I'm not sure how many others here like this classic TV sitcom from the Seventies, but I thought I'd start a new thread here. I've just started watching the first season on DVD and one nit I've spotted involves the ol' One-Two's safe. In the ep "The Experience", a bomber has left a briefcase at the 12th Precinct with a bomb in it. Upon discovering it, Fish, after considering other options, decides to put the bomb into the safe before it explodes. When he gives the comibination for the safe, he says it's "One to the left. Eleven to the right." In the very next ep, "Snow Job", Wojo can't remember the safe's combo. Nick gives it as "One to the left. Two the right. Three to left. Four to the right." Moreover, when Fish did open the safe in "The Experince", it was a three digit combination that opened the safe.

Of course, the safe did get blown up in "The Experience", so maybe the one in "Snow Job" is a different one. On the other hand, it looks like the same safe in both eps. Not to mention that just before Wojo opens the safe, a cop makes a comment to Fish about how old the safe was. Sounds to me like it'd be kinda hard to replace. Or that if it was replaced, the Precinct would have a newer safe.
(And when are they gonna put out the next season of this hilarious show?)

"Arrest the first naked guy you see with a dirty mouth."

Two more nits for "Snow Job":

When Wojo asks Fish what'd he do with all the money the One-Two is keeping overnight for Seigel's (the local department store), Abe Vigoda, who plays Fish, has his right hand on his chin. In the next shot, a close-up, the hand is missing.

The seating arrangement in the series (for the first season) was pretty much thus:

By the squadroom door, Chano.
Across from Chano, Fish.
Behind Fish was Wojo.
Next to Wojo, in front of both the cage and the door to Barney's office, was Yemana.
Behind Yemana, next to the bathroom, was an empty desk that Harris usually used. ('Til Gregory Sierra [Chano] left the series. From then on, Harris was by the squadroom door.)

In this ep, the seating arrangement is as follows:

Wojo, by the door.
Fish across from him.
Chano behind Fish.
Harris by the Cage.
Nick Yemana by the bathroom.

Fish is the only one in his proper place.

This ep, incidentally, marks the first time Barney would passed over for a promotion from Captain to Deputy Inspector.

The aformentioned "The Experience" ep, btw, marked the first appearances of Marty, the gay thief, and Arnold Ripner, attorney at law (who would figure prominently later in the series after Harris wrote his book, Blood On the Badge.) Ripner was Marty's lawyer. Marty was busted for stealing a purse.

"I interviewed a lot of women last night that got dirty phone calls. I had to take down all of the conversations. I got names. I got addresses. I also got excited."

In the episode "Graft", Lt. Kelly, newly appointed to Internal Affairs, arrives at the 12^th Precinct. As he talks to Barney and the men, on Yemana's desk is a yellow can of disinfectent. In a subsequent shot, the can's been turned so that the green label, on the top half of the canister, is visible.

Kelly asks Yemana about Wilson and Harris. Wilson was one of the many characters that appeared in a few epsidoes of Barney Miller, but never quite worked out. Wilson's one appearance in the series was in "The Experience".

As Fish is telling Wojo about how the senior detective stopped to look at a new pair of shoes, there's cut to a close-up of Wojo as he shakes his head. At the end of the cut, Wojo is looking away from Fish. In the next cut, he's looking at Fish again.

I forgot to mention that "Snow Job" contains the series' first mention of Bellevue, where the men of the 12^th Precinct often sent the lunatics they had to deal with.

"Arrest the first naked guy you see with a dirty mouth."

The episode "Stakeout" features a one-shot character named DeLuca. He never appeared at the 12^th again. The episode also contains a mention of Detective Wilson, seen once in the series.

This ep also marks the first appearances of Mr. Tannabaum, who runs the local deli and Bernice, Fish's wife.

At the start of the ep, Fish is seen working at Yemana's desk, rather than his traditional desk.

"Arrest the first naked guy you see with a a dirty mouth."

