I am torn. I used to hold Fawlty Towers as my number 2 comedy of all time. (the no. 1 spot is taken) and it has maintained this spot for many years.
Only a few months ago I was introduced to Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister for the first time. I cannot believe how good this show is. So much so that it is now trying to take the no. 2 spot. I really can't decide which is better; Fawlty Towers or Yes Minister?
Def.
They're different sorts of shows so it's hard to compare. For full on laugh out loud comedy I'd go for Fawlty Towers. In fact for belly laughs, I'd put Fawlty Towers above every other comedy out there.
They're so different, though. It's like comparing spanners and grapes. Yes Minister works perfectly as a radio series (better even, as Paul Eddington did occasionally lapse into mugging), but you need to see Basil Fawlty's face as he hands the inspector a biscuit tin containing a rat.
Well done on finding Yes Minister, though. I used to listen to the BBC radio collection cassettes in bed and actually wore out the tapes.
I love Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister. But I actually love The Thick Of It more.
So... yeah, that still doesn't answer the question of whether Fawlty Towers is better or not.
A very, very hard choice. Both shows are sublime. I find it impossible to choose between my favourite comedies, because they all have so many merits. I love the slapstick, farcical nature of Fawlty Towers, but then Yes Minister (and Yes, Prime Minister) is just so, so clever without being inaccessible. The latter two have such well crafted dialogue as well... Can't you rate them equally?
Quote: zooo @ July 3 2008, 2:52 PM BSTI love Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister. But I actually love The Thick Of It more.
Heeeeeeeeeeathen!
Aw bless, you put the italics in!
The Thick Of It is a mere pretender to the political sitcom crown! BAH.
Nah, it is the usurper.
Quote: zooo @ July 3 2008, 2:55 PM BSTAw bless, you put the italics in!
Heh, another weakness. 
Of course, you missed Fawlty Towers...
Yes Minister was very funny and to a point truthful, but it as had an unfortunate legacy. This was a series that changed the way people thought about politicians and civil servants, and changed the way politicians thought about civil servants. As Adam Curtis pointed out in The Trap, and as Anthony Jay has himself confirmed, the series was propaganda for public choice economics. The idea promoted by the series was that both politicians and civil servants acted solely in their own self-interest, and that disinterested public service is a myth. Obviously there is some truth that no-one is entirely blind to their own self-interest, but integrity and a sense of duty do exist. This was denied by the proponents of public choice economics, who promoted the culture of measurable targets and financial incentives that has dominated public life over the past twenty years, with disastrous results. It has also promoted the myth that civil servants are deliberately obstructive rather than objective in pointing out potential pitfalls based on past experience, a myth bought into by Tony Blair in his "scars on my back' speech. The result is that the traditional role of the civil service of "speaking truth unto power" has been replaced by a can-do culture, in which the way to get on is to tell ministers what they want to hear. Officials know that flagship policies are bound to failure, but anyone who speaks out is off-message and has his card marked.
The Yes... series has some of the finest writing I have ever heard. They have recently overtaken ALL as my favourite sitcom of all time, partly because it seems as relevant now as it always was. The dialogue was so superb that there was very little visual humour at all, something now that seems to be frowned upon in the industry
Has anyone noticed that BSG member Harry Fielder actually appeared on Fawlty Towers?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276092/
...as uncredited 'man with basket' in the Kipper and the Corpse. 
Hard choice as both are fantastic.
I can't believe you've only just discovered Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister! If this is the case, then I doubt you can make a sensible choice until you've watched them a few times and have a bit more perspective on it. It's likely to seem fresher and funnier than anything else as it is new to you for a while.
Both great, but in differnet ways. What was your no. 1 Deferenz? Porridge?