The Paint Job

This episode brought back some fond memories - several scenes I hadn't forgotten from when aired 50 years ago.

Such as Toody and Muldoon holding up traffic by deliberately driving 15 miles per hour on a highway; the old couple who kept saying "We like green".....painting a car to look like Car 54.

Throw in some that I didn't remember, such as Al Lewis playing one of the car repairmen (he joined the cast a few episodes later as one of the cops of the 53rd precinct) and an old "Bilko" regular, Billy Sands, playing his partner. Sands played "Dino Paprelli" in that old Phil Silvers show.

There is an assortment of other crazy happenings and characters in this episode, making one of the all-time classic shows in this two-season comedy series.

Not exactly realistic,but pretty dog-gone funny !

Anyone that has ever so much as washed a car will chuckle at the labor estimates at the paint shop I promise you! For example,how about an hour,1 hour,(!) to paint a 4-door sedan?! Geez these guys don't need to steal anything,they could run Earl Schieb out of business if they can teach their work-methods to others... But put that aside for now,and what we have at heart is a tried-and-true theme of many of these Car 54 episodes (and other tv shows as well). The theme or lesson is pretty much that 'cheap shortcuts' usually turn out to be neither. The 'cheap shortcuts' do usually turn out taking much more time and effort than expected and often can open the door for more problems,many of them unforeseen and/or un-for-seeable. If you aren't careful,you might even get the idea that it would have been much better and easier to simply do it right to begin with. Imagine that ! 🤡

You always knew from the start, and no matter how good their intentions were, Toody and Muldoon were destined to get into some kind of trouble. "The Paint Job" is a funny episode as the boys have a minor car accident and (rather than report it to the captain), get the car repaired and painted on the sly.

OK, truthfully, it's not a bad idea, except the garage they pull into paints STOLEN cars? Al Lewis, who would later join the cast as one of the cops, plays a crooked painter with lots of ideas.

This episode moves fast and has a running gag with an elderly couple who would like a "green" car. That's their color. Goofy fun that brings back a lot of memories for all of us kids who grew up on this show. No color, no cable! How did we survive?

SEASON 1 EPISODE 7 remastered dvd box set. The color cover is a classic. 4 dvds. Released 2011. Thanks to CATCHY TV for running this golden oldie.