The episode "Ms. Cop" features the debut of Linda Lavin's character, Detective Wentworth. It also has one of Nick Yemana's best scene: While talking to a Mr. Ravelli on the phone about Ravelli's stolen Studebaker, Nick uses a pencil as a chopstick. When he finishes talking to Ravelli, Yemana exclaims, "Omigod. I ate my eraser!" It's a very funny scene. Unfortunately, it's untrue. If you look carefully at Nick's pencil, you can see the eraser is still there.

Linda Lavin, of course, would go on to star in the TV series, Alice. Intriguingly, not two epsisodes ago, Vic Tayback appeared in the ep "Stakeout". Tayback was, of course, Lavin's co-star in Alice. He played Mel Sharples.

The duty roster chalkboard lists Yemana as a "Det. Yemana". However, Nick is a Sgt., not a Detective. (I believe the police ranks are Officer, Detective, Sargeant, Captain, Deputy Inspector, Inspector, etc.)

BTW, if you look carefully at the chalkboard, you'll see that many of the names on it that are not the name of a regular character is the name of one of the tech crew.

"Omigod! I ate my eraser!"

BEST EPISODES:

(Not using real episode titles, just using descriptions)

The "Hash Brownies" episode

The "Jack Soo" Tribute episode

"Sgt. Harris in drag" episode

"The Man Who Died In The Bathroom" episode

The episodes' proper titles are as follow:

"Hash"

"Jack Soo, A Retrospective"

"The Search"

and

I'm not sure about the last one. I think it's "Snow Job". In that ep, a flasher (a winter time flasher) attmepts suicide in the bathroom when he sticks his finger in the light socket and a foot in the toilet. Does that sound right?

Among my favorite eps are "Movie Pt. 1" and "Movie Pt. 2" (Harris' porno film), the two -part "Quarantine" (Harris' dream rant is hilarious!), "Hash", "Fog" (the one with the saxophone player), "The Desk" (the one with the Amish guy who was mugged and a master thief who was given a lobotomy) and "The Inventor" (when Wojo was hypnotized. "Yeah. Make him cluck like a chicken.") I hope they release this entire series on disc. The best episodes were from the third season on, I think.

"Hey Barney. Let's go down to the beach and shoot some clams."

If you wanna know the titles to all the eps (as well as a few other classic series) just check out this site: Classic Sitcoms

"Mushie, mushie."

Disc one of the first season of Barney Miller ends with a classic ep - "The Vigilante". It marks the first appearance of Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory). In this ep, whenever the Inspector mentions his old colleagues, he refers to them as "Foster, Kleiner and Brown". Later in the series, Brown would be called "Brownie".

Marla Gibbs, famous for her role as Florence on The Jeffersons gets stars as a mugging victim.

"The Vigilante" ends with a rare close-up shot of the picture in Barney's office showing Foster, Luger, Kleiner and Brownie.

Incidentally, Kogan, one of the uniforms from the downstairs area of the police station (the tall, balding guy) made his debut in "Snow Job". Kogan (played by Milt Kogan) was a recurring character in the series.

"Omigod! I ate my eraser!"

Througout the early part of the ep, "The Guest", there's a light reflection that flashes on the "Men's" sign of the squadroom's bathroom. Probably from one of the stagelights. Once you see it, it becomes very distracting. (It could also be from the fact that for some reason the sign is swaying back and forth.)

"The Escape Artist" is the episode contains the genesis of Harris' book, Blood On the Badge. It is in this ep that we first learn of Sgt. Harris' literary aspirations and hear the first paragraph of the first draft of Blood On the Badge. BOB (as the book was abbreviated in the series) became a very important plot point as the series progressed. Ironically, Harris mentions that he can't use real names in his novel for fear of being sued. One of the biggest things to come out of the Blood On the Badge arc is that Harris was sued for slander by Arnold Ripner.

"The Escape Artist" also contains the first reference to the really bad coffee served at the 12^th Precinct. However, it wasn't specified that Nick made the coffee.

In this ep, Harris is sitting at Chano's desk. Chano is using Fish's desk. And Fish is at Yemana's desk. That leaves Nick Yemana at the desk by the bathroom.

