Amazon.com
Basil Fawlty, as created and performed by John Cleese, is the rudest, most boorish, most hilariously obnoxious man on the face of the planet. What a natural for a TV sitcom! His screen wife, Sybil (Prunella Scales), put it best in the episode “The Psychiatrist”: “You’re either crawling all over them, licking their boots, or spitting poison at them like some Benzedrine puff adder.” He mockingly replies, “Just trying to enjoy myself, dear.” With his gangly frame and contortionist abilities, Cleese brilliantly punctuates Basil’s outrageous faux pas with absurd gymnastics and turns Three Stooges-style pokes and kicks into a slapstick ballet. Scales’s Sybil is the genial but obliviously chatty voice of reason and Andrew Sachs mangles the English language as the Spanish bellhop Manuel, whose struggles with simple directions results in comic lunacy reminiscent of Robert Benigni. After a six-episode run in 1975, Cleese and cowriter and costar Connie Booth (who plays Polly, the maid all too often pulled into Basil’s ridiculous plans) reunited the cast in 1979 for another six episodes without missing a punch line. The four-volume collection contains all 12 shows, interspersed with interview segments featuring Cleese discussing the genesis of the series and anecdotes about the individual episodes. Remember to watch the opening credits of each show to spot the creative misspellings on the hotel sign (my favorite: “Fatty Owls”). –Sean Axmaker

Fawlty Towers – The Complete Collection

Description
Clever sleuthing has led you to treasure: the very first season of What’s New Scooby-Doo? Enjoy all 13 episodes of spoofy hilarity and mystery with the crime-busting gang –from scary snowboarding in There’s No Creature Like Snow Creature to the season finale The Unnatural, with the voices of real-life baseball greats Mike Piazza and Luis Santiago. As Scooby-Doo fans know, popular stars often lend their vocal talents in such takeoffs as Riva Ras Regas (co-starring teen pop singer Lindsay Pagano) and American pop idol JC Chasez from super group *NSYNC. But everyone knows who the biggest heartthrob of the show is really…who else? Scooby-Doo!Amazon.com
Mystery, suspense, and crazy chases abound as Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo renew their commitment to solving mysteries in this 2002 sequel to the original 1969 Scooby Doo television series. Marking a return to the mystery gang’s initial five members after several seasons that included additional characters like Scooby-Dum and Scrappy, the What’s New, Scooby-Doo series plays much like the original series despite being animated by Warner Brothers Television Animation rather than Hanna-Barbera. Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo show some signs of maturation and growth since their inception, but the mystery gang is essentially still the same quirky, tight-knit group that stumbles inadvertently into one mystery after another and plunges in to investigate and unmask the villain(s) behind each strange happening. What’s new in this 2002 series is the gang’s utilization of high-tech gadgets like global positioning devices and laptop computers (though they still drive the same old mystery van) and their foes’ crafty use of technological innovations like wireless remote controls and virtual reality gear. Add in updated popular music and guest stars like baseball great Mike Piazza and teen pop singer Lindsay Pagano and What’s New, Scooby-Doo becomes attractive to a whole new generation of fans. The thirteen episodes in season one span the globe from icy snowboarding slopes to the jungles of Costa Rica, glitzy hotels of Las Vegas, and a game preserve in Africa. Bonus features include bloopers and a bonus 2005 episode “A Scooby-Doo Valentine” that stars NSYNC’s J.C. Chasez. (Ages 5 and older) –Tami Horiuchi

What’s New, Scooby-Doo? – The Complete First Season