Bar Bet Special. First get some blow-hard, know-it-all, damn fool and get the discussion about TV, Movies and who starred in what. You can probably pin him down to betting that Henry Fonda had never starred in a TV Series. Then you can really skunk him good! You see, the great film actor and father of Hanoi Jane actually starred in two (2) separate series, just about a decade apart.
First of all, we saw him as Marshall Simon Frey in THE DEPUTY (Top Gun Prod./Revue Studios/NBC TV Network, 1959-61). The second was today's honoree and subject of our criticism, THE SMITH FAMILY (Don Fedderson Prod./ABC TV Network, 1971-72).
The Cast of characters featured Det. Sgt. Chad Smith (Mr. Fonda),Mrs. Betty Smith (Janet Blair), Daughter Cindy Smith (Darlene Carr), Son Bob Smith* (Ron Howard), Little Son Brian Smith (Michael-James Wixted), Captain Hughes (Charles McGraw), Sgt. Carter (John Martin) and Detective Paperman (Richard Webb, JET JACKSON, himself.)
AS we recall, there was a fairly equal amount of time spent between the "Job" and the Smith Domestic Scene; just as the run down of the cast indicates.
The purpose of the series seems to have been to remind the public at large that their Police are family men, just as they are and are susceptible to all the problems that any one else is. This Series came out as a cultural counterbalance to the Radical Left at the time when Love, Dope and the Challenging of All Authority seemed to be the National Pastime.**
WE remember one particular episode in which the Son Bob (Mr. Ron Howard) during a meeting of the Police Explorer Scouts at the local Police Station (It's set in L.A.), comes into confrontation with an armed robbery. The teen-ager fears that he is yellow and would not have the courage to be the Real Police some day. His Father, Det. Sgt. Smith, reassures him that fear is a normal and healthy emotion and everyone feels it, even the good Sergeant, himself.
THE SMITH FAMILY seemed that it had all the right ingredients for the the times (for regular people, not for Hippy-Yippie-Druggie-type freaks). It lasted only the part of two different seasons.
IN the final analysis, the series may well have suffered from an inability to be easily classified; for it was thought to be a Sitcom, which it was not of course. It was a unique show, doing a particularly specialized job. We'd sure like to see it out on video.***
NOTE: * No, Schultz, we didn't mean "Buffalo BOB" Smith, who was Howdy Doody's Mentor!
NOTE: ** Of course we're referring to "Peaceful Methods of Protest", such as those used by the Youthful Protesters at the '68 Democratic National Convention, here in Chicago; where methods such as the Pitching of Rocks & Bricks, the Throwing of Bags of Human Excrement & Urine and the Spraying of Cops in the Face with Easy-Off Oven Cleaner.
NOTE: *** This is a similar situation that had befallen Jackie Cooper's great series, HENNESSEY (CBS, 1956-62). It was listed as a comedy, but more in the Classic sense; as it was very Dramatic and had a variety of situational types in its episodes.
First of all, we saw him as Marshall Simon Frey in THE DEPUTY (Top Gun Prod./Revue Studios/NBC TV Network, 1959-61). The second was today's honoree and subject of our criticism, THE SMITH FAMILY (Don Fedderson Prod./ABC TV Network, 1971-72).
The Cast of characters featured Det. Sgt. Chad Smith (Mr. Fonda),Mrs. Betty Smith (Janet Blair), Daughter Cindy Smith (Darlene Carr), Son Bob Smith* (Ron Howard), Little Son Brian Smith (Michael-James Wixted), Captain Hughes (Charles McGraw), Sgt. Carter (John Martin) and Detective Paperman (Richard Webb, JET JACKSON, himself.)
AS we recall, there was a fairly equal amount of time spent between the "Job" and the Smith Domestic Scene; just as the run down of the cast indicates.
The purpose of the series seems to have been to remind the public at large that their Police are family men, just as they are and are susceptible to all the problems that any one else is. This Series came out as a cultural counterbalance to the Radical Left at the time when Love, Dope and the Challenging of All Authority seemed to be the National Pastime.**
WE remember one particular episode in which the Son Bob (Mr. Ron Howard) during a meeting of the Police Explorer Scouts at the local Police Station (It's set in L.A.), comes into confrontation with an armed robbery. The teen-ager fears that he is yellow and would not have the courage to be the Real Police some day. His Father, Det. Sgt. Smith, reassures him that fear is a normal and healthy emotion and everyone feels it, even the good Sergeant, himself.
THE SMITH FAMILY seemed that it had all the right ingredients for the the times (for regular people, not for Hippy-Yippie-Druggie-type freaks). It lasted only the part of two different seasons.
IN the final analysis, the series may well have suffered from an inability to be easily classified; for it was thought to be a Sitcom, which it was not of course. It was a unique show, doing a particularly specialized job. We'd sure like to see it out on video.***
NOTE: * No, Schultz, we didn't mean "Buffalo BOB" Smith, who was Howdy Doody's Mentor!
NOTE: ** Of course we're referring to "Peaceful Methods of Protest", such as those used by the Youthful Protesters at the '68 Democratic National Convention, here in Chicago; where methods such as the Pitching of Rocks & Bricks, the Throwing of Bags of Human Excrement & Urine and the Spraying of Cops in the Face with Easy-Off Oven Cleaner.
NOTE: *** This is a similar situation that had befallen Jackie Cooper's great series, HENNESSEY (CBS, 1956-62). It was listed as a comedy, but more in the Classic sense; as it was very Dramatic and had a variety of situational types in its episodes.