''Pacific Station'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series starring Robert Guillaume and

Richard Libertini Richard Joseph Libertini (May 21, 1933 – January 7, 2016) was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for playing character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents. His films include ''Catch-22'' (1970), '' The I ...

that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from September 15, 1991 to January 3, 1992. The series was created by the team of Barry Fanaro,

Mort Nathan Mort Nathan is an American television producer, screenwriter and film director. He was one of the co-producers and head writers of the comedy show ''The Golden Girls''. Nathan won two Emmy awards, two Golden Globes, and a Writers Guild of America ...

, Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman.

Synopsis

''Pacific Station'' centered around Detective Bob Ballard ( Robert Guillaume), a wisecracking veteran cop who had been assigned to Pacific Station in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

, apparently usually a dumping ground for eccentric and/or incompetent officers. Even more eccentric were the suspects the officers of Pacific Station brought in, as many were from nearby

Venice Beach Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

, a celebratedly off-center locale. The other officers of Pacific Station included Detective Richard Capparelli (

), fresh from treatment for his psychological problems, Detective Sandy Calloway ( Megan Gallagher), and the brown-nosing Detective Al Burkhardt (

Ron Leibman Ron Leibman (; October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019) was an American actor. He won both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 1993 for his performance as Roy Cohn in ''Angels in Amer ...

). In command of this hodgepodge was the recently promoted, immature, mother-fixated Captain Ken Epstein (

Joel Murray Joel Murray (born April 17, 1963) is an American comedy actor. He is well known for his roles in the television series ''Mad Men'', ''Grand'', '' Love & War'', '' Dharma & Greg'', '' Still Standing'', and '' Shameless''. He has also appeared in ...

), who had received the place which logic dictated should have gone to Bob. Frequently blustering his way through the station was Deputy Commissioner Hank Bishop (

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of t ...

), who never let anyone forget for a moment that he was a ''deputy commissioner''. Richard Libertini had just recently worked with creators/producers Fanaro, Nathan, Speer and Grossman on NBC's ''

The Fanelli Boys ''The Fanelli Boys'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 8, 1990 to February 16, 1991, as part of its 1990–91 prime time schedule. The series was created by the team of Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan, Kathy Spee ...

'' the previous season.

Cast

* Robert Guillaume as Det. Bob Ballard *

as Det. Richard Capparelli * Megan Gallagher as Det. Sandy Calloway *

as Det. Al Burkhardt *

as Capt. Ken Epstein *

as Dep. Commissioner Hank Bishop

Scheduling

''Pacific Station'' did not garner solid ratings, due to competition from ABC's ''

America's Funniest People ''America's Funniest People'' is an American reality show on ABC that debuted on May 13, 1990 as a 30 minute television special ''America's Funniest... Part II'', aired after the popular ''America's Funniest Home Videos''. The green-lit series ...

'' and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's '' Murder, She Wrote''. It was put on hiatus in October 1991. Brought back in a new time slot in December, it was permanently cancelled in January 1992.

Title Sequence

The opening theme for ''Pacific Station'' was an in-house cover of

Fontella Bass Fontella Marie Bass (July 3, 1940 – December 26, 2012) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter best known for her number-one R&B hit " Rescue Me" in 1965. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award twice. Early life Fontella Bass was b ...

' " Rescue Me". The sequence began with shots of Venice Beach attractions, followed by the view of a police truck driving into the parking lot of the station as the title appeared on-screen. This proceeded into more videotaped scenes of the show and cast.

Episodes

References

External links

* 1991 American television series debuts 1992 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms 1990s American police comedy television series NBC original programming Television series by ABC Studios Television shows set in Los Angeles English-language television shows {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub