Thick Blue Line
Much of police work is dark, gritty and can be very unpleasant at times- much like modern cop shows. Police work has always been dark and gritty, though, even while earlier TV shows showed it as light and fluffy as their general outlook on life.
Arguably the easiest place in the TV world to be a cop was Mayberry. The only real 'criminal element' there was Otis, who was cooperative to the point of showing up on his own volition and walking right into his customary cell. As much time as the Sheriff had on his hands they never quite explained why he even needed a deputy.
They certainly never explained why they needed Deputy Fife. As played by Don Knotts (who made a career of playing a simple guy who gets in way over his head), Fife was only slightly more self-aware than Leslie Nielsen's Detective Frank Drebin and only slightly more competent than Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. Barney Fife was a nice, likeable guy- but back then, even the criminals were often nice, likeable folk.
While Gotham City of the 1960's had a somewhat larger criminal fraternity than Mayberry police work there wasn't really any more difficult. Gotham City crooks always wore conspicuous theme costumes- the same one every day. They were also considerate enough to arm themselves with mostly with gag props instead of risking any sort of accidental injury by carrying, say, guns or knives. Certainly they pumped more money into Gotham's economy by accessorizing their hide-outs to match their costumes' themes than they ever even planned to steal.
In spite of how easy the local lawbreakers were making it, it never seemed simple enough for the GPD:
COMMISSIONER GORDON: "Great Caesar's Salad, Chief- that mocking maven of mayhem himself, the Joker, is loose!"
POLICE CHIEF O'HARA: "Sodom and Begorrah, Commissioner- there's no way my men could ever find someone who dresses gaudily enough to stand out in a Mardis Gras parade! We'd better call in that spandex guy and his intern who never remembers to put his pants on!"
GORDON: "That's your solution to everything, Chief- call in Batman and Robin. You even lit up the Bat-signal yesterday to bring them in when I asked you to have your men empty out the change from the parking meters downtown... Chief, did you ever actually hire any police personnel with that budget increase you got last year?"
O'HARA: "Smith and Blarney, Commissioner, I'm... ummm... I'm... late! Yes, I'm late for my meeting with Homeland Security, yeah, that's the ticket..."
Arguably the easiest place in the TV world to be a cop was Mayberry. The only real 'criminal element' there was Otis, who was cooperative to the point of showing up on his own volition and walking right into his customary cell. As much time as the Sheriff had on his hands they never quite explained why he even needed a deputy.
They certainly never explained why they needed Deputy Fife. As played by Don Knotts (who made a career of playing a simple guy who gets in way over his head), Fife was only slightly more self-aware than Leslie Nielsen's Detective Frank Drebin and only slightly more competent than Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. Barney Fife was a nice, likeable guy- but back then, even the criminals were often nice, likeable folk.
While Gotham City of the 1960's had a somewhat larger criminal fraternity than Mayberry police work there wasn't really any more difficult. Gotham City crooks always wore conspicuous theme costumes- the same one every day. They were also considerate enough to arm themselves with mostly with gag props instead of risking any sort of accidental injury by carrying, say, guns or knives. Certainly they pumped more money into Gotham's economy by accessorizing their hide-outs to match their costumes' themes than they ever even planned to steal.
In spite of how easy the local lawbreakers were making it, it never seemed simple enough for the GPD:
COMMISSIONER GORDON: "Great Caesar's Salad, Chief- that mocking maven of mayhem himself, the Joker, is loose!"
POLICE CHIEF O'HARA: "Sodom and Begorrah, Commissioner- there's no way my men could ever find someone who dresses gaudily enough to stand out in a Mardis Gras parade! We'd better call in that spandex guy and his intern who never remembers to put his pants on!"
GORDON: "That's your solution to everything, Chief- call in Batman and Robin. You even lit up the Bat-signal yesterday to bring them in when I asked you to have your men empty out the change from the parking meters downtown... Chief, did you ever actually hire any police personnel with that budget increase you got last year?"
O'HARA: "Smith and Blarney, Commissioner, I'm... ummm... I'm... late! Yes, I'm late for my meeting with Homeland Security, yeah, that's the ticket..."
