I have enjoyed the BJ series for fifty years now, mostly because Buddy Ebsen's Jones character is uniquely older, gentlemanly, patient, down home, and to some degree, eccentric. His drinking milk and puttering around in his lab added to his mystique.
I always also enjoy the window dressing provided by the ever-pleasant, empathetic, and understatedly hot Lee Meriwether, who is dependable for her admiringly appreciative looks at Jones and her eager fascination with Jones' sleuthing techniques. It is a hoot to see Merrwether being invited to look into a microscope at some astounding revelatory clue and admit she doesn't know what she is looking at. It seems like once a year she gets to be the subject of a show as a damsel in distress.
Even seeing Jones arriving somewhere in his car and climbing out of it several times in each installment never gets old. Unfortunately, Ebsen apparently became eager to wind down his time on set so in came Mark Shera, and although Shera evolved into a decent enough character, his appearance kind of marked the beginning of the show's end even though it took three years to reach the finish line.
In the first few episodes of the fifth season Shera's character JR was just a dash too obnoxious to make for a comfortable acceptance among BJ's dyed in the wool fans, but as he toned down his NYC accent and became a little more subdued and thoughtful Shera became increasingly tolerable. Of course, as the show moved into the final two seasons, JR took over most of the field sleuthing duties and we distressingly saw less and less of Barnaby himself.
But in this second episode of the season we are still fortunate to still have it nearly all Barnaby!
I always also enjoy the window dressing provided by the ever-pleasant, empathetic, and understatedly hot Lee Meriwether, who is dependable for her admiringly appreciative looks at Jones and her eager fascination with Jones' sleuthing techniques. It is a hoot to see Merrwether being invited to look into a microscope at some astounding revelatory clue and admit she doesn't know what she is looking at. It seems like once a year she gets to be the subject of a show as a damsel in distress.
Even seeing Jones arriving somewhere in his car and climbing out of it several times in each installment never gets old. Unfortunately, Ebsen apparently became eager to wind down his time on set so in came Mark Shera, and although Shera evolved into a decent enough character, his appearance kind of marked the beginning of the show's end even though it took three years to reach the finish line.
In the first few episodes of the fifth season Shera's character JR was just a dash too obnoxious to make for a comfortable acceptance among BJ's dyed in the wool fans, but as he toned down his NYC accent and became a little more subdued and thoughtful Shera became increasingly tolerable. Of course, as the show moved into the final two seasons, JR took over most of the field sleuthing duties and we distressingly saw less and less of Barnaby himself.
But in this second episode of the season we are still fortunate to still have it nearly all Barnaby!
