Arnie

Where are the old "Arnie" shows? Surely, Nick at Nite ought to be able to locate some episodes and use as occasional filler, or perhaps as part of a "forgotten" list of programs that are worth remembering.

I can remember a handful of such shows from my youth, including "Then Came Bronson" with Michael Parks, that were quality productions with unfortunately short life spans. "Arnie" was perhaps a better example, because it was a comedy that truly was funny. But it lasted only two seasons, which was a shame, because there really were elements in the cast and plot that suggested a much-longer run.

Like the old "summer replacement" shows, perhaps Nick can bring back some of these old classics like "Arnie" in the summertime.

Indeed, when "Arnie" debuted along with "Mary Tyler Moore" on the Saturday night CBS fall 1970 lineup, it was hard to tell for a while which was the better show. It seemed to be a dynamite 1-2 comedy punch on Saturday nights. I have never been able to figure out why the show lost its steam and then disappeared completely after the next season, never even surfacing in reruns!

Herschel Bernardi was a multi-talented actor, on both screen and stage, and the back-and-forth between his Arnie Nuvo character and Roger Bowen's Hamilton Majors III was absolute magic, belonging somewhere in the sitcom pantheon. Bowen's character was one of the handful of eccentrics that spiced up the series, all playing off Bernardi. Although he was more renowned for serious roles, Bernardi seemed very comfy in this comedic assignment, with a clever wit complementing his straight-man role much as Judd Hirsch would do in future shows such as Taxi and Dear John.

"Arnie" was awfully funny, but I would also like to see reruns to get another look at the early 70's version of Sue Ane Langdon. I was in my early teens during the "Arnie" years, and sometimes I think my recollections are a bit distorted, but her figure absolutely defied description. My memory might not even do her justice, as I recently saw an old "Love American Style" rerun with Sue Ane and Van Johnson that confirmed my long-ago observations. I was definitely not imagining things; Sue Ane Langdon really was beyond hot in those days. Heck, even the Charlie's Angels girls stood no chance in comparison to Sue Ane in a bikini.

So let's find those old "Arnie" shows. Not only for a good laugh, but for another chance to check out vintage Sue Ane Langdon in action...

I was 10 when this premiered and watched it regularly. The comment here about Arnie being moved or pre-empted because of political coverage jogged my mind a bit. Remember when that political stuff was on all the network channels and there was nothing else to watch? A nightmare for a kid in 1970. I remember Arnie being a good family show and probably had a crush on Sue Ann Langdon and didn't know it. (As I was 10!) But she was a doll. I remember Charles Nelson Reilly, too. I can't recall Arnie *ever* being shown in reruns. Come on SHOUT FACTORY! Give us a box set! The thing I was most enthused about was that my school teacher told us that Herschel Bernardi was the voice of CHARLIE THE TUNA! So we must have discussed it in class for some reason! I always watched Arnie with that in mind.

It's been well over 32 years since I saw this show. I do not remember this series being a really big hit though it made it through a few seasons. It involved a blue collar worker who got moved up to a white collar position. It was funny and it was one of the first sitcoms to successfully cast a minority member in a leading role, long before the Jeffersons "moved on up" to their own show. The one episode I remember is when Arnie's boss announced that he wanted Arnie to throw a surprise birthday party for him. He also specified that it had to be a surprise party, or else, since the boss simply loved surprise parties. How was he supposed to throw a surprise party for his boss when his boss already knew about it in advance, being that he was the one who ordered Arnie to throw the party for him in the first place? Such dilemmas were a part of Arnie's life. I sure would like to see this show again.

Elaine Shore was the best surprise of the show. Her comic timing working with Arnie as Felicia, his secretary, made every office scene in that show shine. She put Arnie in his place and added some spunk each time she appeared on screen. The first episode provided a clue about how she would "handle" Arnie by attempting to empty his briefcase while Arnie was embarrassed to show that the contents were simply a brick. From that point on, the show shined in the office and tended to wane in the home scenes. Every time Elaine came on the screen, Tom Pedi, Roger Bowen, Herb Voland, and Herschel Bernardi had a special camaraderie that kept the momentum.

The history of TV sitcoms can be divided up into all sorts of categories. The "winners" and "losers" are easy to identify. Within those divisions, however, there is one grouping that remains most puzzling: the "near-miss" sitcom. Why didn't a certain show become a bona fide hit? What happened to derail the program before it hit the syndication jackpot?

"Arnie" was one such sitcom. Though the plot was simple (a blue collar dock worker promoted to a management job), it in truth offered all sorts of possibilities. "Arnie" (Arnold Nuvo) was played by the well-respected Herschel Bernardi, an established stage actor (notably Fiddler on the Roof) whose considerable talents were easily adaptable to comedy. On the show, Arnie remained blue-collar at heart despite the promotion, which provided a never-ending stream of conflict (and laughs) with his boss, the stuffy Hamilton Majors, Jr., played to the hilt by Roger Bowen. Established comedienne Sue Ane Langdon played Arnie's wife, Lillian. The show had other dimensions, too, including the Nuvo's two teenage kids, son Richard (played by Del Russel) & daughter Andrea (played by the blonde Stephanie Steele, who briefly challenged the Brady Bunch's Maureen McCormack and Partridge Family's Susan Dey as the teen girl sirens of the day), and Arnie's old dock-worker buddies, including the rotund Julius (played expertly by Tom Pedi), who contributed their own laughs.

The writing was smart and funny as the episodes bounced between work and family-related matters. The ingredients seemed to be in place for a longer run than just two seasons. What happened?

A confluence of factors apparently contributed to the show's demise. Not the least of which was CBS's decision to move "Arnie" away from its coveted Saturday night slot for the 1971-72 campaign, to the incredibly awkward time of 10:30 PM on Monday nights. 10:30 on Monday nights? In the spring of '72 the network finally wised up and moved the show back to its old Saturday slot, but the damage had apparently been done.

Let's also not forget the metamorphosis TV comedy went through at the same time, the introduction of the Norman Lear-style sitcoms like "All in the Family" (which made its debut shortly after "Arnie" in fall 1970) forever changing the TV comedy landscape.

"Arnie" also made some ill-advised structural alterations for the second season. Bowen and his "Hamilton Majors" character left the show, replaced by Charles Nelson Reilly ("Randy Robinson"). The delicious give-and-take between Bowen and Bernardi was thus absent for year two. And the Bernardi-Langdon coupling started to seem a little far-fetched, too, the very middle-aged, balding Bernardi hardly seeming appropriate company for the ravishing Sue Ane, who began to don more seductive attire (like mini-skirts and hot pants) to highlight her astonishing figure after being routinely "dressed down" in season one.

Maybe "Arnie" just lacked the legs to stand on its own, especially after Bowen departed after the first season. It might have been good enough to retain some of the crowd after MTM on Saturday nights, but lacked the pull to recruit viewers on its own. Still, we wish Nick at Nite or another network would bring back "Arnie," even if just for a summer run, especially the first season with Bowen.

In conclusion, had "Arnie" been introduced a few years earlier, before "All in the Family" and the new-style sitcoms, we get the feeling it might have had a longer run. Maybe the timing was just a little off. No matter, it serves as a reminder to sitcoms that there is fine line between making it big, and falling off the radar.