How could I forget? Definitely one of the most socially conscious and forthright TV shows I’ve ever seen. We could use a lot more shows like All In The Family.
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Sadly, I don’t think much has changed.
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I bet you thought I forgot about this.
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This is a long post. Feel free to bookmark it and read it over a few days.
Car 54 Where are You — Justifying the Appreciation of a Silly TV Show
Overture
There’s a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn’s broken out in fights.
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem
That’s backed up to Jackson Heights.
There’s a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild.
Car 54, Where Are You?
A little about the show
“Car54 Where are You?” ran for two seasons between 1961 and 1963. It was created and produced by Nat Henkin shortly before he worked himself to death. This show was Henkin’s next project after he wrapped up production on another favorite show of mine, “the Phil Silvers Show.”
The show takes place in the 53rd Precinct up in the Bronx. The Bronx was then, as it is now, a place where no one goes unless they have to. The two primary characters are Officers Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon, played by Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne. Toody and Muldoon are uniformed officers who patrol their sector in the eponymous car 54. Gunther Toody is short and stocky, the older of the two, married, and could best be described as an enthusiastic numbskull. Francis Muldoon is younger, very tall, very thin, lives at home with his mother and sister, and although more in touch with reality than Toody he can still be caught short and be quite foolish.
Wait a minute. The story takes place in the Bronx? Muldoon lives in a large victorian home with his mother? The theme song is sung by a barbershop-type quartet? I think “Car 54 Where Are You?” takes place in the MCU — the “Marty” Cinematic Universe.
The show is pleasant. This is a police force you would want protecting and serving you. Basically, “Car 54 Where are You” is, in every detail, the exact opposite of “Serpico.”
The Show and My Perception of its Existence
I don’t know when I first heard of “Car 54 Where Are You?” It’s a title that crept into into my consciousness without my being aware of it. Based on the name alone, I always imagined it was one of those silly TV comedies from the 60s that I knew existed but didn’t think too much about — like “My Mother the Car” or “F-Troop.” If I ever thought about it at all, I only knew it as “the failed show Fred Gwynne was in before he was Herman Munster.”
While flipping through the channels one evening a couple of years ago, I finally had an encounter with an episode of of “Car 54 Where Are You?” The episode was half-way through, and I only saw about five minutes of it, but I was immediately impressed.
It was on one of those new digital channels — something like Antenna TV or Decades. The episode was about Toody and Muldoon realizing that they were becoming too much like each other. In a huff they went their separate ways at the end of the day, determined to revive their individuality. But every absurd and extreme attempt they made to out-think the other was met with absurd failure, because they were both out-thinking each other in exactly the same way.
To tell a joke, you have to know how to set it up and then deliver it, and I could tell the writers clearly understood what they were doing. There was a joke, followed by another joke, followed by a few more, all of which were quite amusing, then these little pieces of humor came together and laid the foundation for a big laugh.
Now that I have actually seen it, I am aware that it is undeniably a very silly show. And that’s the best word to describe it: silly. But a TV show can be more than it appears to be on the surface — consider for a minute “WKRP in Cincinnati.” That is, I would say, a very childish show. But it’s a childish that deals with very adult issues. “Car 54 Where Are You?” is deceptively deep in that too. It’s a silly end result, but it’s humor is generated in a very intelligent way.
So I found that the show was smart, but that was not the only thing about it that made it special.
The Positive Bronx Influence
One thing that sets “Car 54 Where Are You” apart from its contemporary shows is where it was made. By the early 1960s most US TV production had moved to Hollywood, but “Car 54 Where Are You” was filmed at the Biograph Studios in the Bronx. Being produced in the Bronx allowed the show to draw talent, and attitude, from a New York rather than a Hollywood talent pool.
This led to the show being more diverse than west coast television was at the time. The members of the 53rd Precinct were played by such people as Frederick O’Neal and his partner by Hank Garnet. Al Lewis and Ossie Davis were fellow officers. Nipsey Russell is usually seen running the swithboard. They all mixed as equals in the locker room, dealing with absurd situations together.
Diversity was never mentioned, it was just a matter of fact.
