Joe Bash

Synopsis

Peter Boyle played Joe Bash, a veteran, semi-corrupt cop marking time until retirement, while Andrew Rubin played his naive rookie partner, Officer Willie Smith. The show was a dark urban comedy-drama, shot without a studio audience or laugh track. Creator Danny Arnold described Bash as "a beat patrolman with thirty years on the force. He's become so completely disillusioned and such a terrible cynic that he's written off the world."

Recurring roles included DeLane Matthews as streetwalker Lorna, the only person with whom the misanthropic Bash could be even somewhat close; Val Bisoglio as Sgt. Carmine DiSalvo; Michael Cavanaugh as Lt. Pendleton; and Larry Hankin as diner-owner Stu. The setting was the 33rd Precinct in Manhattan, represented via a deliberately theatrical set reminiscent of a stage play. Arnold called the show "a behavioral comedy, a comedy whose roots are in drama."

He chose the name "Bash" because it "sounded like an aggressive hitter, a victim who is striking back and totally cynical because he's accomplished nothing in his life."

Reception

Joe Bash won positive notices from critics. Time placed the series on the magazine's 1986 best-of list, calling it "a moody tragicomedy on loneliness. Peter Boyle was outstanding as a grumpy cop in this undeservedly short-lived series." In an earlier review, the magazine remarked how the two lead characters would "traverse the desolate city streets and cope with the unglamorous trivia of everyday police life. ... In Boyle's sharp and unsentimental portrayal, crustiness never becomes cute, and there are echoes of authentic urban despair in the patter." The New York Times wrote favorably that "There is no laugh track to signal the viewer as to whether Joe's misanthropy is really supposed to be funny. Joe Bash moves to its own special beat, apparently bent on demolishing every well-established cliché in sitcom territory."

Lee Margulies of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the show is "not entertaining in the usual TV sense, but the intriguing premise and the captivating performance by Boyle nevertheless leaves one interested in tuning in again."