The episode "Hair" starts with Barney posting the results of a recent firing practice scores. He says that Wojo was "top of the class". Funny thing is, in the series first ep, "Ramon", Miller derides Wojo's skills as a marksman, indicating that Wojo was a bad shot.

Gardeno is, so far, the only detective whose full name appears on the duty roster chalkboard. He writes it down himself as "Gardeno, Paul, Det."

The stoned hippie Chano arrested in "Hair" was played by Charles Fleisher, famous for playing Carvelli on Welcome Back, Kotter and providing the voice of Roger Rabbit.

It is in "Hero" that the second reference to the 12^th Precinct having bad coffee is made. It's the first time that Yemana is credited with making the coffee. It also marks the second appearance of Inspector Luger. This time, he's much closer to the Inspector we would know throughout the rest of the series.

I've never been a fan of Gregory Sierra, but I've gotta admit, his portrayal of Detective Chano Amanguale after the detective shot the two bank robbers was great. You really get a sense of the confusion and nervousness and guilt Chano felt after he shot and killed those two men.

The young boy who attempted to hold up Barney's wife was played by a pre-Diff'rent Strokes Todd Bridges. Given his post-Willis Drummond career, that Bridges appears as a would be 8-year-old-mugger in this ep is ironic.

This episode contains one of the few times in the series we will see the homes of the One-Two's detectives. The series showed Barney's in the first few eps. Later, we'll see Wojo's apartment. In this ep, we see Chano's apartment. For the most part, the characters' homelives was something that was separate from the world of the squad room we saw them in.

"Then how about a little smile?"

I loved this show, but felt it didn't really take off until later seasons. I'll buy the DVDs when they release those. Didn't care at all for the "Barney at home" stuff.

According to HTTP://WWW.TVSHOWSONDVD.COM , Season 1 is out on DVD as of: 1/20/2004

Uhhhhh. Didn't I say I was watching the first season on DVD?

Yes, Benn. You did.

No offense was intended.

I just thought I'd note it anyway.

No problem.

I'm thinking about posting an overview of both the first season of Barney Miller, as well as the DVD set.

I bought the S1 set a few months ago, more or less (when you're old the first thing to go is...um...well, darn the luck I forget) but as yet haven't even opened it yet cuz I've got so many other DVDs to watch first.

While I'm glad to see Barney Miller on DVD, I can't say I'm too happy with the packaging of this double disc set. For one thing, there's really isn't anything in the way of special features. There are trailers for the movie Anger Management and some of Sony/Columbia other TV shows on discs. Which isn't bad. But what does Anger Management have to do with the 12^th Precinct?

There is, admittedly, a "TV-Ography", a list of some of the TV shows and movies some of the stars of Barney Miller appeared in. Strangely, the actors chosen for this feature are Hal Linden (Barney), Max Gail (Wojo), Ron Glass (Harris) and Jack Soo (Yemana). What's strange to me is that the latter two actors were not, at the time of the first season, stars of the series. They were invariably listed during the end credits. Sort of the way the late James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols were listed at the end of STAR TREK. The other actual stars of the first season were Barbara Barrie (Elizabeth Miller), Abe Vigoda (Fish) and Gregory Sierra (Chano). These three are for some reason excluded from the TV-Ography.

Moreover, it's odd (and annoying) that the DVDs do not have close captioning. Heck, there's not even any audio choices for this set. This is a very low rent approach to one of TV's classic series.

What's really annoying is that disc one features the first 9 eps of the 1^st season, while disc two disc has the last 4 eps. (The first season was comprised of 13 episodes.) This strikes me as being very lopsided. It would have been nice if Sony could have included the original pilot for Barney Miller: The Life and Times of Barney Miller. Doing so would have allowed the company to put seven episodes on each disc, giving the set a better balance.

Overall, the whole package just seems cheap.