And, tangentially-related to its east coast production, let me just say its great to see Al Lewis without the Grandpa Munster makeup. It’s hard to believe he was so young! He’s marvelously exasperated by everything that happens. His character, Leo Schnauser, is married Sylvia Schnauser, played by Charlotte Rae. She imagines herself to be an intellectual, bohemian artist and takes everything very seriously. They make a great combination.
A few notable episodes
This is the first episode I saw. “A Man is Not an Ox.” A marvelous bit of absurdity. Don’t miss the ending.
Officers Toody and Muldoon are given a highly educated rookie to take along in Car 54. This throws off their police work because for the first time Muldoon has someone with whom he can hold an intellectual conversation. A great episode and interesting time capsule of both high-brow and popular culture.
This is just a great episode. The pretext of a story is that the 53rd Precinct is throwing a Christmas party and have invited friends, family, and everyone in the neighborhood. In reality, the cast of the show get a chance to show off what other talents they have. If you like Gilbert and Sullivan, you need to see this. Carl Ballentine does a magic act. Joe E. Ross sings while Fred Gwynne plays guitar. Alice Ghostley sings a funny torch song. And it has a remarkably touching non-ending worthy of “Homicide: Life on the Street."
The 53rd Precinct Whippoorwills are contestants in the City Employees’ Annual Barbershop Quartet Contest. Celebrity judge Jan Murray is slowly driven insane because he can’t escape the “Boom-Booms.” Notice that this does not use canned laughter, the audience reactions are live and, by the sound of it, involve a lot of children.
Real estate in New York City — it’s a story that never changes or improves. The Toodies are paying $45 a month for their five-room apartment, but can’t get any repairs done because the landlord is trying to force them to pay more rent or leave. You feel you know where this story is going a few times, but then it changes and goes in directions you didn’t see coming.
Molly Picon guest-stars in, and owns, this episode as a nice grandmother who will not leave her condemned apartment building to make room for new approaches to the George Washington Bridge. Al Lewis makes his first appearance in the show as an exasperated construction manager.
Molly Picon is back as the same character, in an episode that is a mirror image of her first appearance. She’s been promised a lease in a new housing development and moves in despite the fact that the project is far behind schedule. By the end of the episode she has managed to force changes to the project that make it more livable.
This episode is a graphic illustration of the growing frustration with the “towers in a park” concept of “urban renewal” that was then so popular with city theorists. “The Death and Life of Cities” was published just the previous year. It was at this time that city residents inspired by Jane Jacobs began to stand-up to people who advocated “slum clearance” like Robert Moses.
Molly Picon teaching a Yiddish song to Toody and Muldoon is just an added bonus. As is an early appearance of Charles Nelson Reilly soon after winning a Tony for his part in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
How often were Bar Mitzvahs on TV in the 60s? Joel Pokrass’ Bar Mitzvah is coming soon and there’s one problem: his father is the most hated man in the Bronx and everyone refuses to attend. Toody and Muldoon go out of their way to make sure there is a large turnout.
Basketball. A rabbi and priest who are buddies. A diverse group of kids who help Joel with his Hebrew lessons. This is a very Bronx episode.
There are a couple of great episodes could not find, which you should lookout for:
“The White Elephant”
Captain Block os bemoaning the fact that there isn’t enough crime in his precinct. There is a vacant store front in the area that is considered to have bad luck due to a long line of failed businesses. A group of criminals rents it pretending to be setting-up a diner, but actually they plan on breaking into the bank next door. It will be a big heist.
Toody and Muldoon want to do their part to help this new diner get off the ground. While on duty they, and other officers from the precinct, help with setting up the business. The criminals don’t want to break their cover, so they go along with it. The food the criminals start making is terrible because they have no idea what they’re doing. This just makes Toody and Muldoon help them even more.
Eventually the criminals’ diner is so successful they forget all about their plans to rob the bank. Captain Block still bemoans the fact that there isn’t enough crime in his precinct.
“142 Tickets on the Aisle.”
Finding an outing for the members of the 53rd Precinct and their families is always problematic — there’s always something that someone can object to. But they think they have found the lowest common denominator, a failing Broadway show called “Little Miss Pilgrim” that is so bland it practically doesn’t even exist.
They trouble is, word gets around that the police are investigating the show and it develops a lurid reputation. The show suddenly becomes so popular that the 53rd Precinct is no longer able to buy tickets to see it.
