Bakersfield P.D.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.