Their are not mocking her or otherwise exploiting her death. You could even say they're keeping her memory alive (although not of course out of the goodness of their hearts).

They've been showing this commercial for baseball games for a couple weeks now. It creeped me way out the first time, and I found it if not inappropriate then simply bizarrely out of touch.

Capitalism often kind of gross. Sun rises in east. News at 11.

I think part of what makes this especially morbid is that this series of ads features "updated" versions of classic movie scenes with dialogue redone by the actors recently. The fact that Craig T. Nelson is speaking his new lines to a dead little girl is creepy and unavoidably emphasizes her death. I'm assuming Spielberg and her family had no problem with it though, or else it likely wouldn't have happend.

And of course we all know Craig T. Nelson is the most venal of all the whores in Hollywood.

As Lassus said, no surprise, but it's sad nonetheless that there wasn't somebody who just said, "you know what, let's just do a different movie."

I found it bizarre the first time I saw the commercial and had to explain why to my friend why I commented on it. I'm willing to bet a big portion of the population has no idea she is dead.


Is this really any different then having John Wayne pimp your product 20 some odd years after he is dead? I guess not but it still felt weird.

Who can watch that commerical without recalling that O’Rourke died when she was 12 years old?

Considering that I did not know that until just now, I could.

I didn't know it either, until I read this intro.

Not only did I not know that O'Rourke died when she was 12 years old, I had never heard of her before, and did not even know what movie those DirecTV ads were referring to, and didn't know that was Craig T. Nelson either, being only familiar with him from the TV show "Coach". So my annoyance was limited to the annoyance I feel for the DirecTV commercials in general. But after finding this out, I agree that it's really creepy when you think about recruiting Mr. T. Nelson to sit in a bed and recite lines as the character again, many years after the girl died.

Much like "Mr. Belvedere", I know OF "Poltergeist", but have never seen it. [edit: I do know a couple things about it.]

I saw the commercial and thought about her, but I didn't think it was grossly inappropriate.

The more important question is when will DirecTV realize that these kinds of commercials were only amusing the first 3 times or so. Now they are just trying too hard.

Considering that I did not know that until just now, I could.

I didn't know it either, until I read this intro.

I'm sure if someone did object to the ad, the first response would have been: "Who cares? Most people don't remember her anyway."

Doesn't help.

Much like "Mr. Belvedere", I know OF "Poltergeist", but know nothing about it.

Just a bit outside your frame of reference.

Mr. Belvedere, when I was a kid I loved that show. Saw it on syndication a couple of years back and found it unwatchable. I discovered this was true for virtually all of the 80's sitcoms. ALF, MR. B, Family Ties, Cosby Show, Empty Nest, so on and so on. About the only two shows from the 80's I still like are Cheers and Night Court. All the other shows were busy with teaching us lessons. Watching 80's shows and then watching Seinfeld really puts it in black and white how big of a difference Seinfeld's show was when it first came out. I still can't believe I used to watch some of these shows.

The more important question is when will DirecTV realize that these kinds of commercials were only amusing the first 3 times or so. Now they are just trying too hard.

I'm just sort of surprised that they were able to get so many fairly well-known actors to participate. Nelson is probably the least famous one of the bunch.

what 6 and 7 said. had no idea. poltergeist went right past me when it was released. trying to remember what i was up to then.

when i checked out the girl on imdb some of the details came back to me. she had crohn's disease, and got real sick from it but it seemed to be under control until she collapsed and died one day. geez, that's 20 years ago.

I agree, Cheers and Night Court are the only shows from that era I have observed to be tolerable for adults. Oh, and the Night Court spinoff "The John Laroquette Show".

How do I know about the John Laroquette Show while being ignorant of "Mr. Belvedere"? Well, it's all a rich tapestry.

The poltergeist curse. The other daughter I believe was killed by her boyfriend, and they had a bunch of mishaps while making the second poltergeist.

I'm just sort of surprised that they were able to get so many fairly well-known actors to participate.

i'm surprised they got robert patrick to do the one with a scene from terminator 2. but it looks like he enjoyed it, probably enjoyed the check most of all. i've encountered him in runyon canyon, he's a very nice guy.

