Barney Miller
ER
November 25, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
An emergency room in a Chicago hospital.
A multi-racial cast.
Humor covering up the pain of working in a trauma situation.
Sounds like ER.
It is ER. But it’s not the one that immediately comes to mind.
Not the one that debuted in 1994.
Not the one that was a cornerstone of NBC’s Thursday night lineup for fifteen years.
This ER lasted only one season.
It was a sitcom based on a 1982 play. It was a nicely written, nicely acted, nicely produced show that aired on CBS during the 1984-85 season.
Elliott Gould plays Dr. Howard Sheinfeld, a twice divorced doctor who moonlights at Clark Street Hospital’s Emergency Room to pay his alimony bills. With Gould’s veteran comedy instincts, ER seems like a good idea for a sitcom. And it was, particularly in hindsight considering
the show’s talent, star power, and ensemble performances.
Conchatta Ferrell plays veteran nurse Thor. She later appeared on L.A. Law as entertainment attorney Susan Bloom. Currently, she stars as Berta, the wisecracking maid on Two and a Half Men.
Mary McDonnell took over the role of Dr. Eve Sheridan, Sheinfeld’s boss and potential love interest. Five years after ER, McDonnell captured America’s attention in Dances With Wolves. Marcia Strassman, Julie Kotter in Welcome Back, Kotter, plays Sheridan in the ER pilot.
Pamela Adlon plays Jenny Sheinfeld, the daughter of Dr. Sheinfeld. She voiced Bobby Hill on the long-running cartoon series King of the Hill.
Before he found fame, accolades, and notoriety as Larry David’s alter ego on Seinfeld -- George Costanza -- Jason Alexander played hospital administrator Harold Stickley on ER.
Lynne Moody plays young, love-seeking, good-natured nurse Julie Williams. In a bit of inspired crossover casting, Sherman Helmsley brought his George Jefferson character to ER as Julie’s uncle in a guest appearance.
Luis Avalos plays Dr. Tomas Esquivel. Avalos is probably best known to Generation Xers from The Electric Company.
And, of course, George Clooney. He appears on both ER shows. In the sitcom, he is Ace -- a heart-throbbing, pulse pounding, personality plus paramedic with rock and roll dreams. The name of his band is The Body Fluids.
Ace’s nickname reinforces his reputation as a ladies man -- My Place Ace. Coincidentally, Tomas reminisces about his younger days with a corresponding nickname -- Mi Casa Tomasa.
Like Night Court, Barney Miller, or Taxi, ER revolved around the workplace. But the potential romance between Sheinfeld and Sheridan, the wonderful acting and writing, and the quirky patients who populated the emergency room at Clark Street Hospital were not enough to keep ER from flatlining.
ER holds a special significance for me. In one episode, a guest character named Dr. Krell makes an appearance. Dr. Sheinfeld remarks on the name. He says, If I wasn’t a Sheinfeld, I’d like to be a Krell.
david@davidkrell.com
An emergency room in a Chicago hospital.
A multi-racial cast.
Humor covering up the pain of working in a trauma situation.
Sounds like ER.
It is ER. But it’s not the one that immediately comes to mind.
Not the one that debuted in 1994.
Not the one that was a cornerstone of NBC’s Thursday night lineup for fifteen years.
This ER lasted only one season.
It was a sitcom based on a 1982 play. It was a nicely written, nicely acted, nicely produced show that aired on CBS during the 1984-85 season.
Elliott Gould plays Dr. Howard Sheinfeld, a twice divorced doctor who moonlights at Clark Street Hospital’s Emergency Room to pay his alimony bills. With Gould’s veteran comedy instincts, ER seems like a good idea for a sitcom. And it was, particularly in hindsight considering
the show’s talent, star power, and ensemble performances.
Conchatta Ferrell plays veteran nurse Thor. She later appeared on L.A. Law as entertainment attorney Susan Bloom. Currently, she stars as Berta, the wisecracking maid on Two and a Half Men.
Mary McDonnell took over the role of Dr. Eve Sheridan, Sheinfeld’s boss and potential love interest. Five years after ER, McDonnell captured America’s attention in Dances With Wolves. Marcia Strassman, Julie Kotter in Welcome Back, Kotter, plays Sheridan in the ER pilot.
