Dave the Dave’s Review Review: Disco, it’s “Fillmore!”

I have a pretty big hatred for cop shows. I haven’t done one in a while but I think this flips the script enough to give me a pass. “Fillmore!” was great. It came out in 2002 when I was 13 and still watched Disney shows and never told anyone. This and “Recess” filled my afternoon when I’d get home from school and not hang out with friends. I think hands down this is the best show about hardcore, ass kicking Junior High hall monitors. It’s pretty crazy. These kids spend a lot of time not in class and cracking cases. It’s weird that X Middle School has such a crime problem with such a normal name.

Actually, with such a mime problem I think I get it.

Cornelius Fillmore is a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Those tracks are in the wrong part of town on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon Line. Look it up. Luckily he realized that his rambunctious trouble making ways were getting him nowhere and he turned it around. He’s a thorough, meticulous and logical cop safety patrol officer. Put like every good cop safety patrol officer, he cares. If he weren’t 13 year old “Little Bill” I’d say he was as cliché as a cop safety patrol officer can be.

Everyone on the force has partner, because how else will you keep up in a Razor Scooter chase? These kids get in more chases than Frank Welker gets royalty checks. Is that esoteric enough for everyone? Fillmore’s partner is Ingrid Third. She’s an angst ridden goth girl in junior high. That’s pretty impressive. She too is a former delinquent and they become best pals. I see a romance and hatred coming in their high school futures. But why be a creepy weird internet fan fiction guy in my review? I won’t do it. Ingrid’s photographic memory comes in handy and was likely the entire motivation to make the show “Psych”.

Their Safety Patrol Chief is the hardened Horatio Vallejo. This kid will likely have an ulcer every year for the rest of his life. Let’s take a look at this line from Wikipedia to show how rough this poor guy has it: “Vallejo has had some rough experiences in the Safety Patrol as an officer, such as losing his friend Malika when she joined the Red Robins, a crooked girl scout troop”. He also had to get his old partner thrown off the force to maintain political power to become chief. The dude drinks a lot of cocoa. He’s already too old for this shit.

The rest of the patrol officers are the classic tropes: smart Asian girl, tough Italian guy and the Irish guy that is the butt of all the jokes. They’re good characters but they don’t add a lot. The annoying Irish kid is the comic relief, thus making him my favorite character. All of these kids are bossed around by a very strict Principal Folsom (she’s the stressed D.A. in most cops shows) and her right hand man Vice Principal “Survivor” host Jeff Probst.

Not explaining that either.

“Fillmore!” is interesting. The cast was very good and the idea is solid. It only lasted two seasons. I think it landed in the weird transition period for Disney that saw the Saturday morning cartoon shows fading out and the “Lizzle McGuire” shows of the world taking over. I’d suggest watching it. I’m not sure where you can, but it’s a “sitting at home sick on the weekend” length show.

This picture has nothing to do with anything.