Actually Car 54 Where Are You? (1961-63) was extremely multicultural, with black, Jewish and Irish characters. They even had a bar-Mitzvah episode (albeit for the 13 year old son of a hated landlord rather than for Toody, though it would have been interesting to hear him read the Torah- “Vayomer Adonai…ooh-ooh-ooh… I know… el Avram!”) and Molly Picon (one of those actors who was seemingly born 62) was a frequent guest star.
On a note closely related to Car 54 but not at all related to DVD, I’ve known two people who have had long run-ins with Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis and they all agree that he’s very nice and funny but stark-raving mad and a pathological liar. Just thought I’d mention.
No question that it’s hard to find identifiably Jewish characters on TV at that time, but there are some candidates.
George Burns and Jack Benny both headed long-running programs, and it’s hard to imagine that anyone didn’t think of them as Jewish, even if that wasn’t explicitly stated. For that matter, Burns himself, Buddy Hackett, Joey Bishop and others had short-lived sitcoms in the late 50s and early 60s. Never saw any of them, but the leads had to be pretty obvious.
Other ensemble shows, like the aforementioned Car 54 had presumptively Jewish characters in the cast, like the Private Zimmerman in The Phil Silvers Show. Phil himself is another candidate for closet Jew.
Or how about Don Adams on Get Smart! And if the Hekawis on F Troop weren’t Jewish, then I don’t know my Indians!
And before the Bernie that Bridget loved, there was the Rhoda that Mary adored. Not to mention Maude, which started the same year as BLB and had a higher profile Jewish lead.
But there’s no question that the 1960s were the most deracinated television decade, and your comment on Buddy is an astute one. Um, up to the bat part. Sublimate much?
Me confuse Bar-mitzvahs with Bat-mitzvahs? That’s unpossible!
As far as many of the other characters Exapno mentioned from the 1960s, “presumptively Jewish” is the operative phrase. I just read a book about Jews on TV, and the rule for most networks was “viewers don’t want to see Jews, or men with beards.”
Don Knotts DID in fact reprise Mr. Furley on Eight Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter. They had a fantasy episode where the cast of the show played characters on Three’s Company, with Jack Ritter playing Mr. Furley.
At the close of the episode, Jack Ritter wakes up in bed with Don Knotts, as Mr. Furley, who says something on the order of “I KNEW there was something funny about you!” or some such.
Very funny, and I wish I had seen the whole thing…
By the way, Roseanne pulled much the same thing with their “Gilligans Island” episode, where the Roseanne case played the castaways. After the last commercial, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells, and Russell Johnson took a turn as the Roseanne cast. Quite funny.
Better than most so-called sitcoms on TV today, and the original show is FAR better than any modern sitcom.
DVD seemed to fall EXACTLY back into character. MTM would have seemed to too had she been able to move her face.
The thing that bugged me was, this was a nice family show back in the day, but the damned directors or producers (or whosEVER idea it was) just could NOT stand it.
They HAD to add in their little token bit of crude humor in the mix, they couldn’t stand it.
(the hippos copulating, and the ever so “sly” reference to masturbation).
Trigger has been and gone to the taxidermist years ago. He was stuffed and mounted[in the conventional taxidermy way, don’t go gettin’ all excited] and is on display at the Roy Rogers Museum.
Sorry to hear that about rose marie. I really liked her. The DVD show was shown 24-7 (it seemed) in my childhood pre-cable days along with Lucy, Bewitched, Jeanie and Gilligan. Those DVD characters meant alot to me _ I wasn’t DELIGHTED to watch them creep around the stage the other night and act like a “wacky grandma” trying to be hip but, in the end, I was glad they did it. I wonder if all the context was a trial balloon for a new series?
We, CS, discussed this showonce before and then I said to me
certain type of bald guy has “a Mel Cooley” rather than male pattern baldness.
I saw a critic compare it to Kennedy & Camelot re just how they lived & the art on the wall & the furniture &, yes heaven help [the] men who see MTM today [in]rerun[s], the capri pants. This dovetailed with how I always thought [of it] & how to me it was an early 60’s show – not a 50’s show that lasted into the 60’s or something like The Monkees or Room 222 that would come later [in the 60’s]-- it was really about its time – there are no color DvDS (right?) & I think that is perfect. “Camelot” was not in color - except the grisley end.*
I hear you --Walloon – in my memory the BIG film moments: First Inaugural, Berlin, Stock footage for discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis/Bay of Pigs, Peace Core and Moon Announcements, freedom riders and Bull Connor – all that is in b/w – certainly I realize color film and pics exist (as they do of events decades before the 60’s) the images in my mind are in bw — admittedly YMMV.
Reading more about this 2004 show: Reiner agreed to do this only if he could do a new episode. Reiner said: “No sappy sit-down interviews, no teary-eyed cast members.” Reiner came up with an idea to do an entirely brand new episode.
I think I would have prefered the retrospective clip/memory show, but again, to me the format chosen didn’t taint the memory of the show.
Amazing that they all seem to get along so well after 40 years