But, as I've said, this is one of the best sitcoms television ever produced. The series did start out slow, as the creators tried to find a balance between Captain Miller's homelife and his work. However, Miller at home was not as interesting as Barney at the Ol' One-Two. After two or three episodes, the Miller household vanished. Barbara Barrie did make frequent appearances on the show, coming to station to visit her husband on very pretenses. But they always seemed forced and Liz Miller's presence got to where it seemed like an intrusion. It had no real flow with what was going on in the show.

Then again, the first few episodes weren't that funny to me. They had their moments. But they were quite uneven. The series began to solidify with the episode "The Courtesans". By the end of the season it was producing some of its better episodes such as "Hero", "Hair" and "The Escape Artist".

Rewatching the first season makes me realize how much of a debt Barney Miller owes to M*A*S*H. (Not to mention how much the two shows paralleled each other.) Miller, like M*A*S*H, featured an ensemble cast starring in a confined area, going outside this area only occasionally. (M*A*S*H occured at the 4077^th, Miller in the squad room of the 12^th Precinct.)

Both shows would survive many cast changes. Both series provided viewers with an intriguing balance of comedy and drama, making the audience think while they laughed.

There is one interesting difference between the series to me. While M*A*S*H started out with characters and situations that were crazy and absurd, it began, in its later seasons, to take it self more serious. The world of M*A*S*H became more grounded in reality than it was in the beginning. Barney Miller's universe, on the other hand, became increasing bizarre as the series progressed. That never stopped the show from dealing with serious topics. It just did so in an exagerrated comedic manner.

I'm hoping the next seasons, should they be released, will be packaged better than the first season was. Still, it's great to be able to watch all these episodes again. Especially since TVLand no longer runs it. Despite the flaws of this DVD set, I do recommend it to fans of the Ol' One-Two and the men of the Twelfth Precinct.

"Barney, Barney. Is your mother from Klarney?"

Another GREAT sit-com that got a really cheap release without ANY extras was All in the Family. I don't understand that. Surely there must be some good achival materiel on that show, it was a ground breaker.

Then it shouldn't surprise you Kail (or anyone else, for that matter) that All In the Family is a Sony/Columbia release. And I thought Paramount was chintzy with the added features. Yeesh!

Sanford and Son, Bewitched, The Critic, Diff'rent Strokes, Married With Children, The King of Queens, The Partridge Family, The Nanny, Newsradio, and Seinfeld, all Sony products, all have added features on the discs. And that's just the sitcoms. With the exception of Sienfeld (which I don't like), none of those shows are on the same level as All In the Family or Barney Miller. What gives?

I should mention that many other of the Sony sets have closed captioning. Why did Miller and Family get such shoddy treatment from Columbia?

They're meatheads!

No they ain't. They's dummies. Ya hear me? Dummies!

Paramount has issued original ads in their previous release of The Andy Griffith Show, the actors selling their sponsors' products in character. A really nice surprise for a Paramount release.

Columbia released two seasons (and then pretty much stopped) of Mad About You without any extras. Then they released a 'best of' set chock full of bonus material. I think this may prove to be a blueprint for some of their other TV releases: no extras on the series sets but then a whole 'nother box set--otherwise redundant--with them. That way the fan has to buy all the series box sets plus another one to boot. More money from them *and* it keeps the cost down on the series sets.

"I like the ones with Shemp."


...it just had to be said ;)

IIRC (and don't hold me to this), the part-time focus on Barney's home life may have not lasted past the first episode.
I had heard back in the early '80's that Danny Arnold himself shut the series down, as he was offered an insultingly low amount of money from ABC for a ninth season. Arnold went on to create and produce a short lived dramedy, Joe Bash, that starred Peter Boyle. Mr. Arnold passed away in 1995.
Night Court was kind of the flip side of Barney Miller. Sort of what happens to the people arrested and processed at the 12th. It didn't hurt that Court's creator, Reinhold Weege, was a writer/producer on Barney Miller.

Season Three on DVD (finally) on March 17, 2009. More here.

