TYPECASTING is that pigeon holing process in the theatrical business which limits an Actor to a particular kind of roles; largely because of a high degree of success in a specific role. It is much more prevalent in Film than in the Legitimate Theatre; where Actors giving live performances oft relish the chance to tackle a part considered more difficult and not for them. (It's provides a challenge and a chance to show off their thespianical prowess; the sort of opportunity that seldom is afforded one in the Movies.)
BEING typecast in the Motion Picture & Television Business often leads to a steady, albeit not necessarily spectacular, career; as one will often be in demand for their skills in providing just exactly what they need in a given film, particular scene. Hence, we would by way of example, say if we needed: a Drill Sergeant (Joe Sawyer, Nat Pendelton), a Floozy (Barbara Nichols,), Gangsters (Marc Lawrence, Sheldon Leonard, Vic Tayback), Gossips (Cora Witherspoon, Margaret Hamilton), Drunks (Arthur Housman, Jack Norton, Frank Fontaine, Foster Brooks), Cops (Tiny Sandford, Dick Lane, James Burke), etc., etc. You get the picture, right Schultz?
HENCE down to this modern day, we have the practice is still alive and thriving in this Multi-Media Age. To this very day an Actor, such as this Dabney Coleman, have not only been shackled with it; but also turned it into opportunity.
THE versatile Mr. Coleman has done a perhaps most of his best work as a cad, a heel, a womanizer and the like. Much like a lot of the previously mentioned folks, there is one character type that he does and does better than any other; and that would become his bread & butter.
WITH the coming of BUFFALO BILL (Stampede Productions/NBC TV, 1983-84) the cantankerous character, that had been perfected in so many roles* by Coleman, found a home in the Sitcom. Sitcom, you say? Yes, for it's not a Western, like GUNSMOKE or BONANZA; nor a Western Spoof, like MAVERICK or RANGO.
THE Series was centered on one Bill Bitterman, a local Television Celebrity in Buffalo, New York; hence the title, clever, no? Buffalo Bill is the guy with the AM or Noontime Soft-News and Local Happenings show.
BELYING his "Happy Talk", friendly to everybody TV Persona, the real Buffalo Bill is an absolute louse; possessing absolutely NO redeeming qualities. It is the contrast and sometimes conflict between the two 'personalities' that provides us with our story lines and laughs. The Ringside Seats which we have as TV viewers give us an optimal view of the void and great contrast between the two faces of the main character.
AS for a favourite episode, we recall one in which Bill is getting a new assistant (a make-up man, I think). It's a Black Man, Newdell (Charles Robinson); and as we might've suspected, Bill doesn't like Blacks. His constant complaining about everything is brought to new heights as he fears that "they" are taking over. The episode hits a high point in a very cleverly designed and executed scene which turns out to be a dream, or to be more specific, a nightmare to Buffalo Bill.
IN this most unusually rendered sequence in any sitcom that we can recall, ever; we see Bill literally surrounded by Black Men and Women, wherever he turns at his workplace, down at the TV Station. He turns every which way and in a rapid fire and cleverly edited montage of occurrences, he winds up running from the building. All the while he is being pursued by a veritable posse of Black Folks. The whole thing is done as if it were in a silent film with a background score of Ray Charles doing his hit song "Hit The Road, Jack!"
AS for our least favourite, we recall one in which his "main squeeze"(significant other, lady friend, concubine, lover) Jo Jo White (Joanna Cassidy), winds up pregnant (knocked-up, in a family way, on the nest). She would prefer to legitimize the relationship through the now old and quaint institution of Marriage. Bill wanted her to abort the unborn; preferring not to get into another Marriage, especially at his age, now classified as "Middle". In the end, Ms. White opts for an abortion.
THE controversy over Abortion On Demand not withstanding, the whole half-hour episode was very unfunny and was not the proper subject matter for a primetime network family hour show. Don't you agree? ALL in all though, we found the series to be original, interesting and usually genuinely funny.
OH yeah, by the way; as pitifully abbreviated as the show's run was, the entire series is available to fans via DVD.
NOTE: * We've been a scratchin' our heads, but I'll be damned if all we can think of is two (2) non-cad roles that Mr. Dabney Coleman has done. Those two would be as Hanoi Jane's Husband in ON GOLDEN POND (IPC Films, Incorporated Television Company/Universal Pictures, 1981) and as Detective Mike Logan's soon to be retiring boss, Lieutenant Kevin Stolper in the LAW & ORDER Made for TV Movie, EXILED (Wolf Films/NBC TV, 1998 ).
HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE: The real, original "Buffalo Bill" Cody died on January 10, 1917; which was incidentally the very same day that my Mother, the still up and about at 91 years old, Bertha Ryan (Nee Fuerst)!
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