Pamela Adlon plays Jenny Sheinfeld, the daughter of Dr. Sheinfeld. She voiced Bobby Hill on the long-running cartoon series King of the Hill.
Before he found fame, accolades, and notoriety as Larry David’s alter ego on Seinfeld -- George Costanza -- Jason Alexander played hospital administrator Harold Stickley on ER.
Lynne Moody plays young, love-seeking, good-natured nurse Julie Williams. In a bit of inspired crossover casting, Sherman Helmsley brought his George Jefferson character to ER as Julie’s uncle in a guest appearance.
Luis Avalos plays Dr. Tomas Esquivel. Avalos is probably best known to Generation Xers from The Electric Company.
And, of course, George Clooney. He appears on both ER shows. In the sitcom, he is Ace -- a heart-throbbing, pulse pounding, personality plus paramedic with rock and roll dreams. The name of his band is The Body Fluids.
Ace’s nickname reinforces his reputation as a ladies man -- My Place Ace. Coincidentally, Tomas reminisces about his younger days with a corresponding nickname -- Mi Casa Tomasa.
Like Night Court, Barney Miller, or Taxi, ER revolved around the workplace. But the potential romance between Sheinfeld and Sheridan, the wonderful acting and writing, and the quirky patients who populated the emergency room at Clark Street Hospital were not enough to keep ER from flatlining.
ER holds a special significance for me. In one episode, a guest character named Dr. Krell makes an appearance. Dr. Sheinfeld remarks on the name. He says, If I wasn’t a Sheinfeld, I’d like to be a Krell.
MASH Guest Stars
September 21, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
The list of guest stars on M*A*S*H is an entertainment hall of fame list.
From 1972 to 1983, this powerhouse show on CBS boasted actors and actresses who later became fixtures on America’s favorite television shows on the Eye Network.
Joan Van Ark and Knots Landing.
Gregory Harrison and Trapper John, M.D.
Vic Tayback and Alice.
Sorrell Booke and The Dukes of Hazzard.
Linda Kelsey and Lou Grant.
Susan Saint James and Kate and Allie.
Some actors and actresses became fixtures on America’s favorite television shows on other networks.
Ed Flanders and St. Elsewhere.
Ed Begley, Jr. and St. Elsewhere.
Shelley Long and Cheers.
George Wendt and Cheers.
John Ritter and Three’s Company.
Robert Ito and Quincy.
Jack Soo and Barney Miller.
Larry Wilcox and CHiPs.
And some actors and actresses became movie stars.
Laurence Fishburne.
Patrick Swayze.
Teri Garr.
Some guest stars on M*A*S*H played roles that helped peel back the layers of the regular staff of the 4077th.
In the episode The More I See You, Blythe Danner plays Carlye, a nurse and long-lost flame of Hawkeye.
We learned that Hawkeye and Carlye actually lived together.
But timing is everything.
The relationship couldn’t go further because Hawkeye was in residency and work was his priority.
Now assigned to the 4077th, Carlye is married. Hawkeye tries to reignite the flame.
And he succeeds.
Until he gives a rambling monologue about commitment while walking around his tent, a.k.a. the Swamp. Carlye shows him that he cannot have a relationship because he’s literally talked himself into a corner while talking about long-term commitment.
Dennis Dugan appears in two M*A*S*H episodes -- Love and Marriage and Strange Bedfellows.
In Strange Bedfellows, he plays Potter’s son-in-law.
And Potter learns about the son-in-law’s betrayal to his wife, Potter’s daughter. Though angry, Potter reveals that he himself got a little friendlier than he should have with a nurse early in his career.
Ron Howard guest stars in the first episode that showed M*A*S*H could go beyond the antics of draftee doctors to places of deep emotion, pathos, and sobriety.
In the landmark episode Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, Hawkeye’s friend, Tommy Gillis, is researching a book about war.
James Callahan plays Gillis.
He theorizes that a soldier never hears the bullet that kills him. Gillis’ theory directly contrasts the depiction of combat in the movies. He wants to call his book You Never Hear the Bullet.
During his research on the front lines, Gillis gets shot and winds up on Hawkeye’s operating table. Gillis tells Hawkeye that he heard the bullet and dies before Hawkeye can operate.
Meanwhile, an underage soldier named Wendell Peterson is in post-op.
Played by Howard, the 15-year-old Wendell stole his brother Walter’s identity to become a soldier only to impress a girl.