I agree, Cheers and Night Court are the only shows from that era I have observed to be tolerable for adults. Oh, and the Night Court spinoff "The John Laroquette Show

Mr. B wrapped up about 3 years before the JOhn Laroquette show, and the John Laroquette show wasn't a spinoff of Night Court. JOhn played a recovery alcoholic in charge of a bus station during the graveyard shift.

I had no idea the little girl was dead. Outside of L.A., the world might be a little bit less fixated on the fates of child actors.

I think one can safely say that Beckett and John Laroquette were virtually the same. Both were new shows for stars in an ensemble cast and both decided to go for the dark edgy comedy with antiheroes and both failed miserably at it.

Dark comedy involving bitter unlikeable people just doesn't work on the small screen, hell, a good chunk of the time it doesn't work on the big screen either.

Am I the only one disturbed by this? And the fact that this commerical comes on seemingly every five minutes makes it worse.

If it's that offensive to you don't watch Fox anymore. Sure, you'll miss the playoffs but overall your life will probably improve.

I remember seeing Poltergeist when I was 12 and got really creeped out by the scene where the dude eats the chicken. I saw it a few years back and couldn't figure out how that ever seemed remotely scary to anyone.

I think one can safely say that Beckett and John Laroquette were virtually the same. Both were new shows for stars in an ensemble cast and both decided to go for the dark edgy comedy with antiheroes and both failed miserably at it.

Wow. I found Becker unwatchable, but I thought that the first season of Laroquette was quite good. It tailed off after they lightened up the show (prostitute stopped hooking and bought the bar, Darryl Mitchell lightened up on the race stuff, etc.), but it was still funny.

I foolishly made a reference to Cliff Clavin (for Crispix, that's the postman on Cheers) the other day to a girl who was 22.

After her blank expression, I explained to her that he was a character on a show called Cheers. Her response: "oh, yeah, I've heard of that, like back when Hawaii Five-O was on." I felt very old.

I also:

1. Didn't know the girl was dead.
2. Don't really see the difference between that and using Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, etc.

Who can watch that commerical without recalling that O’Rourke died when she was 12 years old?

I can. Well, the reason I can is because I didn't know heather died when she was 12.

1. Didn't know the girl was dead.
2. Don't really see the difference between that and using Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, etc.

Agreed. Christopher Walken hosted SNL a few seasons ago and they reprised "The Continental" complete with the voice over of Phil Hartman who has been long since deceased. I didn't really find it creepy though.

I remember seeing Poltergeist when I was 12 and got really creeped out by the scene where the dude eats the chicken. I saw it a few years back and couldn't figure out how that ever seemed remotely scary to anyone.

The same dude peeling his face off always creeped me out. The clown part did it as well. My grandmother used to have a collection of clown dolls and she used to keep them in the guest room. Guess where the kids slept when the family went to visit grandma. Yep, the guest room with the clown dolls, it always freaked us out.

Wow. I found Becker unwatchable, but I thought that the first season of Laroquette was quite good

First seasons for a lot of shows are usually very good but then they run out of material and have to develop "dramatic" story lines. Back when I was a kid I used to be able to judge whether or not a show would last based on how long it took that show to introduce dramatic story lines into their sitcom. If a show started off with four comedic shows and then introduce a "relationship" or problem into the story line you just knew the show wasn't going to make it.

I recall a show by the Max Headroom actor that was initially very funny. Almost no plot, just screwball comedy and antics. I don't even think it survived past its first season. They ran out of material.

Are photographs of dead people creepy? Is video of dead people creepy? I mean, I can see an objection that perhaps she shouldn't be used to pimp Directv without her permission, but we've had reminders of dead people around for a long, long time.

2. Don't really see the difference between that and using Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, etc.

Right -- it is not as she died making the movie, or the poltergeists from the movie killed her.

I'm waiting for the My Sister Sam commercial where Pam Dawber talks to her sister about DirecTV.

Who can watch that commerical without recalling that O’Rourke died when she was 12 years old?

I can too. Was there special circumstances surrounding her death that makes it especially inappropriate or tasteless?

