One of the longest running police series up to that time, Barney Miller was also unusual as a sitcom with a police department setting -- most police shows up to that time (with the notable exception of Nat Hiken's Car 54, Where Are You?) were dramas. It initially hit the airwaves in early 1975 as a mid-season replacement on the ABC network, after being tinkered with during the previous year. The series was originally conceived as "The Life And Times of Captain Barney Miller," with Hal Linden in the title role, of the ...
Read More
One of the longest running police series up to that time, Barney Miller was also unusual as a sitcom with a police department setting -- most police shows up to that time (with the notable exception of Nat Hiken's Car 54, Where Are You?) were dramas. It initially hit the airwaves in early 1975 as a mid-season replacement on the ABC network, after being tinkered with during the previous year. The series was originally conceived as "The Life And Times of Captain Barney Miller," with Hal Linden in the title role, of the captain in charge of the detective squad of the fictional 12th Precinct in Manhattan (which seemed to be on or adjacent to the Lower East Side); and Abe Vigoda as Detective Fish, with a supporting cast featuring Henry Beckman, Rod Perry, Charles Haid, and Val Bisoglio, with Abby Dalton playing Miller's wife Elizabeth -- all were in the pilot episode that was rejected by ABC, but did air as part of a "comedy anthology" showcase on the network during the summer of 1974. The proposed series was re-tooled over the spring and summer under the name Barney Miller, with an almost entirely different supporting cast, and went on the air in January of 1975. The ratings for the attenuated first season were very low, the show getting no higher than number 70, but it lasted to a second season that started in September of 1975 and quickly more than doubled its audience. The series ended up running eight seasons, despite the fact that it never reached the top 10 (or even the top 15) in popularity. Barney Miller was an odd comedy/drama, set primarily in a police precinct detective squad room -- during the first season, there were scenes set elsewhere, primarily in the Miller family apartment, but by the fourth season, there were scarcely any moments depicted outside of the squad room or, rarely, Miller's adjoining office. And after the first season, nothing was ever seen of Barney's daughter again -- his wife Elizabeth was spoken of but apart from a fifth season appearance by Barbara Barrie, never seen again even in the opening credits after the second season. The stories primarily concerned the detectives' interactions with each other and the various victims, witnesses, and suspects with whom their work brought them into contact -- in that regard, and also the confinement of the series to the single set for most of its run, Barney Miller did owe a fair amount to the 1949 Sidney Kingsley play Detective Story and William Wyler's 1951 screen adaptation of the same work. The major difference was that Barney Miller mostly played its conflicts for humor, and reveled in the comedic foibles of its various characters -- once in a while, a very serious moment would come through, as in the first-season episode in which one detective suffers an emotional collapse over the fact that he was forced to kill someone in the line-of-duty. But the show usually emphasized the humorous aspects of police work, rather than action or intense drama. In that regard, more than one police officer has described Barney Miller as the most realistic police show in television history, at least as far as detectives' routine work and lives were concerned. It took a couple of seasons for the writers and the cast to hit their stride, and for the strongest lineup of regulars to solidify, but once it did the series had no peer in either police shows or sitcoms.The squad during the first season was comprised of Abe Vigoda as Detective Philip Fish, a gentle, philosophical man who hides those qualities behind a mask of world weariness -- a decades-long veteran of the force, Fish can never quite forget how close to retirement he gets with each passing day; Detective Stan ("Wojo") Wojciehowicz (Max Gail), a diligent, workman-like investigator, even by his own account not the brightest prospect on the squad to make chief-of-detectives, who makes up for his lack of intellect with drive and effort; Det. Sgt. Chano Amenguale (Gregory Sierra), a warm-hearted, passionate man,...
Read Less
I forgot how good this show was. Clever writing and subdued performances give it a unique look and tone for a cop show AND a sitcom. The first season was when they were still finding the character's voices but it had some of the show's most tense moments as well.And Linda Lavin's episode reminds me it was the days when men were just trying to adjust to women as equals in the work place. If you like slapstick, this is not the comedy for you. It is also not Police Academy. It is clever, dialogue driven humor, that was written in the 70s when the Police were "the MAN" and not to be trusted. This show helped us to realize the police were people too. No other show like it on TV ever.
![Barney Miller: The First Season [2 Discs] -](https://www0.alibris-static.com/barney-miller-the-first-season-2-discs/cover/t37381x5unw_l.jpg)
![Barney Miller: The First Season [2 Discs]](https://www4.alibris-static.com/barney-miller-the-first-season-2-discs/cover/t37381x5unw.jpg)
