This is one of the funniest shows ever on television. It's a shame more people aren't aware of it. There was one episode in particular, the one where Toody and Muldoon were temporarily separated as partners... Oh my God, absolutely one of the funniest things I ever saw on TV! This classic show needs more exposure!! (Or maybe not. Maybe we'll just keep it to ourselves...)
shareActually, the funniest show ever on television. I have never in my life laughed out loud throughout EVERY single episode of ANY television series in the past like I have with this one. The chemistry was absolutely one in a million and the humor was, and still is, on a level far advanced for its time. I literally get goosebumps when I am watching an episode and stop to think how BRILLIANTLY WONDERFUL what I am watching truly is. I have outgrown everything I used to watch except TZ but I will still be watching this when I am old. Oh by the way..."I thought you said ARDVARK"
Take care.
One brilliant episode is where Toody goes undercover in a crime gang, forgets himself and yells "COPS" to alert the gang to the police trap in the warehouse they're robbing-
"He shouted COPS"-Captain Block in disbelief.
"The trouble with New York is you can't get a licence for an aardvark"-Toody
A great show!
This is one of the funniest tv shows ever that very few people remember today. Choosing a favorite episode is very difficult, but to me, the one where the boys get Charlie the drunk a job as a diamond cutter is priceless. what once was a stoic old fashioned business is reduced to a drunken shambles while Charlie stays sober will have you bustin a gut. Comedy gets no better than this and its all clean....imagine that. I really hope the powers that be will finally wise up and get this series out on DVD.
shareIt's great to see "Car 54 Where are You? remembered so well Main Man 1950. ---- I love when Charlie (Larry Storch) describes his bar hopping - 1st The Atlantic Bar and Grill for twenty-five cents one shot "Voom!" then The Mandalay Lounge they give you a big shot "VOOM!" then The Ace of Spades for every two you buy they give you a free shot, then The Blue Diamond for every shot you buy they give you a beer chaser. ----- I absolutely love the way Charlie gets stinking drunk just describing the bars he visits. -------- With so many old TV shows being released on DVD it is an insult to the fans of "Car 54 Where Are You?" that the powers that be, won't release this Nat Hiken classic TV show onto DVD. ----- ----- Rusty
"On screen Winona stands out like a polar bear on black velvet" Timothy Leary about his Goddaughter
Frank S.
Loved this show as a kid. My father worked for the NBC affiliate in Detroit and I remember having an 11x14 portrait of Toody and Muldoon (as well as a beach towel with the entire NBC primetime schedule. The theme song was terrific. Great memories. Wish it showed up on cable more often.
With the exception of one or two episodes I still laugh out loud when I watch any of these - but I do think my personal favorite is where Toody and Muldoon are separated. The looks on the other officers faces when they ride with Toody are brilliant.
One of the best sit coms ever made. And I would dearly love to have a decent copy of the entire series.
I agree. So many people are missing out on one of the very BEST sitcoms of all time. Not only is it hysterically funny everytime, but the writing itself was superb. So was the casting.
Then again, maybe we should just keep it all to ourselves! We Car 54 fans do share a special bond, and perhaps we should remain the exclusive group we are;-)
Yes, indeedy!
"Oooh, oooh!"
My favorite episode would have to be the one where Toody was solving the bank robberies and nobody could figure out how he had become so smart. Turns out the bank robbers were just following the methods done on a tv show the previous night that Gunther happened to watch as well. Of course he was too dumb himself to realize how he was solving them either!
A truly classic show that may have been screwed over to new generations of fans by that god-awful atrocious movie that came out in 94.
Probably most like Seinfeld in its dependance on NY as the setting, crazy characters and plot lines coming together in the end. Fond memories of my father and his favorite episode-"Aardvark". I also love the "Gendarme's Wife".
The University of WI Film school is showing some episodes of Car 54 and the Untouchables tomorrow night.
I just about die everytime I see the one where they sing that same song over and over and drive that poor guy nuts! Was'nt it "By the light of the silvery moon"?
I can do all things through christ who strengthens me. philippians 4:13
..........I may be wrong, but I don't think the series is currently on cable or has been shown anywhere for years. Usually when I look up the IMdB board, for shows from this period, the most I'll find is a post asking if it is being released on DVD.
TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.