Otherwise, after knowing that she dead, I don't especially care.

I mean, I can see an objection that perhaps she shouldn't be used to pimp Directv without her permission, but we've had reminders of dead people around for a long, long time.
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It's OK since the same people who pimped her when she was still alive are the same ones who are pimping her now.
So I guess it's safe to aassume she'd be OK with it.

Wow. I found Becker unwatchable, but I thought that the first season of Laroquette was quite good. It tailed off after they lightened up the show (prostitute stopped hooking and bought the bar, Darryl Mitchell lightened up on the race stuff, etc.), but it was still funny.

My thoughts exactly. I really liked the first season, but barely watched the second when they lightened it up.

2. Don't really see the difference between that and using Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, etc.

I'd say the main difference is that Bogart, Astaire, Wayne all lived relatively long lives, so their deaths weren't tragic in the way the death of a 12-year-old is. But I hope they would have gotten her parents' permission, in which case if it doesn't bother them, it shouldn't bother the rest of us.

#33 is correct: it's because she was a kid.

Simple problem, simple solution. If she doesn't like the ad, she can come back and haunt the people who made it.

I see a lot of commercials for baseball, where they are pimping the nostalgia of the game. Who is on, but Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Mantle. All dead.

"oh, yeah, I've heard of that, like back when Hawaii Five-O was on"

That might be the greatest thing I've ever heard...seeing that the real Five-O was off the air a few years before Cheers started.

Almost as good as the time a girl asked me to play some Elton John for Elvis' birthday...because "they both started at Sam Records"

I recall a show by the Max Headroom actor that was initially very funny. Almost no plot, just screwball comedy and antics. I don't even think it survived past its first season. They ran out of material.

"Doctor, Doctor!" It was hilariously lowbrow. Drinking/spit-taking of urine samples, stepping in bedpans, "bend over and cough" jokes. I thought it was a riot. No...seriously.

I recall a show by the Max Headroom actor that was initially very funny. Almost no plot, just screwball comedy and antics. I don't even think it survived past its first season. They ran out of material.

Doctor, Doctor was hysterical. Of course, I was in college then, so I reserve the right to change my mind if I saw it now and it wasn't funny. It did make three seasons, but is not available on DVD, from what I can tell.

Or who can forget the first ER starring Gould? That was pretty funny for awhile as well.


Like others have said it is disturbing because it has to do with a child. I don't think any child's death is looked back on in fondness. It is an unrealized life, whereas Fred Astaire, John Wayne, and others lived their life for many years.


How often does one see in advertisements dead children* hawking goods?


*as in children that died young not child actors that grew up i.e. Shirley Temple.

I see I got the first season and second confused as one whole season.

I remember watching those first 6 episodes and thinking it was very funny, then I recall it went on hiatus and when it came back it wasn't very funny and I stopped watching it.

I only remember two things from Doctor, Doctor.

One is a scene where the doctor's got new "modern" uniforms which were basically white spandex body suits complete with a hood. They looked like walking sperm. The other scene had two doctors fencing and saying "parry" "thrust" and saying something like that would be a cool name to have. I still recall that scene every time I do a crossword puzzle.

You son of a #####. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you? You son of a #####, you left the bodies and you only moved the head stones. You only moved the head stones. Why? Why?

First seasons for a lot of shows are usually very good but then they run out of material and have to develop "dramatic" story lines. Back when I was a kid I used to be able to judge whether or not a show would last based on how long it took that show to introduce dramatic story lines into their sitcom. If a show started off with four comedic shows and then introduce a "relationship" or problem into the story line you just knew the show wasn't going to make it.

I don't know if I agree with that. I mean, a "will they/won't they" relationship can kill a show, but it usually takes a while. And it can actually be handled well, but the show has to come up with something else. If you drag it on, it becomes monotonous, but once it's been resolved, you have to come up with something new. There are many, many examples of it destroying a show, but there are a few examples of it working:

1. Cheers - After Sam-Diane played out, Diane left the show
2. Wings - After Joe and Helen got together, they stayed together and went to a new dynamic
3. Friends - Ross and Rachel were together, then they broke up, but the show didn't continue to dwell on them

In my mind, you can tell when a sitcom is out of ideas when they decide that it will be funny if everyone is just a loser, so we'll laugh at how pitiful they are.

