Bakersfield P.D. Online

BAKERSFIELD P.D. was a thoroughly incredible show, one that ended far too quickly. With the quirkiness of shows like NORTHERN EXPOSURE or ALLY McBEAL, BPD showed us life among a very odd collection of cops in a small, slow town. This show had excellent visual gags, great writing, and beautiful oddness. (Who can forget when they found an arm, and kept it in a big pickle jar?) If you get a chance to see this 1-season show, watch it, tape it, and love it.

Bakersfield, P.D. really was one of the funniest, well-made comedies to ever hit the tube. Unfortunately, between lacking promotion, a then-struggling FOX network, stiff timeslot competition, and a script that was a bit too clever for the general public, the show dragged badly out the gate. It lasted for only one season, with the final episodes shown in June, 5 months after the cancellation was already decided.

While definitely a comedy, the show had no laugh track. It didn't play as a typical sitcom. It was a side-splitting comedy, placed in the environment of a "serious" cop show.

The characters were all quirky, yet strangely believable. From the wishy-washy captain on down, each character presented in Bakersfield, P.D. was unique and interesting. Even the guest characters exhibited a small-town charm that, while sometimes bordering on the ridiculous, always entertained.

Surprisingly, I found the show again on the TRIO network, which occasionally runs it. Check your local listings.

Paul Gigante, a successful D.C. police detective, has to leave town with his son for the middle of nowhere, i.e. Bakersfield. He joins the Bakersfield P.D., a loose organization of weirdos & imbeciles. His partner, Wade Preston, is a TV cop show fanatic and tries to act like the TV cops; the desk sergeant actually runs the department because the captain can't make any decisions; and a macho cop is teamed with a mildly effeminate partner.

Like "Frank's Place", another great TV comedy that bombed in one season, "Bakersfield P.D." had no laugh track; you have to find the jokes yourself. This misfit comedy was at least as funny as "WKRP in Cincinnati"! Why do so many really funny comedies bomb?

This was a great series!

Really subtle but intelligent police comedy, a black cop trying to fit into a white police force assigned to a partner who was white but believed he was black.

Sounds a cliché if sorts but it really worked so well!

Both Ron Eldard and Giancarlo Esposito layed the leads superbly.

To the company who owns the rights... ....please release this on DVD asap! If this never gets released it will be an injustice!

Thanks.

Yes, as I was born and bred in Bakersfield, I can safely say the series is ENTIRELY accurate, right down to the blue and white street corner signs. Bakersfield is a town similar to that of Cicely, AK (from "Northern Exposure"), and the quirky townsfolk are quick with a joke and an anecdote about Mark Twain.

The fact the series is so accurate (right down to the DC detective character) was its downfall: In late 1993, BPD Det. Peter "Petey" O'Callahan (who had, 15 months prior, moved from the Maryland/Washington DC area) was shot and killed during a raid upon a drug lab. In respect of him and his family, BPD was cancelled.

I remember this series...I wasn't very old at the time. But I suspect this kind of humor is something I will still like. Cause now and then I think about this series..and wonder how the heck it could get canceled? Really..it's a mystery beyond anyone. Can ANYONE tell me why? Please? I need to know! This series was a lot of fun...I've never seen a series quite like this ever again. It had its own strange quirky humor which still is unique to this day I think. I miss it over 10 years later (!!??!?!)

WHY DID YOU CANCEL THIS!? It's just not right.... I can only hope someone picks up this thread somewhere along the way again. I really wish I could some day talk to the guy who axed this series. What where you thinking?!

I've got a petition going and will be regularly emailing Fox for a good reason why we can't get this great show on DVD!

Here's the petition link: www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?bpdondvd

Sadly my memory of it is fading - I rely on friends to remind me of the great bits. How sad is that?

And all the time, Fox have got the tapes somewhere, gathering dust. Since axing this Fox have discovered the power of DVD to bring back shows - like Family Guy - so if they released this it might not only be a success, but it might be successful enough to warrant a new series!

