tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post5221933123733100080..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: The story behind "Hash"By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86395185692358863042022-06-11T22:13:47.835-07:002022-06-11T22:13:47.835-07:00I totally agree!I totally agree!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-24601808025575122102022-01-05T15:10:35.766-08:002022-01-05T15:10:35.766-08:00Just re-watched this episode for at least tenth ti...Just re-watched this episode for at least tenth time. One thing I wonder is whether any of this brilliance was improvised by the cast, or was it all written into the script? Janet Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00178874383231290403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-17907754375770284102019-03-12T09:22:51.034-07:002019-03-12T09:22:51.034-07:00kendall rivers: I have somewhat unpredictable tast...kendall rivers: I have somewhat unpredictable tastes, I guess. I loved the first five seasons of THE BIG BANG THEORY. Currently, I'm enjoying MOM, SUPERSTORE, THE GOOD PLACE, THE GOOD FIGHT, and parts of THE OTHER TWO. I really liked YOU'RE THE WORST until this season. I never cared that much for: CHEERS, any variant of LUCY, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, TAXI or THE GOLDEN GIRLS. I liked FRASIER, MASH, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?, EMPTY NEST, EVENING SHADE, and MURPHY BROWN. I thought the first season of SEX AND THE CITY, when they were still working from Candace Bushnall's original source material, was clever. Post season 3 I found it unwatchable. I never watched Westerns - but I liked JUSTIFIED (which despite being a male show has some *great* female characters). I also like THE HONEYMOONERS, THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW, and *love* the Marx Brothers. <br /><br />It was a stray thought. I don't *know* why I never got into BARNEY MILLER. Part of it is probably that I missed a lot of 1970s TV because I was traveling all over the US and didn't have a TV, and a lot of 1980s TV because I was living overseas and the Internet wasn't with us yet. And part of it is probably weird quirks, like I never watched TAXI because I hated the credits music so much. Yes, I know there was good stuff in it, and I've seen a little bit of it.<br /><br />It's also a quirk that I don't particularly like seeing people either given drugs without their consent (which in my book is assault) or accidentally taking them. I would not find it at all funny if it happened to me; I would be enraged, and people who thought *that* was funny would be out of my life. So this wasn't the best episode for me to start with. :) There may be a connection here to having allergies, which means that someone lying to me about the ingredients of a foodstuff might actually require me to seek urgent medical care.<br /><br />Brian, a data point: I said the absence of women was striking. That is not "taking offense".<br /><br />Aaron Sheckley: I'm aware that at the time there would hardly have been women in the police station, and I was not calling the show out for sexism; you have to allow things to be of their time. CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?, which I recently rewatched and enjoyed, had the same problem. Toody had his wife and Muldoon had his mother, and there was a policewoman in one episode, but that was it.<br /><br />wg<br />Wendy M. Grossmanhttp://www.pelicancrossing.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45850139704223421942019-03-09T23:20:09.741-08:002019-03-09T23:20:09.741-08:00Jack Soo carried that episode.Jack Soo carried that episode.DwWashburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03057278992504418291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31900752099369139762019-03-08T21:48:16.232-08:002019-03-08T21:48:16.232-08:00@wg you're entitled to your opinion but you...@wg you're entitled to your opinion but you're missing out on one of the greatest sitcoms and tv shows period ever created. I know plenty of women from my mom and grandmas to my teenage nieces and six year old daughter who love this show as much as the men in my family. Funny is funny and no one cares about gender of the characters that they love like how I love The Golden Girls or I Love Lucy or The Mary Tyler Moore show for ex. I'm curious if you have this same criticism of shows with basically no men and all women like The Golden Girls or Sex and the city etc?Kendall Rivershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16401646799797849078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-35175087922394378582019-03-08T16:06:37.264-08:002019-03-08T16:06:37.264-08:00Wojo typing Fred's name made me laugh for the ...Wojo typing Fred's name made me laugh for the rest of the day. Thank you.<br />Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10151164693457108910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-84769644343099017122019-03-08T06:39:52.923-08:002019-03-08T06:39:52.923-08:00@Frank Beans,