Night Court is a classic example. It was very funny in the early years. The characters were quirky, but consistent. Then Dan went from conniving womanizer to pathetic loser, Harry couldn't get a date, etc. It fell off a cliff.

Wings went through the same thing. At first Brian was on a date with a different girl every show. And Fay also dated a lot. Then in one episode they all run into each other at some cheesy date night thing that they made fun of people for attending. They just ran out of ideas.

as in children that died young not child actors that grew up i.e. Shirley Temple.

Well, Shirley Temple's not dead.

Anyway, I guess I can see the point that people are making in that it was a child's death. The analogy to other dead people isn't really appropriate. So I suppose it's a little creepy, but it doesn't really bother me.

I hear there's a channel called TCM where they show movies all day starring almost exclusively dead actors. How tasteless!

Okay, with that out of the way, I, too, loved Doctor, Doctor when it was on. I caught some reruns on, I think, USA about eight years ago and did not like what I saw. So I stopped watching the reruns and returned to my lovely memories of Matt Frewer throwing a banana peel on the ground explicitly so he could fall on it as a sight gag.

Was there special circumstances surrounding her death that makes it especially inappropriate or tasteless?

not really. see my post #14.

night court was unwatchable. but i'm not an objective judge of sitcoms. my alltime favorite is barney miller. i couldn't get enough of steve landesberg and det. yamana.

That might be the greatest thing I've ever heard...seeing that the real Five-O was off the air a few years before Cheers started.

Glad someone appreciated that. I imagine a few posters were confused as to why that would be so crushing.

Right -- it is not as she died making the movie, or the poltergeists from the movie killed her.

Yea, a DirecTV ad with a digitally created Vic Morrow in the movie "Twilight Zone" would probably be in poor taste.

This, not so much.

I, too, loved Doctor, Doctor when it was on. I caught some reruns on, I think, USA about eight years ago and did not like what I saw.

Hmmm... I'd really like to see it on DVD. I do look for it every once in a while on sites like the Digital Archive Project, but it's not there. Someone must have copies. That reminds me, I never did download all 73 episodes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

1. Cheers - After Sam-Diane played out, Diane left the show

I thought the Sam-Diane dynamic was the worst part of Cheers and the show really started getting good when they dropped that dynamic and focused on comedy instead. I don't know if you can really tell based on the ratings but Cheers didn't go #1 until after Shelley Long had left.
As for Wings I always considered a second tier sitcom, I don't think it ever did really well in terms of ratings. I think it got as high as 19th overall one year and that is about it.

As for Friends I don't know if one can say they didn't dwell on them. The Ross and Rachael relationship was in practically every single episode and they milked that dynamic from pretty much every angle possible.

I used to watch a lot of sit-coms, now I don't think I watch any.

I remember most of the ones mentioned here. Like others, I enjoyed the John Laroquette show when it started, but it faded fast. NEVER liked Becker.

I liked Night Court a lot, because it came at a time when a lot of sit-coms were going for a certain realism/verisimilitude, and Night Court didn't really bother with that, without going totally over the edge of reality like the even earlier sit-com period of Jeannie, Bewitched, Munsters, My Mother the Car, etc.

my alltime favorite is barney miller. i couldn't get enough of steve landesberg and det. yamana.

Steve Landesberg's Detective Dietrich is my favorite TV cop ever. I hope they get around to releasing the Barney Miller DVDs from his seasons, since it took four years for them to release Season 2.

Are there any sitcoms left?

I don't really know, I hardly watch TV anymore and I don't watch basic broadcast TV anymore. So from my perspective all the shows appear as 1 hour long episodes and any comedy it seems is now on syndication. Is Everybody Loves Raymond and Scrubs still pumping out new shows?

What are the hit sitcoms of today?

Are there any sitcoms left?

