Rest in Peace Reinhold Weege

In the early to mid 1970s, the television sitcom genre went through a renaissance of sorts, moving away from the sugar-coated programs of the 1950s and 60s and becoming more reflective of the cultural and societal change occurring in America: the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protest to name but a few factors.

A show that reflected the grittiness of the time was Barney Miller, which hit the airwaves in the fall of 1975. Created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker and starring Hal Linden in the titular role, the program was a workplace sitcom set in the squad room of the fictional 12th Precinct, located in New York’s Greenwich Village.

Like all sitcoms, Barney Miller had its fair share cliché dim-witted characters and the misunderstanding plot lines, but the show often had a quality of writing to the show that was clever, edgy, and damn funny. One of those writers, Reinhold Weege, died this past week at the age of 63.

Although CBS would air a total of 168 Barney Miller episodes and eventually end in 1982, many of the 34 episodes Weege wrote or story edited between 1976 and 1979 can be considered some of the show’s best. Some of my personal favourites are:

• The two-part episode “Good-Bye, Mr. Fish” bidding farewell to Abe Vigoda’s retiring character Philip K. Fish (who left for his own sitcom Fish).  
• “The Bank”, where a man tries to charge a sperm bank for murder after his last sample is accidently destroyed.
• “Christmas Story”, where the character of Nick Yemana (Jack Yoo) goes on a holiday date with a woman who turns out to be a prostitute.
• “The Prisoner” (see clip below) where an ex-con is finding it difficult to adjust to life on the outside and a widow inheriting her husband’s cat burglar business.

In 1984, Weege would continue to make light of the grittiness of New York City crime with Night Court, a sitcom he created, wrote and executive produced and later became his calling card. The show took place in a Manhattan court house where Judge Harry T Stone (Harry Anderson) and his staff presided over the evening’s cases of petty crime. While Night Court began as a dry and sardonic program, the show’s tone later leaned towards wacky slapstick, usually involving John Larroquette’s character Dan Fielding, a sex-crazed prosecutor, and Bull Shannon (Richard Moll), the loveable but dimwitted bailiff.

Night Court gained much of its popularity starting in 1985, when it was placed in the 9:30 pm timeslot on NBC’s "Must See TV" Thursday evening Prime Time line up for a four season run, following The Cosby Show, Family Ties and Cheers and preceding Hill Street Blues for two years and then L.A Law for the other two.

My brother and I would spend hours watching Night Court, as we would tape NBC's Thursday night lineup on our Betamax VCR. We still quote many of the lines Reinhold Weege wrote on Barney Miller and Night Court and his works has played a large part to my love of the sitcom genre when it is done well.

Read Reinhold Weege's obituary from hollywoodreporter.com