This is still among my favorite shows. Sadly the kids do not like it. They loved Get Smart and liked Dick Van Dyke and WKRP so far. We’re trying Taxi next.
The Gun collector episode had one of my favorite moments outside of the brownie episode. Wojo walks into Barney’s office with a bazooka and says, “Barney, about my raise?”
The show was really incredibly well done. It ran for what 11 seasons and back before Jump the Shark, Jumped the Shark, it was one of the few shows that was listed as never. One of the very very few that last more than 2 seasons.
I watched Fish pretty regularly and I remember it being a decent show. Similar to Barney Miller in that it was low-key and intelligently written. Not like most typical 70s sitcoms. None of the kids were pushed into the spotlight with any cutesy catchphrases. And Abe Vigoda played a fairly realistic ‘old-guy-who-dislikes-kids’. But my memory might be off. I remember there being a couple cute girls on it, I may have only watched it for that (I was 12-13)!
I think a good reason that Barney Miller never jumped the shark is there were almost no cast changes, which is rare for an ensemble show that ran that long. The only one really was when Dietrict replaced Fish and that turned out to be an improvement. Hardly anyone remembers Chano (and he wasn’t replaced with anybody) and when Jack Soo died they smartly never replaced him with a new regular character. Levitt occasionally filled in for him and I think they tried a woman or two, but he was never actually replaced.
Fish was OK and I do remember Jilly, the cute brunette that first appears 2-3 times on Barney Miller. I’m guessing we are around the same age, you might be a little older. (I checked, I was 11 when Fish went on and Jilly was Denise Miller who was 13-14 at the time. The one kid to become memorable from the cast was Todd Bridges, but his fame of course came later in Different Strokes and in the police blotter.)
Oddly, Chano was replaced, but it was years later and made into a bit of a meta joke. There was a female officer years later in a few episodes, that was sent to replace Chano. This was all the way into the time when Fish was gone several years and Levitt was now considered a regular.
She reported saying she was a replacement fresh from Transit duties, Barney and the squad were wondering who she replaced so Barney calls HQ and finds out she was the replacement for Chano. He of course thanks them for their timely action.
There was another detective who was on for a few episodes but didn’t quite work out. I don’t remember his name but he was white/thin/probably 30s/very frizzy '70s hair. When he first arrived he insulted them by telling them that whoever kept the books for bribery and graft that he was appreciative and understood (cop’s salary and all that) but wasn’t interested, then acted like he didn’t believe them when they said they were all clean.
I loved the one where a guy was caught doing an enormous obscene crossword puzzle on the side of the building. Yemana spends the episode trying to solve all of the missing words, but can’t get the last one.
Yemana: Only some sick, perverted individual could get this one.
Barney picks up the paper, pulls out a pencil, and writes something.
Barney ran for eight seasons, only the first three of which are on DVD. Here is a list of the main cast members, and which seasons they appeared on:
• Hal Linden as Capt. Barney Miller [ 1-8 ]
• Max Gail as Det. Stan ‘Wojo’ Wojciehowicz [ 1-8 ]
• Ron Glass as Det. Ron Harris [ 1-8 ]
• Abe Vigoda as Det. Phil Fish [ 1-3 ]
• Steve Landesberg as Det. Arthur Dietrich [ 3-8 ]
• Ron Carey as Off. Carl Levitt [ 3-8 ]
• James Gregory as Insp. Frank Luger
• Jack Soo as Det. Nick Yemana [ 1-4 ]
• George Murdock as Lt. Scanlon [ 5-8 ]
• Gregory Sierra as Det. Chano Amenguale [ 1-2 ]
• Linda Lavin as Det. Janice Wentworth [ 1-2 ]
• Mari Gorman as Det. Rosslyn Licori [3]
• Paul Lieber as Det. Eric Dorsey [ 7 ]
• June Gable as Det. Maria Baptista [ 3 ]
• Barbara Barrie as Elizabeth Miller [ 1-2 ]
• Florence Stanley as Bernice Fish [ 1-3 ]
• Michael Tessier as David Miller [ 1 ]
• Anne Wyndham as Rachael Miller [ 1 ]
• Carina Afable as Perlita Avilar [ 8 ]
Gregory Sierra was probably the busiest Spanish speaking actor in Hollywood during the 1970s and 1980s; he was like a NYC Puerto Rican John Fiedleror Charles Lanefor a while. He was Chano on Barney Miller, had recurring roles as Julio on Sanford & Son and Lt. Rodriguez on Miami Vice and appeared on at least one episode of pretty much every major TV series. He still turns up occasionally- very versatile guy, I’ve seen him play priests and drug lords and working class dads and always convincingly.
