Fish

This was a pretty decent spin off from "Barney Miller". This show pretty much gave Abe Vigoda a chance to expand his character of Fish from more of a "sad sack" to being more of a grouch with a heart of gold. Also, his interaction with Todd Bridges character of Loomis really made this show very enjoyable.

Also, Abe Vigoda had to be one of the hardest working men in show business. This was due to the fact that for the first few months that this show was on he was still working on "Barney Miller". Kudos to Vigoda for his hard work on both shows and not missing a beat.

Ok, I liked "Barney Miller" back in the '70s (its pretty dated now though). And the character Fish was an amusing grumpy old man, played by Abe Vigoda. But this spinoff may be the WORST SITCOM EVER! Imagine a '70s era sitcom with all bad clothing, lame jokes and canned laughter and just add in five extremely annoying smart-aleck kids: you get this show. If you ever do see it on TV (although I don't know if any station would broadcast reruns of this show), you are bound to be amazed that such an awful train-wreck of a sitcom not only made it on the air, but lasted for over a year! Avoid unless morbid curiosity draws you to it - in that case just be amazed.

Barney Miller had it's good points - and Det. Fish was one of them. Abe Vigoda is the perfect downtrodden "Sad Sack". The popularity of the character led some network genius (of which there were many in the 70's) to decide to spin him off into his own series. And "Fish" was it.

Fish and his wife Bernice (Florence Stanley - the female equivalent of Vigoda) were quite plausible as a long-married couple. The kicker was that they had a houseful of adopted children - that looked like the Rainbow Coalition. They could have named it "Ethnic Mismatch Comedy #644". The kids were "intensely annoying". The worst of the bunch was "Victor" - his character made me want to punch my TV set. The plots were the standard "kids get in trouble but family warmth solves it all in 30 minutes" dreck. In short, the long-suffering Fish character turned into a knowing father figure. It was just too far a departure, typical idiot TV Exec thinking - take a popular character, try to mine his popularity but forget completely about why he was popular in the first place.

As far as I can tell, everybody seemed relatively plausible, but it was just such a bad idea it got deservedly cancelled after one season. It sure isn't the worst sitcom ever (Heck, it's *a lot better* than "My Big Fat Greek Life" - but then again, most things are) but it's definitely towards the bottom of the list.

I watched this show when it was originally broadcast. Although it was cute, it didn't quite have the oomph to be a sustainable series. I love Abe Vigoda's look, especially his long-suffering, sad-eyed expression, but it was hard to hang a whole show around his character. Fish was better as a supporting role.

Although Bernice provided the nurturing for the kids, Fish loudly claimed to dislike them and long for a quieter life. My favorite quote from the show was when he blew out the candles on a birthday cake. The girl asked, "Did ya get ya wish, Mista Fish?" and he replied, "NO, you're ALL STILL HERE!"

Although later shows managed to center a sitcom around a negative character, such as Dabney Coleman ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001056 ) in Buffalo Bill ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084992 ), or the puppet alien in ALF ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090390 ), these succeeded because the bad boy was SO extremely bad that you couldn't help laughing. Quietly grumbling Fish with a (well hidden) soft side just didn't go far enough to grab and hold an audience.

Ok, I hated "Barney Miller" back in the 70's (though it does have nostalgic value today). And the character Fish was a nasty grumpy old man, played by Abe Vigoda. But this spin-off may be the BEST SITCOM EVER! Imagine a 70's era sitcom with great 70's clothing, funny jokes, and just add in five extremely talented charming kids: you'll love this show. If you ever do see it on TV (Nick at Nite or TV Land is bound to give this show a run) you are sure to be amazed that this show didn't run forever.