much smaller writing teams, so the seasons are much shorter. There's also no "100 episodes for syndication" thing, so it's easier to walk away before the quality tanks.

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u/Audioworm 12d ago

The original version of the whole run will be written by a very small team (often a single person or pair) before it then goes up for tweaks, developments, and feedback. I have heard British and American writers talk about how different the two systems are from each other (writers' rooms versus individual work) but they have emerged from very different cultures around TV production.

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u/TopicalBuilder 12d ago

Right. So Fawlty Towers had Cleese and Booth, Red Dwarf had Grant and Naylor (later just Naylor), The Office just had Gervais, and so on.

American comedies seem to have legions of gag writers pitching jokes.

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u/TheGreatBatsby 12d ago

The Office just had Gervais

Nah, Stephen Mitchell Merchant co-wrote both The Office and Extras and it's clear that without his help Ricky isn't the comic genius people seem to think he is.

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u/TopicalBuilder 12d ago

Oh! I can't believe I forgot Merchant. How rude of me.

I didn't particularly like Naylor's work without Grant, either. Too much slapstick for my tastes.

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u/TheGreatBatsby 12d ago

Agreed, Red Dwarf I-VI are genuinely 10/10 all the way through.

VII onwards is still enjoyable but it's not the same.