THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE NEIDERMEYERS

Detective Sergeant Peter Neidermeyer is part of the Portland Police Department's Special Crimes Unit, serving as the Forensics liaison. (He takes a special delight in his "Forensic Linguistics" talents.) Neidermeyer is the butt of most of Lt. Backstrom's jibes, most of which question his manhood, but he is straight... with his eye on Dr. Nadia Paquet of the team. (He is also the object of desire for Backstrom's half-brother, a gay crook named Gregory Valentine.)

I'm not sure if the 'Backstrom' series will ever get around to exploring Neidermeyer's family background. (I'm not even sure if it will survive past its thirteen episode order. I like the show, but I don't know if it is getting the ratings to survive.) But until such time as I have to give up this theory because of story constraints, here is my theory of relateeveety for Peter Neidermeyer.....

The general rule of thumb is that a TV character should be the same age as the actor playing him. But in this case, I'm going to claim Neidermeyer is about five years older than Kristoffer Polaha. Polaha was born in 1977; for my intents, Neidermeyer was born in 1973, if not earlier. But definitely before the end of the American involvement in the Vietnam War.



It will be my contention that Peter Neidermeyer's father was Douglas Neidermeyer, who was fragged by his own troops in Vietnam (according to the movie version of "National Lampoon's Animal House". And while that movie cannot be absorbed from the Cineverse into Earth Prime-Time because of the recastaways for several major characters, I'd like to think the fate of Dougie's televersion followed that of the original.

Luckily for Peter, his father wasn't around to impart any influence on his upbringing and so he was able to flourish with his own identity and interests in esoteric matters which might have been otherwise obliterated by having a knuckle-dragging, conservative hawk as his father.

But let's just say that at some point we do meet the senior Neidermeyer in the remaining episodes of 'Backstrom'. I think I've come up with a splainin to cover up this Zonk which I created.

Mrs. Neidermeyer married again after the death of Douglas Neidermeyer in Vietnam in order to make sure Peter had a father figure as he grew up. Mrs. Neidermeyer must have married one of Douglas' family - a brother or perhaps even a cousin.  It's not unheard of - but mostly in soap opera towns......

Like I said, I feel fairly confident that this theory of relateeveety won't be challenged during the course of the show's run. But in a way, I'd like to be proven wrong by the show having a longer life.

BCnU!

PS:
The picture of Doug Neidermayer is from the movie "National Lampoon's Animal House" with Mark Metcalfe in the role.  But in Toobworld, Gary Cooksey played Neidermayer in 'Delta House'.  I just like the movie.....