I don't really know, I hardly watch TV anymore and I don't watch basic broadcast TV anymore. So from my perspective all the shows appear as 1 hour long episodes and any comedy it seems is now on syndication. Is Everybody Loves Raymond and Scrubs still pumping out new shows?

What are the hit sitcoms of today?

The sitcom is not dead, but it's pretty unhealthy. NBC has its Thursday night lineup (Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, plus something else), and CBS offers Monday and, I believe, a second night now. The best-rated, if promos are to be believed, is 2 1/2 men.

What are the hit sitcoms of today?

I don't know about hits, but Scrubs was great. It's lost a bit, but still good. The best comedy on right now is How I Met Your Mother. Not only is it funny, but the plots actually make sense. Plus they reference shows from past years, and foreshadow future developments that might not happen for 15 more episodes.

EDIT: I haven't watched the shows referenced in 55, except the Office, which is also quite good.

God, 2 1/2 men, really? Charlie Sheen cannot do TV, plus he doesn not appear to be aging well. I think I saw some of those shows back when it first came on, thought it was horrible.

I don't know if Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a sitcom, but it's a half hour comedy show and by far the funniest thing on tv.

I think I saw one episode of How I met your Mother, it has Bob Saget as the voice over and the episode had to do with a goat. I wasn't all that impressed with it. Thought the comedy was stale and the acting to be subpar.



Thinking of 2 1/2 men reminded me of another show that started off really funny and then went downhill rather quickly when it ran out of material. 2 guys a girl and a pizza shop I believe it was called. The first season was whacky comedy and then after that pfft.

I don't know if Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a sitcom, but it's a half hour comedy show and by far the funniest thing on tv.


Funny show, forgot about it. I still can't believe they got Danny DeVito.

NBC has its Thursday night lineup (Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, plus something else)

Scrubs was the 4th show, but it's on a different network now. Last night, NBC had some SNL election thing on in that slot.

I don't know if Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a sitcom, but it's a half hour comedy show and by far the funniest thing on tv.

Yes, I was limiting my list to network TV. The cable channels (FX, AMC and USA, in particular) are putting out far more interesting fare, though Sunny's about the only traditional comedy of the bunch.

Edit: FX just added Testees. I didn't see it, so I can't comment on its quality.

I think the problem is sitcoms are really expensive to produce, and its hard for them to break into the top ten in ratings unless they make it huge (a la Friends or Seinfeld) in which case they become terribly expensive.

Meanwhile, a top ten reality show like "Dancing with the Stars" costs next to nothing to produce.

I've tried to watch How I Met Your Mother a few times, but it has a laugh track and I really can't get past that. I can't think of a single good reason shows ever had them and now that it's not the norm anymore, it's nonsensical for a show to be using them.

I think the problem is sitcoms are really expensive to produce, and its hard for them to break into the top ten in ratings unless they make it huge (a la Friends or Seinfeld) in which case they become terribly expensive.

Yes, but on other hand, sitcoms have historically been far more valuable properties in syndication than hour-long dramas, while reality shows have almost no value in syndication.

I think I saw one episode of How I met your Mother, it has Bob Saget as the voice over and the episode had to do with a goat. I wasn't all that impressed with it. Thought the comedy was stale and the acting to be subpar.

The acting isn't all that great (Marshall and Lilly, specifically), I'll give you that. But the goat is a good example of what I was talking about. They went through the whole show talking about the goat, and then at the end the narrator says that the goat wasn't there on his 31st birthday, but on his 32nd. I'm fairly confident that they will A) not mention the goat again for the entire year, and B) have a birthday episode with the goat in a year.

house of payne is pretty good. arrested development was good.

Funny show, forgot about it. I still can't believe they got Danny DeVito.

Which reminds me that I used to love Taxi -- now there was one hell of an ensemble cast.

I also loved Barney Miller.

I can't watch "Always Sunny in Philadelphia". I have never liked comedy based on the precept that everyone on the show is stupid and unlikeable, so you will laugh when they do stupid, bad things, and then bad things happen to them in turn.

I still can't believe they got Danny DeVito.

Poop is funny!

And Testees was terrible.