This was taken from "Miscellaneous Nits":
NYPD Officer Carl Levitt (the late Ron Carey) sometimes is a patrolman, and sometimes is in plainclothes as one of the detectives. My brother, the (now retired) NYPD detective, told me that would never happen. You have to earn the promotion to detective (my brother did, after four years on the force); you don't alternate between one and the other.
BTW, Shout Factory has released the entire series on DVD, and Antenna TV currently runs two episodes Sundays at 10 p.m. (ET)

Wasn't he originally a uniform, and then promoted halfway through the series?

He was used as a fill-in, when one of the other detectives was out. Particularly Jack Soo's Nick Yemana, who had frequent absences due to Soo's cancer. (Soo died in January of 1979, midway through the series' fifth season; the cast stepped out of character for a special tribute episode to him). IIRC, Levitt didn't earn his promotion to full detective until the last episode, when the 12th Precinct was closing, and Inspector Luger informed the squad where they were being transferred to.

On the episode "Fish", Bernice is played by Doris Belack instead of Florence Stanley


(I liked Florence better)

John A. Lang wrote, "On the episode "Fish", Bernice is played by Doris Belack instead of Florence Stanley.

(I liked Florence better)"

So did I. IIRC, Florence couldn't do the episode due to a scheduling conflict.

Jack Soo's last appearance was in the episode: "The Vandal"

His last line was: "I have nothing more to add"


In real life, His last words to Hal Linden as he was being wheeled into the operating room before his death were "It must have been the coffee."

Is it just me or does the Opening Theme from Barney Miller sound different on the DVD version than from the actual TV version?

I'll take "unclearable music" for 100$, Alex...

Does the Opening Theme from Barney Miller sound different on the DVD version than from the actual TV version?

There were two or three different arrangements of the theme used during the series' run. Maybe the DVD producers substituted one for another. Not having the DVD sets, I can't answer you any further.

When Diff'rent Strokes switched networks, they had to re-record the theme for ABC as NBC owned the rights to the original arrangement.

Then they squandered the perfect opportunity to replace it with a different, and actually good, theme song.

My friend Pete met Hal Linden and Max Gail at the recent Chiller Theatre show in New Jersey; they're the last surviving cast members.
A decade before the classic Next Gen episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", Tricia O'Neil played a photographer who came on to Harris in the two-parter "Homicide". To say she looked fabulous in the episode is an understatement.
The series is run on both digital channel Antenna TV, and on a channel labeled FETV. Unfortunately, the latter runs the series in the wee hours of the morning.

In the ep "The Experience", a bomber has left a briefcase at the 12th Precinct with a bomb in it.

The man who left the briefcase with the bomb was character actor Noam Pitlik. Who would go on to direct 102 episodes of the series. Mr. Pitlik passed away in 1999.

There was a two-parter, "Wojo's Girl", in which a reformed hooker moves in with Wojo. The second part has no scenes in the One-Two; the focus is entirely on Wojo at home, trying to come to terms with his new girlfriend. To me, this seems like it was a backdoor pilot for a Max Gail series. If it was, I'm glad it wasn't picked up; Wojo at work was better than Wojo at home.
In the first season, Harris had an accent that seemed like it was out of a blaxploitation movie. In season two, Harris' voice settled to what he would use for the rest of the series.

In the third season episode "Abduction", the show begins with Fish complaining about digestion problems after drinking milk. One character, I think Wojo, states that milk is pretty harmless. IIRC, at that time (1977), lactose intolerance was at the least not discussed, much less given as an accepted medical diagnosis.

"Jack Soo, A Retrospective"

NANJAO:The entire cast, including James Gregory, stepped out of character (and in casual clothes. Except for Ron Glass.) to pay tribute to the late Jack Soo. If you look closely, you'll see that Max Gail is not wearing his hairpiece. Also, it was the last episode of the fifth season.

In the sixth season episode "Vacation", two brothers are hauled in to the Twelfth when one brother refused to donate a kidney to the other. In fact, the brother in need of the kidney was unemployed. How was he expected to pay for the surgery? (surgeries?) Being out of work, I assume he had no medical insurance. Maybe (big maybe) Medicaid would have covered the operation(s).

