Joe E. Ross & Car 54

[therealjm12]

I was watching Car 54 Where Are You (on Me-TV) the other day and got to wondering why it only lasted two seasons.
I had heard there was trouble on the set and everyone was pretty miserable - especially creator Nat Hiken. So I Googled the show for more info and came up with this...... http://www.newmusictrends.com/?p=1387

Talk about killing your own career.

 

[landtuna]

I really doubt the television audience knew Ross' background or lifestyle. Those things weren't reported widely in the old days.

As one who actually saw Car 54 as a kid I can tell you it wasn't very funny.

 

[LKellerIII]

I really doubt the television audience knew Ross' background or lifestyle. Those things weren't reported widely in the old days.

As one who actually saw Car 54 as a kid I can tell you it wasn't very funny.

Thanks for the link, but I gotta ask - what kind of sadistic web designer puts black print on a dark gray background?

Even as a kid, I could tell Joe E. Ross was a one-note guy..."oooh! oooh! He played every character in every show exactly the same way. Car 54 had some funny moments, but his later show was every worse - It's About Time Just horrible - made even worse because Ross played the caveman the same way he played everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmV1AsW0bx4

 

[wbhist]

And by 1968, he was reduced to doing ads for Chef Boy-Ar-Dee's pizza mix kit, with his "Oooh! Oooh!" line everywhere. I have a TV Guide issue from that year with that ad (in print form, of course) on one of their pages, and Mr. Ross front, center, sideways and diagonal.

 

[wbhist]

P.S. This article also appeared on the WFMU blog - unlike the link originally provided, this one you can actually read:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/01/king-of-slobs.html

 

[firepoint525]

Here in Nashville, there was at one time a station at 560 on the AM dial going by the call letters of WWCR. Its nickname (as I found out) was "Car 56." I would not have known any of this, except that WWCR has been the call letters of the Nashville shortwave station(s) since 1989, but yet there was still a listing for a WWCR in the phone book at an address that now belongs to the Brentwood YMCA, and has no connection to the shortwave station.

 

[jwk1979]

And by 1968, he was reduced to doing ads for Chef Boy-Ar-Dee's pizza mix kit, with his "Oooh! Oooh!" line everywhere. I have a TV Guide issue from that year with that ad (in print form, of course) on one of their pages, and Mr. Ross front, center, sideways and diagonal.

I thnk he was also doing voice-overs on some cartoons in the late '60s/early '70s, especially some of Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoons, such as "Hair Bear Bunch" and "Where's Huddles?".

 

[James Pagan]

Who could ever forget Ross as sleazy club owner Maxie Marks in Joseph Adler's 1971 trash noir "Revenge Is My Destiny"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHLEzXqvlf0

 

[FreddyE1977]

Pure conjecture on my part, but from what I can make of it...

- There was not a lot to this show other than the hook of Gunther Toody going
"Oooh Oooh Oooh" in every episode. As one of the other posters points out, aside
from that it's not that funny. And it ran its course, just like "Dyn-o-MITE!" did.

- The show was shot on location in New York. Famously they used squad cars that
were painted red so as not to be confused for real New York City police cars. With
the resulting needs for set security, traffic control, etc. one would presume this show
was somewhat more expensive to produce than the typical sitcom of its era. A network
might be willing to live with that for a ratings smash. But not for an also-ran show.

- The show seemed to have some technical issues. I noticed some problems with mic placement,
echoes, muffled sound, etc.

- Fred Gwynne and Nipsy Russell at times appear to be going thru the motions. Their talents might have
been better used in almost anything else.