Nash (Don Johnson) is a smart-alecky police inspector, who's seen fighting crime on the streets of San Francisco, California, while driving around in his screaming yellow 1970ish Plymouth Hemi Barracuda. He's the typical super-cop on the beat, who always wins in the end. Unfortunately, his personal relationships leave much to be desired. He has two ex-wives, a sixteen-year-old daughter needing a lot of supervision, and a father with Alzheimer's disease who keeps getting kicked out of retirement homes and dropping by to visit. Nash Bridges (Don Johnson) is a celebrated veteran police officer, and head of the SIU Department of the San Francisco, California Police Department. With his best friend and partner for life Joe Dominguez (Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin), and his loyal crew of law enforcement, they're the best of the best in taking down the crime that plagues the city. From powerful people of immense wealth right on down to scum at the bottom of the ladder, Bridges will take them down in his lifelong devotion to the law. But aside from his professional exploits, he's a divorced single father with a young teenage daughter ahead of her time, a father whose attitude refuses to confine himself to a nursing home, and relationships that never quite solidify because of his career. Having grown up with Starsky and Hutch, I enjoyed Nash a lot. A fun buddy series, with good chemistry between Johnson and Marin (who actually steals a lot of their scenes together). I can't understand why so many people compare it to Miami Vice, which was posing and pretentious, while this show has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek.<br/><br/>So the plots are far-fetched and the characters are a bit thin … this is Don Johnson for chrissake. There are enough car chases and pretty women to keep the guys amused (OK, so Yasmine Bleeth couldn't act her way out of a paper bag…who cares?), and some nice by-play between Nash and his formidable ex-wives and daughter.<br/><br/>Don't expect rocket science here. This is definitely beer and crisps material, but enjoyable nonetheless. I give it an 8. It's a shame that this show didn't get more recognition. I think had it not been in the Friday night "death slot" (10pm ET/9pm CT), it would have been a bigger hit than it already was. For a guy that at the time was getting close to fifty years old, Don Johnson still had that charm and leading man charisma needed to carry a series. Cheech Marin surprised me by showing so much character depth. For a guy that was thought to be just a one trick pony with the "Cheech and Chong" movies, he blossomed into a very talented actor. The funny part was that his character was originally going to be recurring, but he was so good, that they brought him in full time.<br/><br/>As for the rest of the show, the dialog always included some razor sharp wit, and they also told some very compelling stories along the way. It started out as being about just one guy, but wound up being about the entire SIU team.<br/><br/>I had just two regrets regarding the series. I wished they could have kept Annette O'Toole around longer. I thought of all the women Nash was around, she had the best chemistry with him. When they were together, the sparks were very visible. On the other hand, I know that a large portion of the romance hype went to Yasmine Bleeth when she was brought to the show. While I enjoyed her adversarial confrontations with Johnson, I didn't really care for them as a couple. Most of that has to do with Yasmine being 15 years younger than Don. They just looked awkward.<br/><br/>The other thing I didn't like was in the later seasons when they started adding more "comedy" characters. I hated Boz Bishop, the white guy who thinks he's black. Every time that idiot came on, I felt like changing the channel. Then there was the time they had Rene Auberjoinois make an appearance as Nash's bumbling cousin from Scotland. The gags were not funny and drug down the whole show.<br/><br/>Minus those two items. Nash is definitely a show worth going out of your way to see. It's a great combination of action, suspense, drama, and humor.
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