Sorry, Friends was not a sitcom. It was just a sit. To call it a sitcom would imply that there was something to laugh at when watching it.

I loved Dietrich too. I loved the episode when he was going to the 3 Stooges film festival.

I don't know if Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a sitcom, but it's a half hour comedy show and by far the funniest thing on tv.

This.

First seasons for a lot of shows are usually very good but then they run out of material and have to develop "dramatic" story lines.

I think what happens a lot of the time is the networks get really excited about having something new and edgy on. Then after the first season, if the ratings are disappointing, the suits push the creative people to be a little less daring, a little more conventional.

The classic example is Denis Leary's "The Job," in which he played an alcoholic, womanizing, pill-popping, racist cop. By the second season, the mistress and the racism and the pills were gone, and then there was no third season. The first season was very funny, though.

The amazing about Cheers is that out of all the characters on that show they pick Frasier to do a spin-off, a minor and somewhat annoying character. I wonder how that worked. Did Woody, George, and Ted all pass?

Yea, a DirecTV ad with a digitally created Vic Morrow in the movie "Twilight Zone" would probably be in poor taste.

I was thinking more on the lines of the two kids who died along with Vic Morrow -- the ones who were hired illegally to circumvent child labor laws.

I think what happens a lot of the time is the networks get really excited about having something new and edgy on. Then after the first season, if the ratings are disappointing, the suits push the creative people to be a little less daring, a little more conventional.

The classic example is Denis Leary's "The Job," in which he played an alcoholic, womanizing, pill-popping, racist cop. By the second season, the mistress and the racism and the pills were gone, and then there was no third season. The first season was very funny, though.


This is true. The Job was much funnier in the first season, but it got low ratings. This is where Arrested Development was different. It got low ratings, stuck to its guns, and still got low ratings. But it had three funny seasons before getting canned instead of one funny and one not funny.

never seen the film, never heard of the actor, didn't know her fate and now that i do the only emotion i can work up is 'meh'.

I loved Dietrich too. I loved the episode when he was going to the 3 Stooges film festival.

But you probably like Schemp.

HIMYM is a really good show. The characters on it aren't idiots/losers for the sake of advancing the plot, and Greg is spot on in that they often make jokes that reference/foreshadow other episodes without going over the top doing it.

They also do a lot of different things with regards to storytelling that are fun -- the brunch episode where they show a scene at the beginning and then show how each of three narrative lines intersected to get them there, or the lucky penny episode where they explore cause, effect and uncertainty.

house of payne is pretty good.

I find this hard to believe

But you probably like Schemp.

We have nothing to talk about.

Kill yr television.

The classic example is Denis Leary's "The Job," in which he played an alcoholic, womanizing, pill-popping, racist cop. By the second season, the mistress and the racism and the pills were gone, and then there was no third season. The first season was very funny, though.

It's a good thing Profit went off the air when it did (i.e. "almost immediately")

the brunch episode where they show a scene at the beginning and then show how each of three narrative lines intersected to get them there

Man, I'm sick of that gimmick. In the last couple of years, it seems like you can't have a drama without half the episodes starting with a non sequitur scene and then a caption saying "Two Weeks Earlier..."

The other daughter (in Poltergeist) I believe was killed by her boyfriend

That actress would have been Dominique Dunne. Her father is perennial O.J. chronicler Dominick Dunne (who, putting this back on-topic, was a college classmate of George Steinbrenner).

Or who can forget the first ER starring Gould? That was pretty funny for awhile as well.

That ER also costarred ... George Clooney.

I don't know if Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a sitcom, but it's a half hour comedy show and by far the funniest thing on tv.

This.


I cannot argue with that.

How do I know about the John Laroquette Show while being ignorant of "Mr. Belvedere"? Well, it's all a rich tapestry.

To add to this small slice of unattributable TV trivia, the small homely cop on that show was the young pretty wife of Mozart in Amedeus. I had to go online to confirm that when I heard it, as my eyes were not up to the challenge.

Greg Pope you are an evil man. That Digital Archive link, particularly the MST3K files, could pose is significant barrier to me getting anything done in the next several months...

Always Sunny and The Office are the funniest things on TV.

