Does she have a date with a Python?

Is this a scam? Not long ago a young woman knocked on a family's door in western New York state and asked for a donation toward raising $5,000 for a trip to England, where she'd appear with John Cleese on a program that PBS supposedly will air Oct. 17, reports Kansas City Star critic/blogger Aaron Barnhart. But a couple of her statements sounded fishy, including the claim that Cleese worked on Upstairs Downstairs. What's up with this? Barnhart's e-mail address.