Oh, yeah---I saw that episode when I first started watching the show, and it was the first one that almost made me laugh, because it was so insane.
shareIts not shown very often, but they just started showing it on a local station here in Chicago. I was only a little kid when it was originally on, but I saw it on Nick at Nite in the mid 80s and loved it. Loved the humor and the actors. Growing up seeing Fred Gwynne on the Munsters, it was a revelation to see him in a show that was thoughtful and well written.
shareThere has never been nor will there ever be a TV show in which every element on every level work like the pure genius of C54WAY. The writing, acting, editing, so on and so forth is truly remarkable. We who know this are very lucky, to put it mildly. Those who do not "get it" either don't have the capacity of heart and soul or are just plain ignorant. How this show could escape the DVD generation is beyond imagination. There will be no awards, no revivals, and no media attention. Even the actors involved did not know just how powerful this show was. Maybe the writers knew, but it all fell on deaf ears. Anything of true value anyway usually does, except for the fortunate few like us who do "know" and "get' what it is about. Just the fact that two black actors were cast in many of the episodes shows the kind of progressive thinking that went on here. Every show was a fully realized masterpiece! Sure, there are favorites, but to single out one or two as the "best" is truly impossible. I know which ones I like the most and it could be for just a 40 second rant by Charles Nelson Reilly on how Millard Feigenbaum was the first President of the USA or watching a Russian General fixated at a strip joint, or the sight of Tessie The Torso affecting Fred Gwynne so much that he sat in his bedroom for 12 hours with a glass of milk attached to his hand. All these little scenes are priceless and there are at least three like it an episode. At LEAST! Where would we ever find the "Capt. Block" type character with so much intensity and power? In my opinion he definitely stole the show. Throwing a piece of chalk at the blackboard almost on the verge of tears because once again the scheduling had become too crazy and he had to keep making changes!! I could go on and on and on...........but i will stop here. I say its better that this show remain exclusive only to those who truly understand and appreciate the human heart and the value of true comedy. There will never be another one like it. The only one to come awfully close would be Jackie Gleason. Compare every other one and they all fall short (maybe the Stooges too). Close... but no cigar.
shareI agree with everyone's comments - this is one of the best TV shows ever made. ME TV now shows two episodes late Sunday/early Monday morning. I DVR it.
shareI totally agree. I just barely missed watching Car 54 when it was first run. I didn't get to see it until I was stationed at Fort Ord, CA in the early-mid 80s, when it was on a small independent station out of San Jose, and proceeded to laugh my tuchis off. Then, it wound up on Nick at Nite and TV Land for a while. Now, it's finally on ME TV, but it's on at such a god-awful hour, I don't get to see it. My favorite episodes are the Boom-Boom episode with Jan Murray (where all the city workers are supposed to do By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, and the backup vocals are all singing boom, boom, boom, ad infinitum) and the Pocrass episode with B.S. Pully (The local rabbi wants to make sure that this young man going for his Bar Mitzvah; has a nice audience for his ceremony, despite the fact his father is the most hated landlord in the Bronx).
shareThe Jan Murray episode is tops, not to mention the Pocrass episode. No one'll come to Pocrass' son, Joel's, Bar Mitzvah because his father is the beast landlord of The Bronx - "What, are you kidding - I lived in a Pocrass house!" all of the prospective guests scream as they decline Toody and Muldoon's invites. Another great one is the one where Molly Picon moves into her unfinished apartment, no walls, no windows, so-many stories up in a high-rise. Her comments about getting a cool breeze, in the middle of the sweltering summer, "I want you should know, I slept under a blanket, the air was so cool". The banter with the great Charles Nelson Reilly is equally hilarious. I'm laughing just thinking about it. The DVD set of season two is supposed to come out this week. I can't wait for it!
shareLiked both those episodes---especially at the end of the bar mitzvah episode where the cops bring all these dues they're arrested to come to the bar mitzvah, even though they don't like the landlord either.
shareThis was one of the best comedies on television. It was witty, well written and well acted. And it wasn't the typical white bread show of the era. It featured some black actors as police officers and also many New York Jewish characters. Even the characters' names were funny - Toody, Schnauser and Muldoon. I also loved the interaction between the characters and their wives.
shareThey just showed the "Aardvark!" episode on MeTV. (Real title: "How Smart Can You Get?") It was first viewing for me and I was clutching my sides.
Just google the MeTV schedule; they always show two episodes on Sunday morning.
Car 54, Your Show of Shows, You Never Get Rich, The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy in that order are my favorites.
P.S. I met Fred Gwynne on the streets of NY and Nipsey Russel at a restaurant in NY. They were both very nice.
Thank Heavens for MeTV. I record the show every Sunday (it's on very late) and watch it the next day. For a show produced in the early 1960's, it's brilliant. How very sad for all of us it didn't last longer.
shareIt's on one of my cable stations this weekend "DECADES" so I'm binging on the episodes, and haven't laughed so much in a long time.
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