Maybe he expected his brother to pay for it as well as donating a kidney?

You made a good point, Francois, so I did a quick Google search. The recipient (or their insurance) covers costs involved in organ donation. Including the donor's surgery. However, any complications the donor experiences as a result of the donation may not be covered.

In the eighth season episode "The Car", the detectives arrest a man who stole a new 1957 DeSoto, and pampered it for the next 25 years. They track down the original owner, who shows up at the Twelfth to claim it. One issue there, though. Unless the car was uninsured for theft, the insurance company who paid out the claim technically owns the car, and the owner would probably have to buy it back. (The episode ends with the thief getting released due to the statute of limitations having long passed, and promptly stealing the DeSoto again.)

In the season two episode "Fear Of Flying", Wojo has to escort a bigamist (Jack Riley) to Cleveland. Wojo wants to drive, as he's afraid to fly. The bigamist's New York wife (Valerie Curtin) shows up at the 12th to taunt him, and takes the whole container of the medication she's on, in a suicide attempt, in front of him. The meds turn out to be sleeping pills. The prescription bottle had just a number and the pharmacy name on it; the detectives had to call the pharmacy to find out what medication was prescribed. Every prescription container I've seen (including the two right in front of me as I write this) has the name and strength of the medication right on the bottle. Even back in the mid-'70s, when the episode was produced, I'm pretty sure prescriptions were dispensed with the drug's name right out in front.
Lots of jokes about Cleveland being a dull city abound. The best is - Barney tells Wojo to have a good time there. Nick hits one out of the park with "You'd be the first."

On the episode "Fish", Bernice is played by Doris Belack instead of Florence Stanley.

I always thought Bernice (at least the Florence Stanley version} was a sweetheart, and could not understand why Fish constantly complained about her. That episode also introduced Steve Landesberg's Detective Arthur Dietrich. Who was not portrayed as the know-everything intellectual he would later become.

In the season two episode "Discovery", Barney refers to Wojo as "Sergeant Wojehowicz". In the course of the series, Wojo would have to take the sergeant's test twice more before he would get his promotion.
The episode also has Fish bring declared dead by the NYPD computer. Abe Vigoda would be the subject of death rumors before his actual passing in 2016.

In the season six episode "The Architect", an insurance salesman (Norman Barthold) says he was asked by the PBA (Patrolman's Benevolent Association) to speak to the detectives about supplemental insurance. NYPD detectives are represented by the Detectives' Endowment Association, known as the DEA.

In the third season episode "Rand Report", Dietrich stated that he was never married. However, later in the series' run (the episode "Dietrich's Arrest"), ole' Arthur stated he was divorced, as a result of a marriage when he was very young.
And, IIRC, the series was inconsistent on the number of times Wojo had to take the sergeants' exam before he passed. Some say three, some four.

Also, the squad mentions the Thalia theater in some episodes, assuming the theater was in the Greenwich Village neighborhood the ole' 1-2 serves. The real Thalia was located on Broadway and West 95th Street, far from the Village. It closed in 1987, but renamed in 2002 as the "Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater". More here.

In the episode "Dog Days", Nick stated that he once had a cat that ran away. However, in a prior episode, "Bugs", he stated that the closest thing he ever had to a pet was a cockroach. Who lurked around the squad room, and would attempt to take a cube of sugar from Nick's coffee setup.

In the run of the series, several other detectives came and went, with no mention of them ever again. These include Det. Roslyn Licori (Mari Gorman) Det. Battista (June Gable) and Detective Eric Dorsey (Paul Leiber). They all disappeared without a trace; and it was right back to the core cast.

The season four episode,"Hostage", has the detectives and everyone else in the squad room held hostage by a career criminal. Who wants a plane to escape to Algeria. That's also a plot point in 1975's Dog Day Afternoon. In that classic crime pic, Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik also wants a plane to fly to Algeria. To escape justice in regard to his taking hostages during a bank robbery.