I thought it was a pretty good show especially for the time period as far as sitcoms go. The idea wasn't played and got decent laughs. I liked the characters. Was it a case of it went as far as it could as far as ideas. Or ratings? Or actors wanting to try other projects? The run wasn't really all that long ...wish it would of lasted longer
share It a was a great show, but not huge in the ratings. In its first year it came in at 20th place overall for the season in the prime time ratings at a time when there was no cable and there were only 3 networks. In it's second season it wasn't even in the top 25.
This according to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows - 1946 to Present (Sixth Edition) by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh.
In the 1962-1963 season, new shows like The Beverly Hillbillies & The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, in its second season, had jumped near to the top of the ratings list and had pushed some others farther down the list.
The Beverly Hillbillies was #1 in the ratings for 1962-1963 in its first season. Wagon Train, which was #1 during the 1961-1962 season, fell to #25 during the 1962-1963 season.
In both it's seasons on the air Car 54 aired at 8:30 pm on Sunday and was up against the second half of The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS, which ran for an hour starting at 8 pm. The Ed Sullivan Show was #19, just ahead of Car 54, during the 1961-1962 season and moved to #14 during the 1962-1963 season. On ABC during season one it was up against a western called, The Lawman and in its second season it was up against The ABC Sunday Night Movie. It was probably competition from The Ed Sullivan Show that kept the ratings for Car 54, Where Are You? down.
If Car 54, Where Are You? had gone another season, they would have had to change the lyrics to the theme song mid-season since Idlewild Airport, which is mentioned in the song, became John F. Kennedy International in December 1963 about a month after JFK was shot.
(knock,knock,knock) Penny (knock,knock,knock) Penny (knock,knock,knock) Penny
Did they really have much comedy based word play/ethnic stuff at this time? It was very urban Jewish in it's approach. Not that that's a bad thing but I wonder if much of the country even got a lot of this humor?
Especially confounding since neither of the main characters' portrayal is of a Jewish person. ;-)
I think the humor was pretty generic -- or in the instances where not generic, more New York-related. But not Jewish, really.
There's a book called 'The King of the Half Hour.' It's a biography of Nat Hiken, the creator of both Car 54 and Sgt. Bilko.
The author, David Everitt, says that Hiken chose to end the show after two years. Hiken appeared to be burned out after two years of very intense work on the show. He wasn't getting along with Joe E. Ross, and he had some disagreements with NBC. Everitt says NBC wanted to buy part ownership in Car 54 (Hiken and his business partners appeared to be the sole owners of the show) but Hiken refused. The sponsor, Procter and Gamble, was looking to move the show to CBS, but CBS's 1963-64 schedule was already filled. Because of all of this, Hiken ended the show. That's how the book tells it.
We don't know Car 54's ratings for the 1962-63 season, but Everitt's book suggests they were high enough to justify a third season. Everitt writes that in January of 1963, NBC executives were publicly saying that Car 54 would likely return for a third year. Everitt didn't mention specific ratings information.
It's a good book. It's about Hiken's entire life and career, not just Car 54, but it was an enjoyable read.
Funny, I was just about to put the series on my Wish List at Amazon but wanted to do a little background reading on the quality of the dvd sets first. In the course of my reading I discovered a fascinating article which may actually account (at least in part) for Car 54’s short run. Joe E. Ross was apparently a major pain in the ass – a real prima donna who was dead set on making life miserable for everyone on the show, including Nat Hiken. I’ll post a link to the article momentarily, but it comes down to this in a nutshell: If Car 54 had continued for another season, there was a very real possibility that Ross would have been dumped and Fred Gwynnne paired up with Al Lewis – which later happened, of course, but on a different show.
The article on Ross is at http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/01/king-of-slobs.html
If NBC had kept it one more season in that same time slot, it likely would've been clobbered in the ratings as the 1963-64 season was the Beatles year on Sullivan. Still, that would've been about 30 or so more episodes to enjoy of this great series, which actually had some of its funniest episodes in Season 2.
shareHurt that this show didnt go another few seasons... Ran across an episode on MeTV that I wasnt familiar with that was a great surprise but this show is so funny "Do you Mind... do You Mind!" lolol
shareI still regret it wasn't on at least another season. As for the Beatles on Sullivan, I think Car 54 would have survived that. It was just one episode.
shareIf Car 54, Where Are You? had gone another season, they would have had to change the lyrics to the theme song mid-season since Idlewild Airport, which is mentioned in the song, became John F. Kennedy International in December 1963 about a month after JFK was shot.
Poifect!
shareAnd "high concept" shows like this just didn't tend to last very long in the '60s -- there were a lot of fast, one-season (or so) wonders that would gain some attention for their unique premise or their theme song, everyone would sort of "know" the show, and it would be gone in an inkling.
--
The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.
HE & SHE
VALENTINE'S DAY
GOOD MORNING, WORLD
OCCASIONAL WIFE
I'M DICKENS, HE'S FENSTER
THAT'S LIFE
EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE
THE LONER
CORONET BLUE (a summer replacement series that STILL has me wanting to see additional epiodes 50 yrs later)
May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?
IT's ABOUT TIME (which actually had 2 different premises in a single season show)
share