Charlotte Rea is wonderful as the always melodramatic Sylvia Schnauser. Her character has the soul of an artist and makes impassioned speeches about free speech and creative freedom.
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It is definitely possible to overwhelm the censors by talking about shit without talking about shit. This is the story of Hollywood and Soviet cinema both.
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There were a lot of bad superheroes in the 80s. (and I watched them alll.)
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I was going to say you missed The Man from Atlantis but that was late 70’s according to Wikipedia.
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That was definitely worth the wait!! You have sold me, utterly, on it. Thank you!
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Everybody remember I Dream of Jeannie ? On paper it’s pretty subversive, a deliberate deconstruction and inversion of everything in Bewitched. In Bw the guy is a nobody and there is no reason for the magic lady to bother with him. In IDoJ the guy is an astronaut, he’s Chuck Yeager, he’s Neil Armstrong. If the literal manic pixie dream girl could have any dude in the world it’s plausible she’d pick him. And the whole joke is djinn call humans “master” but they’re utterly uncontrollable and dangerous and inhuman and you should run away very fast. They will not ever do what you tell them, unlike Samantha on Bw.
Anyway, sounds interesting, I wonder what … oh. In practice it’s just 20 minutes of slapstick every week. Might as well be a show about puppets throwing pies at each other. Too bad.
A very silly show.
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Wow, that’s a little harsh on Jeannie, she’s not that monstrous. Some years ago I finally saw the pilot episode which explains why she doesn’t always do what Major Nelson wants. In the first episode, he frees her, so she’s free to call him master and also ignore his commands.*
I think this sums up why I prefer I Dream of Jeannie to Bewitched. (I’m not actually a huge booster of either show, but they often were shown together in re-runs which makes comparison easy.) Bewitched strikes me as much more repressive. Everyone’s always worried about what the neighbors think. (Of course, that’s in Jeannie, too, but it seems a stronger theme in Bewitched.) **
Granted, Samantha’s more competent than Jeannie, but then she loses a bit of respect from me because she saddled herself with Darren. When Major Nelson was put in an embarrassing situation, I might feel a tad sorry for him. (By the by, it doesn’t seem to be mentioned much, but Hagman had some serious comedy chops, when you look past the often generically kooky material.) Whenever Darren was bedeviled by magic, I often thought, “You know, he kinda deserves this.”
*So, perhaps his periodic cooping her up in that bottle wasn’t so bad as she was into it? Wonder what their safeword was? Second thought: Should I Dream of Jeannie have been re-run with Wonder Woman instead?
**On the other hand, Bewitched had episodes that were openly anti-racist (and openly feminist, I think, but I can’t remember specific details) and there were all those ambiguously gay relatives of Samantha’s.
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Mister, we could use a man like Archie Bunker agaaaaiiinnn…
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Really great review! Thanks. I saw that show as a kid back in when it was first on, and loved it, but I don’t recall a bit of it. So now you’ve got me wanting to see it again. Perhaps it was this show that made it hard for me to accept Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster.
I definitely liked IDoG a lot better than BW – it seemed hipper, by ignoring the 1950’s family template.
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Those were the days.
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Great review! That’s one that I don’t think I ever saw, so I think I’ll give it a try.
Worth noting: 2 seasons doesn’t sound like much now, but back then seasons were 30 episodes, so 2 of them is ~ 3-6 modern seasons.
For the ones you didn’t find, Justwatch shows both full seasons as available on a few streaming services, including hulu: https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/car-54-where-are-you Also shows on http://www.shoutfactorytv.com/series/car-54-where-are-you.
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I only hope I didn’t over-sell it. 
Hulu is one of those things I have been planning to get into for a while, but I really don’t want another password.
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We got him, and he’s in the White House.
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Alas we don’t have a Mike Stivic there to keep him in check.
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Nah, Archie Bunker was much more sympathetically written and acted. He was a product of his environment, and sure, he fought for the status quo as the environment was changing around him, but he would always end up caring about people in the end, and that enabled him to learn and grow (slowly and painfully).
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I keep thinking someone will review the variety show format. Seems made for Millenials.
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt already won an Emmy for it:
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