CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? MARATHON
Decades, 12:00 p.m. ET
Maybe it’s because of the pandemic, and the realization that there are a lot of viewers out there eager to watch just about anything new or interesting – but whatever the reason, DECADES has really upped its game this month. Already in June, it’s presented weekend marathons of Love, American Style and The Monkees. And this weekend, it presents a two-day twofer: marathon showings of two early TV comedies created by Nat Hiken. Today, beginning at noon, it’s the 1961-63 police sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?, which featured Fred Gwynne (pre-Munsters, and long pre-My Cousin Vinny) and Joe E. Ross (“Oooh! Oooh!”). And tomorrow, it’s the classic 1955-59 Army sitcom starring Phil Silvers. That series started under the title You’ll Never Get Rich, eventually was renamed The Phil Silvers Show to reward its powerfully popular star – then, in reruns, was renamed Sgt. Bilko. But this rose, by any other name, still smells as funny. It won Emmys for Best Comedy Series for three years running – and after that, Hiken wrote and produced and created Car 54. Which, by the way, boasts some wonderful period location footage of New York, and, even more valuably, one of TV’s all-time great theme songs.