The second season of BARNEY MILLER opens with "Doomsday," featuring guest star William Windom in the role of the distraught and dispirited George Weber, a broken man bedecked in a belt of dynamite sticks. Windom's role is reminiscent of the Commander Matt Decker character he played only eight years earlier in the strikingly similarly titled "Doomsday Machine" episode of STAR TREK. Weber even physically resembles Decker in his dishevelment and excitability. It was a great performance by a great actor.
The secondary story with Steve Landesberg playing the religious con man Father Paul is well done, even if it makes those of us who take our religion seriously wince as he foreshadows the televangelist and priest scandals that have plagued us since the late 1980s. In many ways, Father Paul is a pioneer of the "emerging church" phenomenon currently playing out its fifteen minutes of fame in certain Christian circles, from his floating "Church of the Street" to his flip faux-Catholic absolution of Weber ("You're gonna be all right"). Landesberg plays the part with aplomb and is it any wonder he was buttonholed by the producers and in just under three months was back on the show playing Detective Arthur Dietrich?
By the by, were the writers Arnold, Hayward and Sultan reading Sinclair Lewis? George Weber and Father Paul are in many ways 1970's reincarnations of George Babbit and Elmer Gantry.
As much as I love the series, I must admit I found this particular episode a little disappointing. Maybe everybody was a little rusty after the break or maybe with "Doomsday" being only the 14th episode the writers and cast were still getting steady on their feet. The applause when cast members first appear on screen and the peals of laughter after lame gags like Chano whispering to Weber reminded me of the scene in ANNIE HALL where Tony Roberts' character tells the technician on his television show to insert a big laugh here.
The producers clearly believed Fish would be the breakout star and so gave him a lot of screen time in this episode, but Fish is pretty much a one-gag character and most effective in small doses.
What helps make BARNEY MILLER such a great show is that it remains timely even a third of a century later. Weber's hysteria about the 40-square mile sea of sludge 20 miles off the cost of Long Island breeding every disease known to mankind is one of a lengthy list of phenomena that differs little from later hysterias-of-the-month like the killer bee invasion, the hole in the ozone layer, Y2K, global warming, etc. Weber demands warrants be issued for the governor and the mayor (who in 1975 were Hugh Carey and Abe Beame), but such demands don't even sound outrageous in 2008 after years of hearing serious calls to impeach Bush and Cheney and charge them with war crimes. Weber despairs, "Corruption, treachery, fighting in the streets, pollution; there's nowhere to hide!" Has anything really changed in 33 years?
One thing that has changed, and it's something I'm sure struck each of us who watched the episode, is seeing the second season opening credits begin with a shot of the New York City skyline circa 1975, prominently featuring the then newly constructed Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Underscoring the sadness that comes when seeing those towers is noting that this episode originally aired on September 11, 1975. All of which for me only added weight and profundity to Barney's otherwise clichéd advice to Weber to be brave, have faith and press on in an effort to make the world better than it is.
The secondary story with Steve Landesberg playing the religious con man Father Paul is well done, even if it makes those of us who take our religion seriously wince as he foreshadows the televangelist and priest scandals that have plagued us since the late 1980s. In many ways, Father Paul is a pioneer of the "emerging church" phenomenon currently playing out its fifteen minutes of fame in certain Christian circles, from his floating "Church of the Street" to his flip faux-Catholic absolution of Weber ("You're gonna be all right"). Landesberg plays the part with aplomb and is it any wonder he was buttonholed by the producers and in just under three months was back on the show playing Detective Arthur Dietrich?
By the by, were the writers Arnold, Hayward and Sultan reading Sinclair Lewis? George Weber and Father Paul are in many ways 1970's reincarnations of George Babbit and Elmer Gantry.
As much as I love the series, I must admit I found this particular episode a little disappointing. Maybe everybody was a little rusty after the break or maybe with "Doomsday" being only the 14th episode the writers and cast were still getting steady on their feet. The applause when cast members first appear on screen and the peals of laughter after lame gags like Chano whispering to Weber reminded me of the scene in ANNIE HALL where Tony Roberts' character tells the technician on his television show to insert a big laugh here.
The producers clearly believed Fish would be the breakout star and so gave him a lot of screen time in this episode, but Fish is pretty much a one-gag character and most effective in small doses.
What helps make BARNEY MILLER such a great show is that it remains timely even a third of a century later. Weber's hysteria about the 40-square mile sea of sludge 20 miles off the cost of Long Island breeding every disease known to mankind is one of a lengthy list of phenomena that differs little from later hysterias-of-the-month like the killer bee invasion, the hole in the ozone layer, Y2K, global warming, etc. Weber demands warrants be issued for the governor and the mayor (who in 1975 were Hugh Carey and Abe Beame), but such demands don't even sound outrageous in 2008 after years of hearing serious calls to impeach Bush and Cheney and charge them with war crimes. Weber despairs, "Corruption, treachery, fighting in the streets, pollution; there's nowhere to hide!" Has anything really changed in 33 years?
One thing that has changed, and it's something I'm sure struck each of us who watched the episode, is seeing the second season opening credits begin with a shot of the New York City skyline circa 1975, prominently featuring the then newly constructed Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Underscoring the sadness that comes when seeing those towers is noting that this episode originally aired on September 11, 1975. All of which for me only added weight and profundity to Barney's otherwise clichéd advice to Weber to be brave, have faith and press on in an effort to make the world better than it is.