"We all share the same basic va...@Frank Beans,<br />"We all share the same basic values."<br />Yes we do. Thank you.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17028080979536109214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-18375579572189453062019-03-07T21:39:13.480-08:002019-03-07T21:39:13.480-08:00Thanks very much for answering my question, Ken. B...Thanks very much for answering my question, Ken. Barney Miller has become one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. It was so well written, acted and directed as well as one of the funniest tv shows while at the same time one of the most poignant, I love the quiet moments or moments of characters having self reflection. Its also one of the greatest ensembles of all time with every actor and every character from Barney, Dietrich, Nick, Harris, Wojo, Levitt, Fish and Inspector Luger having some of the best chemistry I've seen alongside such great ensembles like Cheers or Frasier or All in The Family, Sanford and Son, MASH, Everybody Loves Raymond, WKRP In Cinicinatti. Etc. Kendall Rivershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16401646799797849078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-57016175866301358412019-03-07T18:32:39.176-08:002019-03-07T18:32:39.176-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Kendall Rivershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16401646799797849078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69704160863778862232019-03-07T18:17:10.409-08:002019-03-07T18:17:10.409-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Kendall Rivershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16401646799797849078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36490812183948918332019-03-07T13:40:09.301-08:002019-03-07T13:40:09.301-08:00Andrew--
On my behalf, apology accepted. I didn&...Andrew--<br /><br />On my behalf, apology accepted. I didn't mean to be so caustic either. We all share the same basic values.<br />Frank Beansnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-84407970945978463582019-03-07T12:07:43.607-08:002019-03-07T12:07:43.607-08:00Frank Beans, and Ken,
Forgive me. I did not mean t...Frank Beans, and Ken,<br />Forgive me. I did not mean to offend.<br />- AndrewAndrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17028080979536109214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79739285102218883662019-03-07T11:15:51.975-08:002019-03-07T11:15:51.975-08:00You asked the same question I was thinking of. Is...You asked the same question I was thinking of. Is Pat related to Tom? I guess it's time to break out the DNA tests.<br />M.B.Mike Bloodworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04755626259169126800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69760688233817264152019-03-07T09:32:19.249-08:002019-03-07T09:32:19.249-08:00>>Comedy is dying because one person - who h...>>Comedy is dying because one person - who has watched TV comedy for 60 years - finds it surprising to look back at a comedy from 40 years ago and see how much the demographics of the cast have changed? <br /><br />No, "wg", comedy is dying because studios and networks and advertisers cater to unfunny people who don't know what is funny and pass judgment on what is, killing comedy for the rest of us... they only know that they are offended... and it's not enough that that person is offended... they have to let EVERYONE know that they are offended or their offendedness doesn't count. <br /><br />wg... rest easy, your offendedness is duly recorded. On to your next affront. Might I suggest "The Phil Silvers Show"? <br />Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08772668629511953810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64554070553834327322019-03-07T09:07:07.043-08:002019-03-07T09:07:07.043-08:00I agree with Mike Bloodworth about the drunk/stone...I agree with Mike Bloodworth about the drunk/stoned portrayal issue. The benchmark for this is the Bob Hope specials of the late sixties. Older performers played being stoned as drunk; it was their only reference. I don't remember Bing Crosby doing that, however, since he would have known the difference. So would Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason. Crosby told Barbara Walters he thought marijuana should be legal.<br /><br />The most glaring example you can see today is in the sumptuous cinema classic "Skidoo," where Jackie Gleason goes on an acid trip and (spoiler alert - end of the film) Groucho Marx smokes pot. In the scene where the entire prison is dosed with acid, two tower guards are Hepcats on a Groovy Trip. Harry Nilsson and Fred Clark. Nilsson gets it right. Clark, in his final film role after "White Heat," "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell" and "Abbott & Costello Meet the Keystone Kops," is playing the broadest drunk since Frank Fontaine. It nearly sinks this silver screen gem.