Hawkeye initially tells him that the secret will not be revealed.
But after seeing his friend die, Hawkeye gets a speech from Colonel Henry Blake.
There are certain rules about a war. Rule Number One is ‘Young men die.’ Rule number two is ‘Doctors can’t change Rule Number One.’
Hawkeye’s response is to keep one young man from dying in one war.
He reports Peterson to Major Houlihan, thus saving Peterson from future harm, at least on the battle field.
david@davidkrell.com
The list of guest stars on M*A*S*H is an entertainment hall of fame list.
From 1972 to 1983, this powerhouse show on CBS boasted actors and actresses who later became fixtures on America’s favorite television shows on the Eye Network.
Joan Van Ark and Knots Landing.
Gregory Harrison and Trapper John, M.D.
Vic Tayback and Alice.
Sorrell Booke and The Dukes of Hazzard.
Linda Kelsey and Lou Grant.
Susan Saint James and Kate and Allie.
Some actors and actresses became fixtures on America’s favorite television shows on other networks.
Ed Flanders and St. Elsewhere.
Ed Begley, Jr. and St. Elsewhere.
Shelley Long and Cheers.
George Wendt and Cheers.
John Ritter and Three’s Company.
Robert Ito and Quincy.
Jack Soo and Barney Miller.
Larry Wilcox and CHiPs.
And some actors and actresses became movie stars.
Laurence Fishburne.
Patrick Swayze.
Teri Garr.
Some guest stars on M*A*S*H played roles that helped peel back the layers of the regular staff of the 4077th.
In the episode The More I See You, Blythe Danner plays Carlye, a nurse and long-lost flame of Hawkeye.
We learned that Hawkeye and Carlye actually lived together.
But timing is everything.
The relationship couldn’t go further because Hawkeye was in residency and work was his priority.
Now assigned to the 4077th, Carlye is married. Hawkeye tries to reignite the flame.
And he succeeds.
Until he gives a rambling monologue about commitment while walking around his tent, a.k.a. the Swamp. Carlye shows him that he cannot have a relationship because he’s literally talked himself into a corner while talking about long-term commitment.
Dennis Dugan appears in two M*A*S*H episodes -- Love and Marriage and Strange Bedfellows.
In Strange Bedfellows, he plays Potter’s son-in-law.
And Potter learns about the son-in-law’s betrayal to his wife, Potter’s daughter. Though angry, Potter reveals that he himself got a little friendlier than he should have with a nurse early in his career.
Ron Howard guest stars in the first episode that showed M*A*S*H could go beyond the antics of draftee doctors to places of deep emotion, pathos, and sobriety.
In the landmark episode Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, Hawkeye’s friend, Tommy Gillis, is researching a book about war.
James Callahan plays Gillis.
He theorizes that a soldier never hears the bullet that kills him. Gillis’ theory directly contrasts the depiction of combat in the movies. He wants to call his book You Never Hear the Bullet.
During his research on the front lines, Gillis gets shot and winds up on Hawkeye’s operating table. Gillis tells Hawkeye that he heard the bullet and dies before Hawkeye can operate.
Meanwhile, an underage soldier named Wendell Peterson is in post-op.
Played by Howard, the 15-year-old Wendell stole his brother Walter’s identity to become a soldier only to impress a girl.
Hawkeye initially tells him that the secret will not be revealed.
But after seeing his friend die, Hawkeye gets a speech from Colonel Henry Blake.
There are certain rules about a war. Rule Number One is ‘Young men die.’ Rule number two is ‘Doctors can’t change Rule Number One.’
Hawkeye’s response is to keep one young man from dying in one war.
He reports Peterson to Major Houlihan, thus saving Peterson from future harm, at least on the battle field.
New York City Cops
April 17, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
The New York City cop is a staple of television programming.
Naked City.
NYPD.
NYPD Blue.
Just three examples of the Big Apple’s representation on the television landscape.
While early visual evidence shows Hill Street Blues with a setting in Chicago, later dialogue used phrases to indicate a New York City locale. For example, upstate is a phrase frequently used by New Yorkers. An early episode uses the geographic phrase, East River.
Generally, though, the producers did not state a particular setting for Hill Street Blues.
Third Watch used cops and fireman as the major characters.
CSI: New York is the third version of CSI.
New York Undercover was a FOX offering in the 1990’s, geared to a younger audience with younger detectives answering to Patti D’Arbanville as the seasoned boss.