Come on Fox! You won't even have to do any advertising, the whole internet word-of-mouth thing will sell thousands of copies.

I liked this show a lot - we got the first and only, it would appear, series in the UK on channel 4. The characterisation was right on the money - a bit like the Simpsons in that all the different facets of small town populace were represented.

There was no laughter track - I hadn't seen this on an American TV comedy at the time except for on Larry Sanders and it really worked well here, heightening the suggestion that these wacky cops were really like that, and not just hamming it up for the cameras.

All in all, a quirky little number that tickled me just right: I can't help but think that maybe it missed it's mark with certain audiences. I think it would have been a cult hit in the UK had it been shown at an acceptable hour.

I'll round this off with my standard comment: Where the hell can I get hold of this to watch it again? Any ideas?

Only saw this show a few times, but will live in my memory.

It is very frustrating that it is so difficult to find this anywhere to purchase and yet there seem to be endless repeats of stuff like Friends! Especially even more difficult to obtain being in England I guess..?

They say it was low ratings or was it a complaint from the Bakersfield PD themselves? Maybe it was just too clever for certain people?

Anyhow, just about the one comedy I would love to see again but is almost impossible to find. I hear it is being or has been repeated on another network? But alas not over here!!

Summary: Ingenious.

It was a crime that this show had no support and fell away.

I still laugh about Wade and his personal "soundtrack" and a few other stories I remember from it.

But the episode which ends with the mugging victim having the prisoners in the line up beating themselves up, that had me crying on the floor.

A true shame we didn't get more.

"Time" magazine declared "Bakersfield PD" one of the best television programs of 1993 and posted a full page review of the program that might still be available on-line. The program was rerun on the former Trio network. I was able to get a copy of all 17 episodes on DVD from the UK. Send me a message if you are interested in getting a copy. The program dealt with a Washington DC police office who had to move far away from DC for the sake of his son. The officer finds himself in a more rural and white area of Bakersfield, California. The problem does seem to borrow from the popular "Lethal Weapon" movies, except the white parent is not crazy, just kind and a bit naive. The humor is less like about cop comedy of the time "Sledge Hammer!" and more like "Brooklyn 99" or even "Barney Miller" Much of the humor come from the relationships between the characters and the less serious issues police encounter on the cop. The show was ahead of its time in that it did not use a laugh track. A program like "Bakersfield PD" would be well tonight on basic cable. I still watch it from time to time and the humor holds up well some 20 years since it was canceled.

I remember at the time of its showing in England that this series, for me at least, was the highlight of my TV week. It was one of the most quirky, hilarious and deadpan comedies I have had the pleasure of watching. Guancarlo Esposito was terrific as the new arrival at the Bakersfield P.D. station.His bewilderment at the events that occurred and the characters encountered was something that I'm sure any David Lynch fan would have thoroughly enjoyed. I cannot believe that it only ran for one series! Take consolation that little secrets like these are still out there waiting to be rediscovered.

I remember when good old Ch4 had an eye for the obscure, sometimes a winner, sometimes, not, but after watching the very first episode of this "quirky", absurd and very funny series, I was hooked (as were friends when told to watch it!). All the ingredients were there for a fantastic winner, sharp & very funny script, excellent acting from everyone (I can remember) brilliant comedic timing and to be "based" in a place that is really in the middle of nowhere, no wonder the locals were a bit troppo. When it ended on tv, I looked forward to the new series - but, I was truly upset and angry when I read that the whole series had been axed - when you see the dross that decorates our screens, and such a brilliant series axed, perhaps it was ahead of its time. I had hoped that Ch 4 would repeat it so I could tape the whole series, alas not to be .... a loss.

I saw the whole series on Channel 4 - without a doubt one of the funniest TV shows I've ever seen. Why did it finish after 1 series? I just hope it will be repeated some time so I can tape it!