Could anyone have made a better replacement for Roger C. Carmel than Richard Deacon? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

jehobden · 04-16-2011, 10:54 PM

I've been watching The Mothers-in-Law on DVD in order, and I've gotten through Disc 6, 10 eps into Season 2. Evaluating Richard Deacon as Roger Buell, I see that he has the cheap moocher part of Roger Buell's personality down, but I don't see much more of Roger Buell, as Roger C. Carmel established the character. Deacon had the right to his own interpretation of Roger Buell, but I wonder if anyone else could've done better in the part. The first actor that I think of comparable with Carmel is Avery Schreiber, probably most for their somewhat simliar physical appearances. From what I saw of him on My Mother the Car, he had a good knack for broad comedy. Another contemporary actor who could've filled the bill maybe is Stanley Adams. I thought of him probably because, like Carmel, he played a comic character once on Star Trek. Does anyone else have any thoughts about this or anyone else who could've played Roger Buell better? Was Deacon adequate in his own interpretation? I'd love to know anyone's thoughts here.

1960'sTVfan · 04-21-2011, 09:05 PM

I agree Avery Shreiber would have been a better choice to replace Roger Carmel. Richard Deacon wasn't right for the role, he played it too bland and dull.

As far as the series goes, it started off good with the first half dozen or so episodes being pretty funny, but after that the laughs come less frequent. The episode The Great Bicycle Race was wasted, there was potential for that to be a great episode but the writers tanked it. Flaws aside I'm glad the show is out on DVD, I hadn't seen it since the original run and it brings back memories from a time I am fond of.

dakert · 05-27-2011, 10:33 PM

You can tell Kaye Ballard enjoyed working with Roger Carmel. I wish he would have just done one more (2nd) season

The guy from Law And Order SVU doesnt want to do a 13th season!!!

Marvo301 · 05-27-2011, 10:50 PM

I think anyone would have made a better replacement for Roger C. Carmel than Richard Deacon. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Richard Deacon and I thought he was great as Fred Rutherford On LITB and as Mel Cooley on TDVDS. I just think he was completely miscast as Roger Buell.

McGillicuddy · 05-28-2011, 12:10 AM

Wasn't Avery pretty much known for commercials for Doritos or Fritos or something??

Marvo301 · 05-28-2011, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markway895

Wasn't Avery pretty much know for commercials for Doritos or Fritos or something??

Avery Schreiber was a nightclub comedian who was part of a comedy team with Jack Burns. He was also an actor who had a regular role on "My Mother the Car" and also guest starred on dozens of other TV shows in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. He was also a frequent celebrity guest on game shows. And yes he did commercials as well. Including the Doritos commercials you mentioned.

jehobden · 08-03-2011, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Avery Schreiber was a nightclub comedian who was part of a comedy team with Jack Burns. He was also an actor who had a regular role on "My Mother the Car" and also guest starred on dozens of other TV shows in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. He was also a frequent celebrity guest on game shows. And yes he did commercials as well. Including the Doritos commercials you mentioned.

I just watched the MiL S2 ep, "And Baby Makes Four", recently, and Avery Schreiber made a guest appearance as a father of 6 girls expecting his 7th child. His character reminded me a bit of Charles Lane's expecting dad from ILL, but there was a different result this time.

m60tankdriver · 12-06-2011, 08:37 PM

Avery Schrieber as a replacement would have been interesting -- probably would have worked better than Richard Deacon. I vaguely remember the comedy team Burns & Schrieber, maybe from one of the variety shows of the day, such as the Smothers Brothers(?). And wasn't Jack Burns on the "Andy Griffith Show" for one season as a pompous deputy named "Warren"? Maybe the season after Don Knotts left the show?

I also remember Avery Schrieber in a Carefree Sugerless Gum commercial from the mid-70's, playing Abner Doubleday (the supposed inventor of baseball). He's in an old-tyme baseball uniform, and a gal says "Abner Doubleday -- you've discovered baseball!" to which he replies, "No, but something that's sure to be a hit" and holds up a pack of Carefree gum. I remember others from this ad campaign featured Ben Franklin (electricity), Isaac Newton (gravity), the Wright Brothers (flying), etc. -- and they always downplay their discovery in favor of discovering how great Carefree Sugarless Gum is!

jehobden · 12-14-2011, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m60tankdriver

Avery Schrieber as a replacement would have been interesting -- probably would have worked better than Richard Deacon. I vaguely remember the comedy team Burns & Schrieber, maybe from one of the variety shows of the day, such as the Smothers Brothers(?). And wasn't Jack Burns on the "Andy Griffith Show" for one season as a pompous deputy named "Warren"? Maybe the season after Don Knotts left the show?

I also remember Avery Schrieber in a Carefree Sugerless Gum commercial from the mid-70's, playing Abner Doubleday (the supposed inventor of baseball). He's in an old-tyme baseball uniform, and a gal says "Abner Doubleday -- you've discovered baseball!" to which he replies, "No, but something that's sure to be a hit" and holds up a pack of Carefree gum. I remember others from this ad campaign featured Ben Franklin (electricity), Isaac Newton (gravity), the Wright Brothers (flying), etc. -- and they always downplay their discovery in favor of discovering how great Carefree Sugarless Gum is!

