Car 54, Where Are You?


Car 54, Where Are You?, an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963, is the story of two New York City police officers based in the fictional 53rd precinct in The Bronx. Car 54 was their patrol car. The series was filmed in black-and-white and had a rotating group of directors, including Al De Caprio, Stanley Prager and series creator Nat Hiken - who helmed several episodes. Filming was on location, and at Biograph Studios in the Bronx.

Synopsis

The series follows the adventures of New York City Police Department officers Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon , assigned to Patrol Car 54. Toody is short, stocky, nosy, and not very bright and lives with his loud, domineering wife, Lucille. College-educated, Muldoon is very tall, quiet, and more intelligent. A shy bachelor, he lives with his mother and two younger sisters and eschews the notion of being married.

Cast

Many of the scripts were written by Nat Hiken, who won an Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Emmy Award for his work on the series. Hiken had previously produced The Phil Silvers Show, which featured Joe E. Ross and Beatrice Pons as a married couple.
Car 54 was originally sponsored by Procter & Gamble.

Cars

The police cars used for the series were actually bright red and white, which appeared as the proper shade of gray for an NYPD car on black-and-white film. NYPD cars of that era were black and green with a white roof and trunk. Two Plymouth Savoys were used as the title vehicle during the series – a 1961 Savoy during the first season and a 1963 Savoy during the second.
During the closing credits of episodes in the second season, a "futuristic" police car was seen driving on the streets of New York City.

Theme song

The theme song's lyrics were written by series creator, writer, and director Nat Hiken, with music by John Strauss.
There's a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights;
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights;
There's a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild...
Car 54, Where Are You??

The line "Khrushchev's due at Idlewild" referred to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev arriving a year before the series began in September 1960 at New York's Idlewild Airport, to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Broadcast history

Car 54, Where Are You? originally aired Sunday at 8:30–9:00 p.m. on NBC, following Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and preceding Bonanza.

Guest stars

Several celebrities, including Hugh Downs, Mitch Miller, Jan Murray, and Sugar Ray Robinson, appeared as themselves. Among others cast in various episodes are:
Car 54, Where Are You? was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, earning one.
; 1961–1962
; 1962–1963
Car 54, Where Are You? first entered into syndication in January 1964. It began airing on the cable channel Nick at Nite in 1987 and ran on the network until 1990. It was seen for less than one year on the short-lived Ha! Channel in 1990-91 and also aired on another Viacom-owned cable channel, Comedy Central, in the early 1990s. In 2016, the show aired early Sunday mornings on MeTV, and also aired occasionally on its sister network Decades.

1994 film

Car 54, Where Are You? was made into a 1994 film, filmed mainly in Toronto, starring John C. McGinley as Muldoon, David Johansen as Toody, and Rosie O'Donnell. The film was made in 1990 but not released until 1994 due to the bankruptcy of Orion Pictures. It was a box office bomb when it was first released and was poorly received by critics. Original cast members Lewis and Russell appeared in the film.

Home media

In the early 1990s, Republic Pictures Home Video releases some episodes on VHS. Shanachie Entertainment announced in the fall of 2010 it was releasing season one on DVD Region 1 on February 22, 2011. The second and final season was released on April 24, 2012.

Episode list

The show had two seasons, each with 30 episodes.

In popular culture