I don't care for cast changes on good TV shows. They throw off the original dynamic between characters that the producers strove so hard to achieve. Even if the show succeeds creatively, it's not the same. A new character that is perceived as having directly replaced another is often resented, justifiably or not.
Barney Miller suffered through the loss of three major characters, only one of whom was replaced. Abe Vigoda's Phil Fish was spun off into his own series and the producers brought in Steve Landesberg to portray Det. Arthur Dietrich, Fish's replacement.
Fish had been an unexpectedly popular character. Like Jimmie Walker's J.J. Evans and John Travolta's Vinnie Barbarino, Vigoda's Fish mugged for the camera and the mid-1970s audience loved it. Landesberg and his character could have sunk the show, but he and the writers were too talented to let that happen. Fish had been prominently weary and decrepit; Landesberg and the writers made Dietrich almost stolid. Yet Landesberg also subtly conveyed Dietrich's carefully hidden desire to show off his considerable knowledge whenever possible. It isn't going too far to say that Landesberg's Dietrich allowed Barney Miller to become a smarter show than it would have been if Vigoda's Fish had remained. The replacement of Vigoda by Landesberg was the rare cast change that worked.
Landesberg died on Monday; the AP provided a brief obituary, as did the New York Times. He was a too-young 69.
UPDATE: The Times got his age wrong: Landesberg was 74. Still too young.
No comments:
Post a Comment