Payne (TV series)

Payne
Opening title
Created by	Judd Pilot John Peaslee
Starring	John Larroquette JoBeth Williams Julie Benz Rick Batalla
Composer(s)	Scott Van Zen Chris Wagner
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9 (1 unaired)
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Big Phone Productions Port Street Films Studios USA Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	March 15 – April 28, 1999

Payne is an American sitcom based after the British program Fawlty Towers. It starred American John Larroquette, who was also an executive producer for the series.

Payne was a mid-season replacement on CBS and aired in March and April 1999. The show also starred JoBeth Williams, Julie Benz and Rick Batalla. Despite fairly positive reception, and receiving the blessing of John Cleese, who agreed to take a recurring role as the antagonistic rival hotelier if the show was renewed, Payne was quickly cancelled. Nine episodes were filmed; eight were aired.

Basic description

Payne was a remake of Fawlty Towers, though set in this version at an ambiguous location on the coast of California, as opposed to Torquay, England, in Fawlty Towers. The action takes place at the Whispering Pines Inn, owned and operated by Royal Payne and his wife, Constance. Royal was always trying to improve the quality of his hotel and eventually franchise the place, in search of immortal legendary status as a hotelier, like Hilton or Waldorf.

The pilot episode, "Pacific Ocean Duck" (which actually aired fifth in sequence), merged the plots of the Fawlty Towers episodes "Gourmet Night" and "The Hotel Inspectors".^[1][2][3]

Characters

JoBeth Williams & John Larroquette as Connie and Royal Payne

• Royal Payne (John Larroquette) – Inspired by Basil Fawlty, Royal had an overpowering obsession (not unlike Basil’s generally obsessive behavior) with keeping up with a rival hotel called the Sand Dune, located just a short distance up the road. His schemes to do so cheaply or overly simply were the source of many of his problems. The viewer was given the impression that the only reason Whispering Pines ever had any guests at all was that it was in a popular resort area and the far superior Sand Dune was nearly always full. Payne like Basil is guilty of false economy and rudeness.
• Constance (Connie) Payne (JoBeth Williams) – The antagonistic dynamic between Connie and Royal was also nearly identical to that between Sybil and Basil with one distinct exception: their sex life was apparently extremely vibrant and healthy, whereas Basil and Sybil's was implied to be repressed, (though Basil does claim 2 or 3 times a week in the episode "The Psychiatrist", although this is most likely untrue). Connie’s gossip sessions on the telephone with her friends (a Sybil Fawlty characteristic) invariably had her bragging about how fantastic Royal was in bed, implying that this was why she continued to tolerate him. Since Royal had a Basil-like sense of embarrassment, this caused him enormous consternation. She is no doubt named for Connie Booth, who played the maid, Polly, in Fawlty Towers and who co-wrote the show with her then-husband, Cleese.
• Breeze O’Rourke (Julie Benz) – A waitress/chambermaid, based on Polly in Fawlty Towers. One difference between Breeze and Polly was that Breeze was staunchly proud that she was a virgin, "saving herself for marriage". Otherwise, Breeze was, like Polly, intelligent, efficient, and repeatedly saving Royal from his own incompetence.
• Mo (Rick Batalla) – A bellhop from India, Mo is essentially modeled on the Manuel character in Fawlty Towers.

Episodes

Episodes aired in the UK on the ITV network soon after the series run. Episode 8 was also broadcast in the UK unlike CBS.

References

External links

• Episode guide
• Publicity photos
• Payne on IMDb
• Payne at TV.com