Barney Miller 4.2 Terrific dramatic performance from Abe Vigoda…

Barney Miller 4.2

Terrific dramatic performance from Abe Vigoda in his final episode as a series regular.

• There are two high-points in this episode. First, Vigoda’s performance as Fish tries/fails to come to terms with his impending retirement. The one-on-one with Barney is particularly good. It plays like a scene from a drama. And it really works.
• Second, the character farewells at the end are heartfelt and powerful. It really fells like they all mean every word. And it is genuinely touching.
• Fish was the best character on the show in these early years, so it made sense to spin him off into his own series. And while I will miss him for the remaining seasons, I’m glad this meant we got a proper ‘goodbye’ for the character.
• The rest of the episode is nothing special, however. There’s a b-story about a man who thinks there are clones everywhere, but other than being played for some obvious laughs it serves no purpose except filler.
• Even the Fish-storyline, which is good, takes too long to get up to steam. The first half of the episode keeps hitting the same beat over and over, and the viewer does grow impatient.
• James Gregory was funny here and Luger was well used in the script.

8/10

Barney Miller 4.1 Standout performance from Stanley Brock, in a…

Barney Miller 4.1

Standout performance from Stanley Brock, in a downbeat and sobering story about vigilantism.

• The best thing here is Brock’s performance as the arrogant, cocky guy who puts up posters offering a reward for anyone who shoots a criminal. But, across the board, the guest cast are strong.
• The story moves quite slowly, getting bogged down in the middle with a lot of repetitive shouting back and forth between Rosten and Cotterman. But the silence that descends – upon news arriving, from the hospital, of the man’s death – is quality drama.

8/10

Need to catch up on my Classic TV :)

Need to catch up on my Classic TV 🙂

The first season of Man From Atlantis consisted of four movies….

• The first season of Man From Atlantis consisted of four movies. These aired on different days of the week in March, May and June of 1977. But when the series returned a regular series later that year, with one-hour episodes, it was scheduled on Thursdays after CHiPs. This was reasonably tough time-slot, as it was airing against hit shows like Barney Miller on ABC and Hawaii Five-O on CBS. However, Mark Harris only had two adventures on Thursdays because another show on the Fall Schedule was about to get cancelled.
• One week before MFA made it’s debut, NBC launched The Richard Pryor Show on Tuesdays against ABC’s Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley (the two most-watched shows on TV at the time). Pryor and the network fought over control of the show and only four episodes were made. At which point, NBC decided to move MFA to Tuesdays at 8 (starting October 18th) and give it’s Thursday time-slot to James At 15 instead.
• 7 episodes of Man From Atlantis aired in the Tuesday slot against ABC’s mega-hits and a short-lived CBS drama series called
  The Fitzpatricks. And, early the following Summer, MFA returned to this slot for the final four all-new episodes.

The first season of Man From Atlantis consisted of four movies….

• The first season of Man From Atlantis consisted of four movies. These aired on different days of the week in March, May and June of 1977. But when the series returned a regular series later that year, with one-hour episodes, it was scheduled on Thursdays after CHiPs. This was reasonably tough time-slot, as it was airing against hit shows like Barney Miller on ABC and Hawaii Five-O on CBS. However, Mark Harris only had two adventures on Thursdays because another show on the Fall Schedule was about to get cancelled.
• One week before MFA made it’s debut, NBC launched The Richard Pryor Show on Tuesdays against ABC’s Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley (the two most-watched shows on TV at the time). Pryor and the network fought over control of the show and only four episodes were made. At which point, NBC decided to move MFA to Tuesdays at 8 (starting October 18th) and give it’s Thursday time-slot to James At 15 instead.
• 7 episodes of Man From Atlantis aired in the Tuesday slot against ABC’s mega-hits and a short-lived CBS drama series called
  The Fitzpatricks. And, early the following Summer, MFA returned to this slot for the final four all-new episodes.

Made myself another wallpaper. The classic shows I’ve been…

Made myself another wallpaper. The classic shows I’ve been watching so far this year.

Barney Miller 3.22

Part two of the strike story makes for another superb episode, with a terrific guest performance from Peggy Pope. All the regulars raise their game, and the script is magnificent: dramatic and deadly serious, yet as funny as the show has ever been. 10/10

Barney Miller 3.21

Superb! An issue-driven story, with a lot of character conflict. And a real sense of how loyal the men are to Barney. 10/10

Barney Miller 3.20

James Cromwell. No laughs, and a couple of stories that go nowhere. Three of the cast members from Fish do appear, that’s something. And we get to see Abe Vigoda in a dress. 6/10

Barney Miller 3.19

David Clennon. A good story, and a few quality laughs. Also gets points for making two characters in two stories gay. 9/10