<br />Craig Gustafsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14503925766039307551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-61343521825821318902019-03-07T07:19:13.331-08:002019-03-07T07:19:13.331-08:00After spending a career as a criminal investigator...After spending a career as a criminal investigator for a large police department, I can definitively say that Barney Miller captured the essence of that job far better than shows like Law and Order, Dragnet, Criminal Minds, or any of the other fantasies that pass themselves off as shows about police work. At one time or another, I worked with guys who could have been carbon copies of Wojo, Deitrich, Fish, and the rest of the squad. And we spent a lot of time doing exactly what's depicted on the show; interviewing people and typing endless reports. <br /><br />As far as no women being present, well...you can make the argument that it was a sexist choice not to include them, but the reality is that during my early years on the job in the 1980's, there were very few women in police work. In the entire command I was in, which would have been around 200 officers, there were two women, and one of them was a criminal investigator in the unit I was in. Barney Miller had several female detectives that passed through the squad during the show (Linda Lavin played one for a few episodes). Having a balanced mix of male and female officers (and female command staff members) might satisfy the requirements of today, but it would have been glaringly inaccurate for the mid 70's time period of Barney Miller. You can dislike the show for being sexist or misogynistic viewed through today's lens, but that's pretty much how it was in those days.Aaron Sheckleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-1337177987157163082019-03-07T05:46:34.553-08:002019-03-07T05:46:34.553-08:00"Barney Miller" is in my top five of all..."Barney Miller" is in my top five of all-time great comedy series. A former police chief of a small town in Florida told me once that he thought it was the ONLY realistic cop show on TV because it dealt with the idiotic bureaucracy that officers have to deal with on a day-to-day basis and also the mound of paperwork that they have to work on during their shift.<br />As for "Hash," two notable aspects:<br />One, they could have had Jack Soo's Yemana sing something from "Flower Drum Song," but somehow that would have been too pat. I LIKE that they chose something from "Brigadoon," which is definitely NOT a Japanese musical and, somehow, that made it funnier.<br />The other point is that Ron Glass's Harris immediately diagnoses what they ate was hash and that he knew "just from how I feel." How in the heck would he know that? Would have loved to have heard THAT backstory (we did find out later on that Barney got a tattoo during the war, for instance!).<br />A great episode in a terrific sitcom.Jeff Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06626617823721757256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-51888370864740685642019-03-07T04:30:45.673-08:002019-03-07T04:30:45.673-08:00>>THIS is why outstanding comedy is dying an...>>THIS is why outstanding comedy is dying and why great comedy from our past is treated as badly as it sometimes is. Thankfully, this episode and all the Barney Miller, and WKRP and Odd Couple and other classic TV sitcom episodes will live on and be appreciated by people with a sense of humor who just love laugh.>><br /><br />Comedy is dying because one person - who has watched TV comedy for 60 years - finds it surprising to look back at a comedy from 40 years ago and see how much the demographics of the cast have changed? <br /><br />I said it was no criticism of Ken, and it wasn't: he wasn't the show's creator, the network who commissioned it, or in any other position of control over the main cast. On the shows Ken created, you'll find lots of interesting women.<br /><br />wgWendy M. Grossmanhttp://www.pelicancrossing.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88418899608871144982019-03-06T21:25:40.093-08:002019-03-06T21:25:40.093-08:00Thanks for posting this, Ken. Over the years, I&#...Thanks for posting this, Ken. Over the years, I've often seen Tom Reeder's credits on screen and wondered if we were related, since I meet very few people who share my family name. Weird that two Reeders in different parts of the country would both become professional comedy writers. <br /><br />Also strange: before I went fulltime into radio, one of the few sitcom scripts I ever worked on was when I was in college and wrote a sample "Barney Miller" script for the Danny Arnold student writers competition. I wasn't that familiar with the show, but watched it to get a feel for the characters. I still remember the plot I came up with. Didn't win anything, but I got a nice personal note from Danny Arnold, giving some positive comments plus a few tips on how to make it better. That was enough of a prize for me.Pat Reederhttp://www.facebook.com/hollywoodhifibooknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31858608411337486472019-03-06T19:33:59.213-08:002019-03-06T19:33:59.213-08:00I love BARNEY MILLER, and Yemana is hands down my ...I love BARNEY MILLER, and Yemana is hands down my favorite character (probably followed by Fish and Wojo). Jack Soo was a master