I remember Burns & Schreiber appearing as a comedy team in the 70s as well, most likely as guests on other peoples' variety shows. One bit that I remember had Burns feeding information into Schreiber, who made computer noises, then pulling out one of Schreiber's moustache whiskers for the answer. Jack Burns did replace Don Knotts as Deputy Warren Ferguson for the 1965-66 (first color) season of TAGS, but he was gone by the end of that season and never replaced.
I remember that exact Carefree Sugarless Gum commercial as well including the girl's words there, though I did not remember that Schreiber played Doubleday or Doubleday's answer to her. I do not remember any of those other inventor commercials for Carefree though.

caladon · 04-26-2014, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I agree Avery Shreiber would have been a better choice to replace Roger Carmel. Richard Deacon wasn't right for the role, he played it too bland and dull.

I couldn't agree more; when I first saw the question Avery Schreiber was the first one to come to mind before I began reading the thread. He would've brought the same dynamic to the role that Roger Carmel did; along with his own special talents. It definitely would've been a less abrupt change to the role.

McGillicuddy · 04-26-2014, 10:10 PM

Avery Schreiber might have been considered too young to play Roger Buell. Schreiber was born n 1935, and Jerry Fogel, who played The Buells' son, Jerry, was born in 1936. They were already stretching it with Roger C. Carmel, born in 1932, playing the father of Jerry.

missy's pop pop · 04-27-2014, 11:17 AM

No disrespect intended, but Richard Deacon was at his best as Fred Rutherford on LITB and as Mel Cooley on TDVDS. He even parlayed that character (that dry persona) into numerous appearances on The Hollywood Squares and in a series of commercials for Thermador microwave ovens.

But as a "father-in-law?" Not quite.

04-16-2011, 10:54 PM	#1
jehobden Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 06, 2002 Location: DFW Area, TX Posts: 2,004	Could anyone have made a better replacement for Roger C. Carmel than Richard Deacon? I've been watching The Mothers-in-Law on DVD in order, and I've gotten through Disc 6, 10 eps into Season 2. Evaluating Richard Deacon as Roger Buell, I see that he has the cheap moocher part of Roger Buell's personality down, but I don't see much more of Roger Buell, as Roger C. Carmel established the character. Deacon had the right to his own interpretation of Roger Buell, but I wonder if anyone else could've done better in the part. The first actor that I think of comparable with Carmel is Avery Schreiber, probably most for their somewhat simliar physical appearances. From what I saw of him on My Mother the Car, he had a good knack for broad comedy. Another contemporary actor who could've filled the bill maybe is Stanley Adams. I thought of him probably because, like Carmel, he played a comic character once on Star Trek. Does anyone else have any thoughts about this or anyone else who could've played Roger Buell better? Was Deacon adequate in his own interpretation? I'd love to know anyone's thoughts here.

05-27-2011, 10:50 PM	#4
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,452	I think anyone would have made a better replacement for Roger C. Carmel than Richard Deacon. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Richard Deacon and I thought he was great as Fred Rutherford On LITB and as Mel Cooley on TDVDS. I just think he was completely miscast as Roger Buell.
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

05-28-2011, 12:10 AM	#5
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	Wasn't Avery pretty much known for commercials for Doritos or Fritos or something??
	Last edited by McGillicuddy; 04-26-2014 at 09:53 PM.

04-27-2014, 11:17 AM	#12
missy's pop pop Hooray for "Hazel!" Frequent Poster Join Date: Nov 19, 2013 Location: St. Louis Posts: 396	Leave Richard Deacon to Beaver No disrespect intended, but Richard Deacon was at his best as Fred Rutherford on LITB and as Mel Cooley on TDVDS. He even parlayed that character (that dry persona) into numerous appearances on The Hollywood Squares and in a series of commercials for Thermador microwave ovens. But as a "father-in-law?" Not quite.

04-21-2011, 09:05 PM	#2
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,055	I agree Avery Shreiber would have been a better choice to replace Roger Carmel. Richard Deacon wasn't right for the role, he played it too bland and dull. As far as the series goes, it started off good with the first half dozen or so episodes being pretty funny, but after that the laughs come less frequent. The episode The Great Bicycle Race was wasted, there was potential for that to be a great episode but the writers tanked it. Flaws aside I'm glad the show is out on DVD, I hadn't seen it since the original run and it brings back memories from a time I am fond of.

05-27-2011, 10:33 PM	#3
dakert Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: May 10, 2007 Location: Altoona PA Posts: 3,411	You can tell Kaye Ballard enjoyed working with Roger Carmel. I wish he would have just done one more (2nd) season The guy from Law And Order SVU doesnt want to do a 13th season!!!

12-06-2011, 08:37 PM	#8
m60tankdriver Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Aug 09, 2006 Location: fresno Posts: 13	Avery Schrieber as a replacement would have been interesting -- probably would have worked better than Richard Deacon. I vaguely remember the comedy team Burns & Schrieber, maybe from one of the variety shows of the day, such as the Smothers Brothers(?). And wasn't Jack Burns on the "Andy Griffith Show" for one season as a pompous deputy named "Warren"? Maybe the season after Don Knotts left the show? I also remember Avery Schrieber in a Carefree Sugerless Gum commercial from the mid-70's, playing Abner Doubleday (the supposed inventor of baseball). He's in an old-tyme baseball uniform, and a gal says "Abner Doubleday -- you've discovered baseball!" to which he replies, "No, but something that's sure to be a hit" and holds up a pack of Carefree gum. I remember others from this ad campaign featured Ben Franklin (electricity), Isaac Newton (gravity), the Wright Brothers (flying), etc. -- and they always downplay their discovery in favor of discovering how great Carefree Sugarless Gum is!

04-26-2014, 10:10 PM	#11
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	Avery Schreiber might have been considered too young to play Roger Buell. Schreiber was born n 1935, and Jerry Fogel, who played The Buells' son, Jerry, was born in 1936. They were already stretching it with Roger C. Carmel, born in 1932, playing the father of Jerry.