Law & Order debuted in 1990 and it’s still on the air with two other shows in the family: Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Lennie Briscoe, Mike Logan, Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, Don Cragen, Ed Green, Anita Van Buren, Rey Curtis, and John Munch are some of the detectives in the Law & Order universe.
Richard Belzer originally played John Munch on Homicide and moved to SVU when Homicide ended.
NYPD Blue is another cop show with a long history. A breakthrough show in 1993, NYPD Blue launched David Caruso into the celebrity stratosphere. He landed with a thud when he left the show less than two years later. His comeback on CSI: Miami seems to make up for the prior lost opportunity.
Caruso’s departure opened the door for Jimmy Smits, Rick Schroeder, and Mark-Paul Gosselear to work alongside Dennis Franz, the actor who embodied perhaps the most dysfunctional cop in television history, Andy Sipowicz.
Frequently, the source of Andy’s strength was his relationship with his partners, allowing him to put self-destructive actions to rest: excessive drinking, sex with hookers, overtly acting defiant to his Lieutenant, Arthur Fancy because of racial attitudes.
Dennis Farina, the Chicago cop turned actor who made his big debut on Crime Story in the 1980’s, said that the most realistic depiction of police work was on Barney Miller.
Set in a Greenwich Village precinct, Barney Miller was a mixture of racial diversity, wry humor, and depth of characters -- detectives and perpetrators.
Barney Miller rarely went beyond the squad room during its run from 1974-1982.
In the last episode, Barney got his long-awaited and well-deserved promotion to Deputy Inspector.
The representation of New York’s Finest on television will surely continue in the 21st century.
But one thing remains the same, whether they use high-technology on CSI: NY or old-fashioned detective work on Law & Order, New York’s Finest have the tremendous task of catching the bad guys and making the streets safe.
david@davidkrell.com
The New York City cop is a staple of television programming.
Naked City.
NYPD.
NYPD Blue.
Just three examples of the Big Apple’s representation on the television landscape.
While early visual evidence shows Hill Street Blues with a setting in Chicago, later dialogue used phrases to indicate a New York City locale. For example, upstate is a phrase frequently used by New Yorkers. An early episode uses the geographic phrase, East River.
Generally, though, the producers did not state a particular setting for Hill Street Blues.
Third Watch used cops and fireman as the major characters.
CSI: New York is the third version of CSI.
New York Undercover was a FOX offering in the 1990’s, geared to a younger audience with younger detectives answering to Patti D’Arbanville as the seasoned boss.
Law & Order debuted in 1990 and it’s still on the air with two other shows in the family: Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Lennie Briscoe, Mike Logan, Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, Don Cragen, Ed Green, Anita Van Buren, Rey Curtis, and John Munch are some of the detectives in the Law & Order universe.
Richard Belzer originally played John Munch on Homicide and moved to SVU when Homicide ended.
NYPD Blue is another cop show with a long history. A breakthrough show in 1993, NYPD Blue launched David Caruso into the celebrity stratosphere. He landed with a thud when he left the show less than two years later. His comeback on CSI: Miami seems to make up for the prior lost opportunity.
Caruso’s departure opened the door for Jimmy Smits, Rick Schroeder, and Mark-Paul Gosselear to work alongside Dennis Franz, the actor who embodied perhaps the most dysfunctional cop in television history, Andy Sipowicz.
Frequently, the source of Andy’s strength was his relationship with his partners, allowing him to put self-destructive actions to rest: excessive drinking, sex with hookers, overtly acting defiant to his Lieutenant, Arthur Fancy because of racial attitudes.
Dennis Farina, the Chicago cop turned actor who made his big debut on Crime Story in the 1980’s, said that the most realistic depiction of police work was on Barney Miller.
Set in a Greenwich Village precinct, Barney Miller was a mixture of racial diversity, wry humor, and depth of characters -- detectives and perpetrators.
Barney Miller rarely went beyond the squad room during its run from 1974-1982.
In the last episode, Barney got his long-awaited and well-deserved promotion to Deputy Inspector.
The representation of New York’s Finest on television will surely continue in the 21st century.
But one thing remains the same, whether they use high-technology on CSI: NY or old-fashioned detective work on Law & Order, New York’s Finest have the tremendous task of catching the bad guys and making the streets safe.