And this thread reminds me that I should watch The Job again.

I will always stand up for the John Laroquette Show as one of the most underrated shows and missed opportunities in the history of television. As previously mentioned, the network ###### it over after season one (even literally, I swear to God, making them turn up the lights on the set.) In addition to an excellent performance by a peak form Laroquette, the cast featured Chi McBride long before anyone knew who he was. The writing staff included Mitchell Hurwitz (who went on to create Arrested Development) and Pam Brady who was hugely influential behind the scenes of South Park (even being the only not Trey Parker or Matt Stone writer to get a credit on the movie.) It was one of the few shows to go out of its way to have a diverse, multi-racial show without handicapping itself with boring characters or repetitive stereotypes. The network did its best to kill the show after season one and it never was the same, but season one was a great show that could have gone on to become one of the great sitcoms in television history.

my alltime favorite is barney miller. i couldn't get enough of steve landesberg and det. yamana.

You know, I remember liking barney miller a lot but for the life of me I cannot remember a single episode. Hell I can describe the set and I cannot remember a single episode. I mean, I remember episodes from small wonder, and ALF, and even Bill and Ted's excellent adventure the cartoon but I cannot remember a single episode of barney miller.

????

Hash Brownies?

Chano suffering PTSD?

Harris makes a porn movie.'

Binder, the cutthroat vigilante?

Wojo accused of police brutality.

The Homicide episode? (Luger got the squad all assigned to investigate homicide cases)

Blood on the Badge?

Jack Soo dying?

People still watch commercials? How quaint.

Hash Brownies?

That sounds familiar, is that the one in which yamana (I think) can't stop singing?

The Wojo/police brutality sounds familiar too.

When I watch these old sitcoms that I have not seen since the 70's or early 80's I always think I wont remember them until about half-way through an episode when I can quote lines.

I cannot believe someone went back and watched Empty Nest and it wasn't funny. How could that be? ;)

I'm willing to bet a big portion of the population has no idea she is dead.

I had no idea.

I can't believe you guys didn't know she was dead. I hated horror movies and never saw that one. And still, I had heard the story many times about how she and several others involved in the movie had met with terrible fates. Of course, I'd also heard that Mikely from the Life commercials had died from pop rocks and Coke.

You know, I remember liking barney miller a lot but for the life of me I cannot remember a single episode.

wow, really? all those mentioned above i can still recall ... how about the one where the guy didn't want to fall asleep in the holding cell because he was afraid of a succubus? everybody looks at dietrich cuz they don't know what that is, and he just deadpans 'it's the opposite of incubus'.

or the guy who insisted he was a werewolf ... just about the time the moon is coming out he starts squirming and saying he's growing hair and itching all over and yamana, who is completely spooked by it, tells him 'don't scratch!!!'.

i liked just about every character on that show. lt. luger was just hilarious. james gregory was a great actor. they had just about every good stage actor in new york on that show at one point or another. not the heavyweights, the good ones who knew how to act.

there was an arc about a gay cop who was closeted. it was years ahead of its time.

I saw a mention of the original ER and it brought back memories of the crush I had on Mary McDonnell. Whew she was pretty!

30 Rock is the best active sitcom on TV. That is all.

Anyone under age 25 who hasn't seen the following classic sitcoms should do themselves a favor and check out the DVD's. There is not one comedy on TV today that compares with any of them.

The Odd Couple, Taxi, Barney Miller, All in the Family, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show. I'm sure I'm missing some others.

The episode of BM where Deitrich passed a polygraph test after saying he was an alien, and the reactions he got from everyone was classic.

But (just to get this thread back to baseball) my favorite scene was when Luger bought Wojo's baseball that was autographed by oldtime Yankees and Giants. Wojo secretly got a counterfitter who was already in the jail to sign the famous names on a different ball. After Luger bought the new ball he proudly read off the names aloud: Lou Gehrig, Carl Hubbell, Babe Ruth, John Hancock. Hancock, I don't remember him. Said Wojo "He was an original Yankee." Said Luger: "Ah, right, utility infielder."

I guess you had to be there.

Now, get off my lawn.