re: The Secret of Fawlty Towers
I was right!
http://www.geocities.com/TvPilotGuy/fawltytowers.html
There were at least two attempts to reproduce this tv series for American audiences. In the first (Named "Snavely") only a pilot was produced and the program was not picked up. The second one ("Amanda's") only lasted for 6 episodes in 1983. It's no great surprise to Fawlty Towers fans why the tv series didn't last! They wrote out the part of Basil!
This is like the Hollywood guy who wanted to take the butterfly out of A Sound of Thunder!