# I Can't Believe You Like That Replacement Character Better **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190 "2009-01-14T02:54:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/61 "2009-01-14T21:08:36Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Did Steve Landesburg replace Gregory Sierra on “Barney Miller”? There were a lot of cast changes on that show over the years, and I don’t remember exactly who came and went when, but I much prefer Landesburg’s character. > > Oh yeah, and Reverend Jim on “Taxi” was a thousand times better than the no-name young kid he replaced. I wouldn’t consider them replacement characters, because they didn’t serve the same purpose of the people they replaced. The actor who portrayed John Burns (Randall Carver), on Taxi, said he felt he not picked up for a second season because his character had all the same traits as the Tony Banta character. First rule of TV don’t have two characters do what one could do. And Steve Landesburg came in after Sierra left, and he wasn’t anything like Sierra. In a way Dietriech didn’t come into his own till after Jack Soo died and that left more script for him. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/62 "2009-01-14T21:15:33Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > And Steve Landesburg came in after Sierra left, and he wasn’t anything like Sierra. In a way Dietriech didn’t come into his own till after Jack Soo died and that left more script for him. I really thought Landesburg (Dietrich) came into his own before that. It was that season where they transitioned Fish out that he got a bigger role and developed most of his quirky deadpan humor. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/63 "2009-01-14T21:19:45Z")
I guess Dietriech did come in as Chano left, I am corrected. But I don’t think any of the character were replacements so to speak. One thing about Barney Miller when the show first started, it was very ethnic, which each character emphasizing this. Miller - Jewish, Wojo - Polish, Chano - Puerto Rican, Harris - Black and Yemana - Japanese. In additon Fish was thrown in to emphasize “old age.” As the show progressed, Barney lost a lot of his Jewishness, Chano, Fish and Yeman were out, and Wojo turned more into a stupid guy who likes to get laid. Then Harris stopped being black and turned into a Yuppie and he Dietrich became sidekicks to each other (Which was funny). To their credit they tried a few women (Like Linda Lavin) but that never seemed to work So I think the original character were too original and unique to have replacement characters serve their function. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/64 "2009-01-14T21:28:57Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I guess Dietriech did come in as Chano left, I am corrected. > > But I don’t think any of the character were replacements so to speak. > > One thing about Barney Miller when the show first started, it was very ethnic, which each character emphasizing this. Miller - Jewish, Wojo - Polish, Chano - Puerto Rican, Harris - Black and Yemana - Japanese. In additon Fish was thrown in to emphasize “old age.” > > As the show progressed, Barney lost a lot of his Jewishness, Chano, Fish and Yeman were out, and Wojo turned more into a stupid guy who likes to get laid. Then Harris stopped being black and turned into a Yuppie and he Dietrich became sidekicks to each other (Which was funny). To their credit they tried a few women (Like Linda Lavin) but that never seemed to work > > So I think the original character were too original and unique to have replacement characters serve their function. I don’t recall anything on the show saying Barney was Jewish. In fact I always thought Fish and Mrs. Fish where played as ambiguously Jewish. I know Hal Lindon was Jewish but if the character was they never hinted at it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/65 "2009-01-14T21:29:02Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Oh, I’ve forgotten this. Tell me more. Lord, I’ve forgotten most of them, and some of them are so subtle as to easily be coincidental; I just don’t much believe in coincidence where Chris Carter is concerned. (Oy, say that five times fast.) The most glaring example I can think of is of him ridiculing Scully at some point by saying something about the impossibility of a man made of metal. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/66 "2009-01-14T21:36:54Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I don’t recall anything on the show saying Barney was Jewish. In fact I always thought Fish and Mrs. Fish where played as ambiguously Jewish. > > I know Hal Lindon was Jewish but if the character was they never hinted at it. I can’t cite episodes, but having watched the first two seasons on DVD, I can say that it came across loud and clear to me. It seemed, in fact, to be part of what bonded Barney and Fish. A kind of unspoken, “What’re a couple of guys like us doing here? _Oy._” BTW, it shouldn’t go unmentioned in all of this that Season 3 is coming out on DVD March 17. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/67 "2009-01-14T22:27:54Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I don’t recall anything on the show saying Barney was Jewish. In fact I always thought Fish and Mrs. Fish where played as ambiguously Jewish. > > I know Hal Lindon was Jewish but if the character was they never hinted at it. “["'We never said Barney was Jewish and we never said he wasn’t. … For a brief moment one Christmas episode, Barney ‘came out.’](http://books.google.com/books?id=J5TXZcpYPz8C&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=barney+miller+jewish&source=bl&ots=tAdSGq-u7Q&sig=15jK3qaBndx9PIWXiryPkQs_c54&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA61,M1)” In a recent thread on Eartha Kitt’s passing, someone referred to her as the only real Catwoman. I could kind of see what they meant, but my heart belongs to Julie Newmar. And as much as I loved John Astin as Gomez in the Addams Family, he made a drab replacement for Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, so I have to say I preferred his replacement, Frank Gorshin. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/68 "2009-01-14T22:43:48Z")