at deadpan (an easily overlooked touch, one episode contrasts Yemana with agnostic Dietrich about belief in a deity, and another has him reluctant to book a minister since he hasn't gone to church in so long and "there might be repercussions"; it fit in well with guilty semi-lapsed Catholic Wojo and Barney, who was later established as a fairly non-observant Jew), and it makes his sudden fits of the giggles (interspersed with dead serious lines like "Anybody seen my legs?") all the funnier. <br /><br />But I can actually understand the "where are the women?" reaction, as I've seen the entire series and it has occurred to me as well at times... especially since several times they *tried* but it didn't work out. The (all male) team they had couldn't quite manage it outside of the wives (I adore Bernice Fish, and the fact that Fish gripes and acts like a martyr on the phone... but then we see Bernice, a sweet and insecure woman who puts up with a lot and is really too good for Fish). They also usually succeeded with the guest ladies (frequent visitors included Peggy Pope, and any appearance by Doris Roberts had her practically dominating the episode). The wives were pared back mostly because, in addition to network reasons Frank Beans mentioned, they realized it was actually a one-set show (after the first two seasons, any uses of outside sets were reserved for two-parters, usually premieres and usually exactly one new set) and it was harder to have them keep dropping by. The later "Barney and Liz separate" arc was written just so they *could* justify getting Barbara Barrie back. Linda Lavin's Wentworth actually gelled pretty well and the plan was to make her a full regular and teamed with Wojo... and then she landed ALICE (I liked the fact that they included a clip of her in the finale, along with Chano, when Barney goes by the old desks.) Two other attempts at lady detectives didn't last beyond a few episodes (but then neither did younger male detective Dorsey, since by then the core group was set).<br /><br />While less relevant to "Hash" taken as a stand alone episode, the lack of women behind the scenes really shows when they attempted to tackle female issues in "Rape" (the one episode I don't revisit). The fact that (so I've gathered) the actual NY law of the time was also less clear regarding whether husbands could be charged with rape against their wives didn't help, but non-male writers would almost certainly have been a little less tone-deaf. I think they meant well (and it was probably one of the first TV attempts to tackle the subject period), but I ended up wishing they'd left it alone. Andrew Lealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04536423892525694724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-61251286873581061862019-03-06T19:16:18.591-08:002019-03-06T19:16:18.591-08:00Worked very recently with Hal Linden. Likes to wo...Worked very recently with Hal Linden. Likes to work, still a pro. He'll be 88 this month.Hopnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6211186220811729772019-03-06T18:19:51.040-08:002019-03-06T18:19:51.040-08:00My father was a police captain. He always said tha...My father was a police captain. He always said that the most realistic cop show ever shown on TV was Barney Miller!Garynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52704455661852402772019-03-06T17:13:16.834-08:002019-03-06T17:13:16.834-08:00Earlier tonight, part one of Leaving Neverland was...Earlier tonight, part one of Leaving Neverland was shown on British TV and it was horrific viewing. I needed something to cheer me up afterwards and luckily another channel later had a Cheers double bill and one of them was your and David's Now Pitching, Sam Malone. A wonderful episode. Barbara Babcock was a knockout as Sam's oversexed agent.<br /><br />I'd like to thank you for giving me much needed laughs. <br /><br />All I can say is: Yelnick McWawa for 2020.Peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67105356020010818312019-03-06T17:05:24.358-08:002019-03-06T17:05:24.358-08:00Jack Soo and Pat Morita both appear in "Thoro...Jack Soo and Pat Morita both appear in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (1967) as "comic" Chinese stereotypes kidnapping girls and selling them to foreign brothels. Leaving aside the matter of that as a plot line in what's meant as an overbearingly upbeat musical comedy, you wonder if either actor had serious hopes of future stardom or even decent parts while doing that film. <br /><br />Jack Soo's role on Barney Miller was, if not revolutionary, pretty darn progressive. He was an American working stiff, not an exotic who'd talk about his honorable ancestors or drink tea. DBensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01144515471557731622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-49047657761983518372019-03-06T16:31:44.779-08:002019-03-06T16:31:44.779-08:00Mike Bloodworth, how could you get the spelling wr...Mike Bloodworth, how could you get the spelling wrong? As everyone knows, Wojo's name is spelled just like it sounds! OokOoknoreply@blogger.com