User Reviews

This series was a favorite of my boyhood. I have a trace memory of this episode that I'd like to confirm with the IMDb membership. The episode closes with Toody and Muldoon held "prisoner" by a federal agent with a tommy gun, to keep their antics from ruining the presidential visit. In the room with them is a TV broadcasting the visit, using an actual news clip of a ticker-tape parade with a close-up of the president waving from an open limousine. If I remember correctly, there were two versions of this scene, one with a news clip showing President Kennedy, and a later one with his successor, Lyndon Johnson. However, I learned from IMDb history that the series ended before Kennedy's assassination. Does anyone recall the LBJ clip? Maybe from short-lived syndication? At 55 years of age, my memory can play tricks on me! Thanks.

In 1962 the subject matter of this episode was funny. It still is, but there is a sense of sadness - only one year later the episode would never have been aired...or even written.

The plot of this episode was that the Police Department has chosen Captain Block's Precinct for a special detail. President John Kennedy is coming to New York City, and needs two police officers to accompany his car (as drivers and guards). So the officers chosen are Gunther Toody (Joe E. Ross) and Francis Muldoon (Fred Gwynne). Block (Paul Reed) is not really happy at the selection, but he calls in the two to inform them, and then finds the real flaw of the selection. Muldoon is rendered weak - kneed by the prospect of being in charge of the President's safety. He has long been a fan and admirer of Kennedy, and he can't imagine having his hero's life in his hands. Block and Toody try to calm him down, and he does make an effort. And all this is happening before the arrival of the one person who can put the kibosh on the entire assignment: Simon Oakland.

Oakland was a favorite character actor of mine. Usually playing villains or negative types (like his police lieutenant in WEST SIDE STORY) he did have a gift for comedy. In particular his recurring role as the harried editor to Darren McGavin on KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, he tried to control what he thought was his ace reporter's flights of fancy as best he could - and to little avail.

He has the same approach here. His Secret Service man , Mr. Cordner, is all business, and serious. Yet he can't understand why Muldoon is acting so nervous. Muldoon is not apparently happy about driving Kennedy. He is really reluctant to do so. At one point, he even asks if Muldoon likes the President. And Toody is not helping his friend and partner - he tries to reduce the entire issue by dismissing the importance of their would-be passenger. "The President! The President!", he says to an astounded Cordner, "You make it sound so important!" They pass the first session with Cordner barely. Then they try relieving Muldoon of his anxiety by using tranquilizers. Naturally too many of these are popped by Muldoon...with interesting results.

It actually is a funny episode to the conclusion. But given the events of November 22, 1963...it's a little odd to see it now.

As I understand it, yes, the original broadcast version of this episode had clips of Kennedy at the end, but when the show was released into syndication around 1964, they substituted clips of LBJ in place of the original ones (which is odd, since although they mostly defer to just saying "the President", Kennedy's name *is* mentioned a couple times). However, I think this makes the episode even MORE jarring, as it gives the impression that the show's activity is taking place AFTER the Kennedy assassination, and the backdrop of a presidential motorcade in a comedy show is still ripe for satire. Nevertheless, a truly hilarious episode in retrospect...I really wish there were better prints of the original episodes available so it could be released on DVD as a collection. Wonderful, laugh-out-loud comedy like this is rare these days!

Just had to make a comment after viewing the 1962 version of this episode on local late night broadcast TV. Near the beginning of the show there are clear views of two newspapers date August 8, 1962. This is two months before the Cuban missile crisis. At that time the Secret Service apparently thought it appropriate to send 'The President' through the streets in a car driven by Toody and Muldoon. The big laugh of the plot is Muldoon, a New York policeman, eating large quantities of tranquilizers and anti-depressant pills before and during driving. (Police prescription drug abuse was much funnier in those days). Near the end of the episode, JFK and Jackie are seen sitting high on the back of an open convertible. They are being driven through the pedestrian-packed streets of Manhattan while a half-dozen Secret Security men jog along-side the car. The scene evokes bitter-sweet memories of simpler times.