Tuesday, February 18, 2020

What Might've Been: A. E. S. Hudson Street (1978)

A. E. S. Hudson Street (AES stood for Ambulance Emergency Service) deserved a better fate than it got.

From Barney Miller co-creator Danny Arnold and writers Tony Sheehan and Chris Hayward, the latter a veteran writer whose career resume also includes Rocky & His Friends and Get Smart, Hudson Street reunited the creative team with an original Miller regular, Gregory Sierra (a different actor played the part in the pilot), who heads the ensemble as Dr. Menzies. Sierra had left Miller after 2 seasons to return to Sanford & Son for its final season.

Hudson Street aired on Thursdays during the spring of 1978, but instead of being coupled with Miller, it aired much later in the evening (10 pm ET), which contributed to its demise.

13 years later, Arnold decided to try again, rebooting the series as Stat, with Dennis Boutsikaris taking over as Menzies. It had an even worse fate, lasting just six episodes.

Gilmore Box brings us the open:



Ray Stewart was also a frequent guest on Barney Miller, as Driscoll, whose partner, Marty (Jack DeLeon), was either brought in as a suspect or was filing a complaint. Ralph Manza, a veteran character actor, had a resume that included a stint as George Peppard's sidekick on Banacek.

No rating. Never saw the show.

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