Payne (TV series)
| Payne | |
|---|---|
 Opening titles |
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| Format | Sitcom |
| Starring | John Larroquette JoBeth Williams Julie Benz Rick Batalla |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 9 (only the first eight have aired) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | March 15, 1999 – April 28, 1999 |
Payne is an American television series, patterned after the British program Fawlty Towers. It starred American actor John Larroquette, who portrayed assistant district attorney Dan Fielding on the American television program Night Court. Larroquette 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. Nine episodes were filmed; eight were aired.
Contents |
[edit] Basic description
Payne was a remake of Fawlty Towers moved from Torquay, England, to an ambiguous location on the coast of California. The action takes place at the Whispering Pines Inn, owned and operated by Royal Payne and his wife Constance Payne.
The pilot episode merged the plots of the Fawlty Towers episodes "Gourmet Night" and "The Hotel Inspectors".[1][2]
[edit] Characters
Royal Payne (John Larroquette) - Was 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 much superior Sand Dune was nearly always full.
Constance (Connie) Payne (JoBeth Williams) – Based on Sybil Fawlty. 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. Connie’s gossip sessions on the telephone with her friends (a Sybil Fawlty characteristic) invariably eventually had her bragging about how fantastic Royal was in bed, and implying that this was why she continued to tolerate him. Since Royal had a Basil-like sense of embarrassment, this caused him enormous consternation.
Breeze O’Rourke (Julie Benz) – The “Polly” character. One difference between Breeze and Polly was that Breeze was staunchly proud that she was a virgin. She was “saving herself for marriage”. Otherwise, Breeze was Polly: intelligent, efficient, and repeatedly saving Royal from his own incompetence.
Mo (Rick Batalla) – Mo was essentially Manuel, except that he was from India rather than Spain.
[edit] Episode titles
| No. | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The J. Edgar Hoover Pin Story" | 1999 March 15 |
| 2 | "Sexual Intercom" | 1999 March 17 |
| 3 | "Whatever Happened to Baby Payne?" | 1999 March 24 |
| 4 | "Gossip Checks In and a Cat Checks Out" | 1999 March 31 |
| 5 | "Pacific Ocean Duck" | 1999 April 7 |
| 6 | "Trouble in Room 206" | 1999 April 14 |
| 7 | "I Never Forget a Face-Lift" | 1999 April 21 |
| 8 | "Wedding Fever" | 1999 April 28 |
| 9 | "Uncle Royal and Aunt Connie" | (Unaired) |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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