SEVENTIES SITCOMS 1974-1975: THE BIRTH OF MUST-SEE TV

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When Rhoda Morgenstern left Mary Richards and Minneapolis to visit her family in the Bronx, little did she know it would result in her own series, a marriage, a divorce, and the second highest rated episode of weekly television up to that time. When an actor turned producer tried to create a TV series for Cheech and Chong, little did he know it would become about an old white man taking in a half-Hungarian Chicano and make TV history. When a simple pilot about the domestic life of a cop aired, the parent network had no clue that it would turn into one of the most heralded ensemble set pieces of the decade. When the neighbors of the most-followed family on TV moved “on up” to a new neighborhood, little did they know they would be around for over ten years.

Such is the 1974-1975 season. The first season where the seventies stood on its own with no remnants of the innocent and naive comedies of the past. And there were many “sitcoms” airing without laugh tracks or audiences and many would wish that the doctors of “M*A*S*H” had followed suit in that department.

A BADGE OF HONOR, A BARRAGE OF LAUGHS

As ABC was still coping with it's giving up of Archie Bunker and the Lear juggernaut, it tried again this season to emulate the videotaped, urban milieu that it entailed. January of this season saw two attempts.

First, ABC actually snagged Lear with the highly publicized "Hot L Baltimore" with it's on air warning and menagerie of stock controversial oddballs and malcontents. By now, as you will see later with "Fay," audiences were not interested in shock.



Then ABC snagged John Rich, the veteran sitcom director who helmed most episodes of "All in the Family" to recreate his magic. He worked with Danny Arnold, producer of "That Girl" to come up with the perfect urban nightmare-comedy to complement the dysfunctional Bunker household. The domestic life of a Brooklyn cop--gritty and topical. And a Jewish cop at that just to add to the flavor. There was a lot of testing and lots of opinions about this show and it was almost never to be. But Arnold persisted (Rich left after the first episode--see "On the Rocks" next season) and created the perfect tapestry for the angsty humor of 1970's New York. It didn't take long for the aforementioned captain Barney Miller (Hal Linden) to ditch the "family with kids" element and focus on his fellow cops and collars in the 12th precinct. Much like Lear, the characters were richly drawn and acted, the situations topical and outrageous. But more like the MTM output most of the humor--even amidst bombastic deliberations and catastrophes--was subtle and full of humanity. The gentle and nuanced performance of Linden--no stereotypical Jewish caricature typical in film and theater--was the perfect antidote to his quirky fellow cops and the criminally neurotic visitors to the squadroom. It was almost like "Green Acres" moved to the city and got hooked on quaaludes.

Arnold was a perfectionist, often keeping the cast working through late hours doing script rewrites up to the final shot. Thus the studio audience was eventually shelved and each finely sculpted episode would be screened to an appreciative audience. Thus the show would seem twice removed from the audience in it's later years--the immediacy lessened. But not the quality. And also to avoid the bright fake look of a taped studio set, Arnold hired a master cameraman to filter the image and manipulate the set colors--grimy and green--to add authenticity to that squad room. And the series hardly left that squad room. With the exception of a few episodes, the series was basically a weekly three act play on the same stage--but without the staginess. Sort of a precursor to MTM's groundbreaking "Hill Street Blues" in terms of dark humor in the world of law and order, this series was often referenced by law enforcement personnel as the most realistic cop show of all. Quite high praise.

For some reason, this series would never capture many awards at Emmy time. It was a perfect example of a unheralded gem. It would ride on the coat-tales of ABC’s ratings bonanza in later years but you ask anyone who remembers the show and they will smile and nod in recognition of a long-ago era of quality understated programming.

NOTABLE PREMIERES:



Barney Miller (ABC). The pilot of this series, airing the previous season, titled "The Life and Times of Barney Miller” dealt with the family life of a Greenwich Village police detective captain played by stage actor Hal Linden. The police station was just one of the settings with the nearly retired Phil Fish (Abe Vigoda) being the only holdover. The series premiere episode mid season would also feature his wife and two kids prominently with his station cohorts. After that first episode, the series pretty much took place in that one studio set complete with a jail cell and Barney’s office. One of the few shows that the squad room aired this season when some of the crew performed a stakeout in an apartment building.



Danny Arnold (“That Girl”) created this classic comedy series with quality in mind. Audiences were lucky that he decided early on to forgo the family element and focus on the zany cops. The first season introduced us to the ethnic stew of a crack cast: the aforementioned Fish (resigned and still-alive, awaiting retirement); Chano (hotheaded and impulsive, a Serpico-type); Yemana (laconic and droll, the coffee maker); Wojo (a bit slow yet capable, a playboy); and Harris (self-assured and classy, writing his crime novel).

Classic episodes would be coming out the gate this first season, setting the tone. The very first show had a drug addict take the station house hostage. Following that: a flasher attempts suicide; Wojo harasses a prostitute; Chano kills two robbers; police corruption and mafia ties are explored. These themes were dealt with honestly and the comedy came from the characters and their interactions with each other and the visitors, never at the expense of a perpetrator’s vulnerabilities. Many law enforcement professionals felt that Captain Miller and his crew represented the most authentic cops on TV to this day. Just real guys doing their job with a camaraderie laced with wit and affection.

A pre-"Alice" Linda Lavin would make appearances as the lone female detective this year and James Gregory would debut his expert characterization as the hilarious Inspector Luger. Although, Barney’s apartment would never be revisited after the premiere, his practical wife Liz (Barbara Barrie) would make many precinct visits through the year.