This thread reminded me of something my father said many years ago when I was a child.
He was a NYC police detective and I asked him which of all the cops shows that were on were the closest to the reality of what his job is like. Thinking Starsky and Hutch or Hawaii 5-0 or even Baretta he replied Barney Miller.
Barney’s daughter coming in to visit her dad, and making a date with Wojo. Barney isn’t happy. Wojo says something like, “Well, even if something DID happen, it’s not like it would be the first time! She goes to college doesn’t she? Waddya think they do up there? Study?”
I remember watching that one and thinking “Barney would be completely within his rights to deck that s.o.b…” Still think it. (Of course I never liked Wojo.)
I wonder if Barney Miller holds a record for the fewest sets ever used in a long running television series. During the first season when the show was more Barney-centric and his wife and kids were characters his apartment was shown a few times but the vast majority of the episodes never left the squad room. Aside from the Miller apartment episodes I only remember a few:
*The crew was on a stake-out where Harris alienated everybody by things he said in his sleep (“I WANNA BE SOMEBODY!”)
*On one episode Wojo was involved with a hooker and it showed his apartment (a dreary efficiency)
*When Dietrich started he visited Fish at his home (I’m guessing this was a pilot for Fish; mainly I remember Fish throwing pieces of bread at pigeons (not feeding them but aiming)
*Barney was jailed on contempt of court (I don’t remember why) and was shown in his cell with a cellmate who was neurotically obsessed with his wife’s infidelity and eventually accuses Barney of sleeping with his (the other inmate’s) wife
A couple of favorite lines from the series that I’ve quoted before without going into the time for context cause I can’t explain why they were so funny to me- they just were- occurred in a two part episode when Ray the Bum (recurring character) came to report something suspicious going on with other guys at his flop house. Some nights a van pulled up and took several of the guys away and they weren’t seen again. Harris went undercover and in the final scene it’s reported he was taken away with the other guys (though I can’t remember if they had a flop-house set or not).
It turns out that it was an agricultural slavery ring- something that actually did happen with homeless people (perhaps still does, though I think now it’s more illegal aliens who get caught in them). They were picking up the bums (that’s how Ray described them) and taking them to pick tobacco in the Carolinas and basically holding them as prisoners. Harris busts the ring.
Lines from the episode-
Harris has finally called the precinct and reported in.
Wojo [who has Harris on the phone]: He says he’s found the other bums and they’re all down in South Carolina!
Ray: I knew we shoulda looked there!
Wojo [to Harris on the phone]: Drive safe and whatever you do be careful and thank God you’re okay… oh hey… can you pick me up one of those nut logs from Stuckeys?
Harris: It was the road trip from hell. No ‘thanks for saving us from slavery’, no ‘gee we’re glad to be out of here’, just hundreds of miles of ‘aren’t we there yet?’ ‘when are we gonna be back?’ ‘I gotta go to the bathroom’ ‘Can we stop for ice cream?’ ‘Donnie’s hogging all the booze!’.
Wojo: So did you get my nut log?
Harris: Hell no!
Later you see Harris taking his paperwork and several rectangular boxes out of a bag.
Barney: What’s all that?
Harris: Cigarettes. Did you know they’re $7.00 a carton down there?
Wojo: So you got like five cartons of 'em but no nut log?
Doris Roberts, who played Ray’s mother on “Everybody Loves Raymond” was in several episodes. She played a recurring character for 3 episodes and earlier played another character.
She was in Part 1 of “Wojo’s Girl” that aired last night.
A young (40ish) pre-Taxi Christopher Lloyd also appeared in a couple of episodes.
