A couple of days ago, in my mini-tribute to the late Steve Landesberg, I posted a clip from an episode of Barney Miller Tracking down that scene—scanning through the three seasons that are available on DVD—brought me so much joy, I’ve strung together many, many more clips. It’s 9 minutes and by no means complete. (Hell, there’s no Inspector Luger and no clips from the legendary hash brownie episode. Sorry!)
You can see how much of a Jack Soo junkie I am. Jesus, that guy was funny. Gratefully, the show’s writers occasionally gave him a chance to show his range. My favorite example was the Season 3 Christmas episode, which aired December 23, 1976. His character, Nick, gets a date with a Japanese mugging victim (Nobu McCarthy), not knowing she’s a hooker. I’ve edited that plotline into a single 7 minute clip. It’s funny, it’s sweet, it makes me wish Soo had done more straight-forward acting.
Happy Holidays!!
I recently nominated Nick’s hash brownie fueled “mushy mushy” as the single funniest moment in the 70’s sitcom cannon. It lost to WKRP’s falling turkeys, which I guess I can live with. Still my favorite, though.
And where did this nominating go on? I’m curious.
That is a close call! That whole episode, “Hash,” should be seen by every American who has even a passing interest in humor, drugs, changing times, NYC in the 70s–well, an interest in anything, really. That’s probably the reason I didn’t use any clips from it: where do you mark IN and where do you mark OUT? (That settles it: I’m watching it tonight!)
To answer your question as to where this nominating and voting took place — a bar.
Probably your first guess.