I think Stan Jablonski was a better character on _Hill Street Blues_ than Phil Esterhaus, although in fairness, Michael Conrad died before the producers did much more than give him a new-word-a-day vocabulary and a torrid affair with Grace Gardner. Peter Scolari and Julia Duffy were far, far better on _Newhart_ than Steve Kampmann and Jennifer Holmes. I would have liked to see Lisa Kudrow’s take on the Roz Doyle character in _Frasier_ that got her fired after three days of production, so I guess Peri Gilpin had to be better. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/69 "2009-01-14T22:49:36Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > I always liked Christopher Ecclestone better than David Tenant. > > In fact, this Matt Stone kid looks so much more interesting than Tenant. > > [runs away from torch-bearing mob lynch mob.] Ugh no way. Matt Stone looks like a little emo-kid who just moved out of mom’s Tardis and spends all his time listening to ‘emo-rock’ and lamenting how sad his existence is while he travels to more and more depressing eras in time. I’m pretty much convinced they’re throwing the premise of the series to the wind and trying for the 8-16 year old demographic. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/70 "2009-01-14T22:56:05Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > “["'We never said Barney was Jewish and we never said he wasn’t. … For a brief moment one Christmas episode, Barney ‘came out.’](http://books.google.com/books?id=J5TXZcpYPz8C&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=barney+miller+jewish&source=bl&ots=tAdSGq-u7Q&sig=15jK3qaBndx9PIWXiryPkQs_c54&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA61,M1)” > > In a recent thread on Eartha Kitt’s passing, someone referred to her as the only real Catwoman. I could kind of see what they meant I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be a threadshitter, but Julie Newmar was in 12 episodes of the 60s TV series as the main villain, and Eartha Kitt only 3. I never liked her performance anyway, and don’t understand why people think Kitt more memorabale than even Michelle Pfeiffer. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/71 "2009-01-15T00:14:45Z")
Well, Kitt’s Catwoman never came across as an airhead and never went gaga over Batman.\* To me this made her \*less \*interesting, but I can see how some might think she was more of a real villian. Newmar is still my choice, but I’m trying to show more respect for the stupid opinions of others. - Although Newmar-Catwoman’s apparent attraction to Batman was often used as a ploy to get him to lower his Bat-defenses, in a few episodes it was played as more sincere. I suspect the producers were afraid to allow any sexual tension between Adam West and someone of a different race, which is ironic considering Kitt’s career was built on a sex-kitten image. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/72 "2009-01-15T03:39:29Z")
I’m in the minority, but on Are You Being Served? I liked Mr. Harmon better than Mr. Mash. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/73 "2009-01-15T03:45:46Z")
I really liked “the Professor and Mary Ann” much better than “the rest.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/74 "2009-01-15T04:15:15Z")
I grew up thinking everybody in NYC was Jewish. Including the Puerto Ricans. Wojo, being so obviously Catholic, threw me for a loop. (only partially joking) What, no love for Lee Merriwether as Catwoman? Sure, she’s no Julie Newmar (the one and only Catwoman!) but I’d, er, have relations with her. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/75 "2009-01-15T04:34:16Z")
Lee Meriwether is my favorite Catwoman of all time. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/76 "2009-01-15T04:53:40Z")
[fanboi] And that is why you are a blithering idiot who shouldn’t be allowed to ever log onto the internet as long as you live. [/fanboi] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/77 "2009-01-15T05:08:59Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I don’t recall anything on the show saying Barney was Jewish. In fact I always thought Fish and Mrs. Fish where played as ambiguously Jewish. > > I know Hal Lindon was Jewish but if the character was they never hinted at it. In addition to what has already been mentioned, I remember a scene where Wojo told Barney that he didn’t seem to be particularly religious, protesting that, for instance, he (Barney) never wore a yarmulke. Barney’s retort was “But I do have one.” ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/78 "2009-01-15T05:47:34Z")
Hal Linden had starred on Broadway in ‘The Rothschilds’ a few years before starting Miller. Loved that show. Even though David Garrison left voluntarily to head back to the theater (and got a nice story arc sendoff from The Guys), I’m among the teeming millions who thought that his replacement on ‘Married with Children’ was a grinning pretty-boy who couldn’t act. While Steve was a great foil for Al, challenging him constantly while also being slowly corrupted by him, Jefferson just seemed like the sidekick to the frat boy hero in an 80s movie. :rolleyes: People who liked Jefferson over Steve Rhoades are the type of people who have kept ‘Two and Half Men’ on the air for forty years. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to [ABC.com](http://ABC.com) to see when they’re planning to burn off the remaining episodes of ‘Pushing Daisies’. :(:mad: ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/79 "2009-01-16T03:22:34Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > And BJ for Trapper John in the same show. And Col Potter for Col Blake, too. > > I liked the replacements better, which may be no more than finally being old enough to get the jokes when those guys were introduced. > > It took me a long time to like Winchester, Frank was a laugh. I can’t believe you like the replacement characters better! Seriously, BJ was a tepid, self righteous, preachy little wank. Col Potter was a stuffy, self righteous turd. And ponderous to a fault; always some tiring anecdote to back up his tirades. And always, always “They may be madcap troublemakers (or somesuch) but they’re damn fine surgeons!” This is an earwig that attacks at anytime and raises my blood pressure. Don’t even let me get started on Winchester. I liked him, but HE…WAS…NO…FRANK…BURNS! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190/80 "2009-01-16T04:01:30Z")
Mr. S likes _M_A_S_H\* the movie and the earlier TV characters. The movie puts me to sleep (literally; I’ve tried watching it on numerous occasions and conked out every time) and I prefer the “replacement” TV characters. And yet we’re still married. Go figure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-you-like-that-replacement-character-better/481190.md?page=5)