The sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie ran for a single season on CBS, during the 1972-73 TV season, and starred eventual real-life couple Meredith Baxter and David Birney as the titular characters.

Bridget Fitzgerald (Bridget Fitzgerald) is a schoolteacher who immediately falls in love with cab driver Bernie Steinberg (David Birney) the moment they first meet on a rainy New York day. It’s also love at first sight for aspiring writer Bernie. The couple quickly decide that they want to spend the rest of their lives together. However, they wonder how their families are going to take the news. They come from vastly different backgrounds. Bridget comes from a wealthy Irish Catholic family, while Bernie’s family is working-class and run a Jewish deli. They know their love for one another is solid, but can they make this work with their different social and religious backgrounds? As the couple move into Bernie’s apartment above the deli, they constantly find their lives interrupted by Bernie’s parents, Sam (Harold J. Stone) and Sophie Steinberg (Bibi Osterwald), and uncle Moe Plotnik (Ned Glass), or surprise visits from Bridget’s parents, Walter (David Doyle) and Amy Fitzgerald (Audra Lindley), and Catholic priest brother Father Michael Fitzgerald (Robert Sampson). Rounding out the main cast is Bernie’s friend/fellow cab driver Otis (Bill Elliott).

Bridget Loves Bernie doesn’t feel like your typical sitcom. While there is a laugh track, it is used sparingly, and doesn’t feel oppressive like other more recent sitcoms. The series also doesn’t feel like a show that is shot in front of a live audience. There are some recurring sets, like the restaurant, apartment, and the family homes, but there are also scenes shot outside and at other locations. It feels more like a single-cam show rather than a typical multi-cam sitcom.

Nowadays interfaith marriages aren’t really a big deal, but this is a constant focus of the series, with the two families butting heads on what type of wedding the couple should have, whether to celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, other religious traditions, etc. This often causes Bernie and Bridget to question whether they are doing the right thing. The chemistry between Bridget and Bernie feels quite natural and real—and likely was at the time since Meredith Baxter and David Birney got married shortly after the series ended.

While it’s not generally a laugh-out-loud comedy, it did have me smiling a lot. It is a fun look at two different cultures, while not attacking one over the other. Both families just want the best for their loved ones, and go into this new relationship with some sense of open-mindedness. There are fish-out-of-water moments as each side goes through new cultural experiences. Some of the jokes are definitely of their era, though still provide laughter. One example is early on when Bridget’s parents look out the window to see her hugging Otis, and assume he’s the new boyfriend, and later are relieved to learn that Bernie is just Jewish and not Black. There are also some typical fun sitcom setups such as a lost engagement ring, or Bridget, her mother and her brother trying to run the Jewish deli on their own. Or mix-ups (sometimes with a more ’70s openness) such as Bridget’s filmstrip for her sex-ed class getting accidentally swapped with an adult filmstrip belonging to Moe, and then seeing Bridget’s parents and Moe and his pals’ reactions while they unknowingly watch the opposite films.

I had never even heard of Bridget Loves Bernie before receiving this disc for review, but I quite enjoyed this first/only season, and I’m not sure why the series was canceled. It definitely had promise and could have gone on for many more seasons. It appears that there were objections to the interfaith marriage at the core, and complaints from both Jewish and Catholic folks that believed the show mocked their religions. However, I didn’t find anything meanspirited or objectionable in the representations.

Sony previously released the complete series of Bridget Loves Bernie on MOD DVD through Amazon back in 2012, but now the series has been newly remastered for Blu-ray. We were sent the Blu-ray release for review from AV Entertainment, and it generally looks amazing—certainly not over 50 years old! The picture is generally quite crisp and clean, with a solid level of detail and bright, beautiful colors. You can even see the sweat on Bridget’s brow when she meets and eats with Bernie’s family for the first time. There was really only one picture problem I saw early on where there are these odd green lines down the picture 3:40 into the pilot episode. But this was an outlier, and the only instance of this I noticed. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout.

The series’ 24 episodes are split evenly across 3 discs, which are placed on a swinging tray in a standard-sized Blu-ray keepcase. Our review copy did not include any slipcover. Unfortunately there is no bonus material included, but this is not unexpected for a 50+-year-old series. Episodes generally have 3 chapter stops, one halfway through, one about 2 min before the credits, and one at the start of the end credits. It would have been great if they had added another one early on in order to easily skip over the one-minute opening title sequence.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (10:15:17)

Blu-ray:
• The complete series/24 episodes on 3 discs.
  Disc 1 (3:25:11): “Bridget Loves Bernie”, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Vatican”, “Wake Up, We’re Getting Married Today”, “The Last of the Red Hot Playwrights”, “Who’s Watching the Store?”, “The Newlybeds”, “Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Moe”, “Bernie’s Last Stand”
  Disc 2 (3:25:03): “How to Be a Jewish Mother”, “The Little White Lie That Grew and Grew”, “The In-Laws Who Came to Dinner”, “The Homecoming”, “You Are Cordially Not Invited”, “‘Tis the Season”, “Belated Honeymoon”, “Honesty Is the Worst Policy”
  Disc 3 (3:24:53): “Life Begins at 65”, “With This Ring”, “Into Every Life, a Little Snow Must Fall”, “To Teach or Not to Teach”, “Painting, Painting – Who’s Got the Painting?”, “Steinberg and Son”, “The Information Gap”, “Greener Pastures”
• 1080p / Full Frame 1.33:1
• Audio: English Mono 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English, English SDH

Extras:

There is no bonus material included on this release.

Final Thoughts:

Bridget Loves Bernie is a pleasantly-surprising and enjoyable single-season sitcom from the 1970s that I wasn’t even aware existed, despite it starring Meredith Baxter and her future husband, as well as a fun ensemble cast. The series follows some typical sitcom storylines while also exploring something a little more unique, an interfaith marriage. Sony’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds amazing—if not for the 4:3 aspect ratio, just looking at the show you’d never guess it was 50 years old! Fans of the series will really appreciate the presentation and want to add this Blu-ray to their collection. New viewers will be delighted to check out this forgotten gem, which doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere.