Cop Week: Nobody's Perfect

There is little photographic or video evidence of this series but the picture of Clouseau is fitting. "Nobody's Perfect" was an Arne Sultan prduction, the same man who brought you "Holmes and Yo-Yo". It's premise was a little more grounded, Det. Insp. Roger Hart (Played by actor Ron Moody) was brought from Scotland Yard to San Francisco in exchange program.

Hart was a competant police officer but he was also quite bumbling, where ever he went so did calamity, as things would often get crazy in a slapstick kind of way. It was a vapour thin attempt to cash in on the popularity of Blake Edward's Pink Panther series.

Nobody's Perfect was cancelled by ABC before it aired, which was pretty damned rare. It wasn't regulated to a mid season status, it debuted in June of 1980. Summer time is traditionally known as "Garbage Dump Theatre" for lost pilots and this launch showed how much confidence ABC had.

I remember it pretty well for some reason, even the episode "It was a very good year" which was about a stolen rare bottle of wine. Hart and his superior officer end up drinking the wine after the bottle breaks and discover it tastes like crap. I don't understand why that memory is strong, but it is....

Cop Week: She's The Sheriff

1987 saw the rise of first run syndicated sitcoms to our households and one of the most talked about was "She's The Sherriff" the big TV comeback of Suzanne Somers. This show actually generated a lot of attention, as many network afiliates were putting "Sheriff" on prior to their prime time programming.

The series revolves around Hildy (played by Somers) whose husband dies in the line of duty, so she takes his badge and becomes Sheriff. Plotting against her is Deputy Max Rubin (played by the easy to dislike George Wyner) who feels he deserved the job. Veteran actor Lou Richards was also in the mix as a dumb guy deputy.

The results were rather weak, like a lot of first run syndicated shows, "Sheriff" didn't have the polish and much of the humour seemed forced. Somers proved she could play something other than a dumb blonde but that wasn't holding anybody's attention. "She's the Sheriff" was cancelled after 44 episodes, lasting much longer than a lot of syndicated sitcoms..

Cop Week: The Thin Blue Line

I had forgotten about this great British made series until I started googling "police" and "sitcom" but I watched an entire season when CBC ran it here ages ago. Thin Blue Line stars Rowan Atkinson (obviously best known for Mr Bean and Blackaddar) as Raymond Fowler, a nerdy and somewhat uptight Police Inspector.

Fowler is dedicated to his police work to a fault, he also enjoys model kits but he's not all that into sex, much to the chagrin of his live in girlfriend Pat, who also is a police officer. It's the Ropers again from the country that first created them.

The rest of the crew on "Thin Blue Line" range from the sloppy cop, the straight laced professional female officer, the nemesis detective and the old guy on his way to retirement. It's a funny ensemble and Atkinson is so good in this kind of role that the whole thing clicks. Like all good Britcoms, there are only 14 episodes, leaving you wanting more..

Cop Week: The Last Precinct

The Last Precinct was a shortlived attempt by NBC (and oddly Stephen J Cannell) to capture some of the popularity of the "Police Academy" movies for the small screen. The concept was pure 1980s, all the oddball officers including an Elvis Impersonator, a fat guy, a transgender were all put into a bad neighbourhood to keep the peace under the guidance of Captain Rick Wright (Adam West!) who was a bit of an oddball himself.

The cast included Rick Ducommun, Ernie Hudson, Wings Hauser and James Cromwell. It aired in the Spring of 1986 (after a Superbowl launch) and just faded away.

There was a lot of that "Snobs vs Underdogs" theme in the series, as the team faced opposition from other better funded precincts.

The reason I think this died was they were doing a watered down version of something that wasn't that great to begin with, sorry if I've hurt any feelings here but I never thought much of the Police Academy movies. I did enjoy it while it lasted however, it was goofy and fun to watch, especially West, who played his usual out of his mind character...