| Payne | |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Payne was a short-lived American television series, patterned after the British program Fawlty Towers. It starred American actor John Larroquette, who starred on the much-loved 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 of 1999. Nine episodes were filmed, only eight were aired.
Basic description
Payne was a remake of “Fawlty Towers” moved from Torquay England to central 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]
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.
