Barney Miller
Barney Miller was a
comedy television series set in a
New York City police station that ran from
1975 to
1982 on
ABC. It was created by
Danny Arnold and
Theodore J. Flicker and originally starred
Hal Linden as
Capt. Barney Miller,
Barbara Barrie as his wife
Liz Miller(1975-1976),
Abe Vigoda (1975-1977) as
Det Phillip Fish,
Max Gail as
Det. Stan Wojciehowicz (a.k.a. "Wojo"),
Ron Glass as
Det. Ron Harris,
Jack Soo as
Det Nick Yemena(1975-1979),
Gregory Sierra as
Det. Chano Amenguale (1975-1977), and
James Gregory as
Insp. Frank Luger. Later additions to the cast included
Linda Lavin as
Det. Janice Wentworth (1976-77),
Steve Landesberg as
Det. Arthur Dietrich(1976-1982), and
Ron Carey as
Officer Carl Levitt (1976-1982).
The series sprung from a pilot that aired only once, as a special on ABC in 1974 called
The Life And Times of Captain Barney Miller. In this telecast, Linden and Vigoda were cast in their now-familiar roles, and
Abby Dalton played Liz Miller. No other regular
Barney Miller cast members were present, and this pilot script was later largely re-worked as the
Barney Miller episode "Ramon".
The distinctive opening notes of the theme song's
bass line (used over a shot of the New York
skyline) remain one of the show's trademarks, and are still frequently played by
bassists when warming up or performing
sound checks before performances. (
Les Claypool, for one, reports that the theme sparked his interest in bass guitar). The show was frequently directed by
Noam Pitlik.
The show was known for its range of distinctive characters and wry humor. Captain Barney Miller (Linden) tried to remain sane while running a police station populated by pessimistic retirement-age Philip K. Fish (Vigoda), naive
Polish-American Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz (Gail), suave
African-American Ronald Nathan Harris (Glass), philosophical
Japanese-American Nick Yemana (Soo) (who made the awful coffee every day for the precinct), diminutive (and obsequious) detective wannabe Carl Levitt (Carey) and befuddled, rambling superior Inspector Franklin Luger (Gregory). In the first three seasons, Gregory Sierra played neurotic Puerto Rican Detective Chano Amanguale; his character was replaced by soi-disant intellectual Arthur P. Dietrich (Landesberg) from the third season on.
Recurring characters included Barney's son David (
Michael Tessier) and daughter Rachel (
Anne Wyndham). After two seasons, Barney's family was largely written out of the show, although Ms. Barrie would continue to make occasional guest appearances.
Seen in occasional recurring roles at the 12th Precinct were other officers and staff, including Officer Kogan, the desk sergeant (
Milt Kogan); Detective Eric Dorsey (
Paul Lieber); Detective Maria Battista (
June Gable); Officer Rosslyn Licori (
Mari Gorman); and gay police officer Zatelli (
Dino Natali). Stopping by from time to time from headquarters were aggressive Internal Affairs investigator Lt. Ben Scanlon (
George Murdock) and Inspector Kelly (
Dick O'Neill).
Regular complaintants, habitues of the 12th precinct's holding cell, or other people who regularly dropped by, included unprincipled attorney Arnold Drake Ripner (
Alex Henteloff); gay couple Marty Morrison (
Jack DeLeon) and Darryl Driscoll (
Ray Stewart); liquor store owner Mr. Cotterman (
Jack Somack); vigilante Bruno Binder and his wife (
Stanley Brock and
Mari Gorman); building superintendent Beckman (
Paul Lichtman); group home children Jilly (
Denise Miller) and Victor (
John Cassisi); delusional "werewolf" Mr. Kopeckne (
Kenneth Tigar); blind man Leon Roth (
Ralph Manza); Sidney the bookie (
Buddy Lester); married couple Phillip and Harriet Brauer (
Peter Hobbs and
Doris Roberts); rabbi Yacov Berger (
Nehemiah Persoff); transient Ray Brewer (
John Dullaghan); crook Arthur Duncan (
J.J. Barry); and Mr. Lukather (
Judson Morgan).
From time to time, Fish's wife Bernice (
Florence Stanley) was shown. In
1977, the characters of Phil and Bernice Fish were
spun off onto their own show,
Fish.
In
1979, Jack Soo died. His character was so beloved by the audience and his fellow actors, that, following his death, a special memorial episode aired. By the final seasons, the program was unusual in its resemblance to a stage play, in that its scenes almost never strayed from the single set of the one-room precinct station (with its prominent open-barred
holding cell) and Miller's adjoining office. Characters came and went from the set, but were virtually never shown outside or in other buildings.
The show's focus was split between the detectives' interactions with suspects and witnesses as they are being detained, processed, and interviewed, and interaction between the detectives themselves. Some typical conflicts and long running plotlines included Barney's frustration with legal red tape and his numerous failed attempts to get a promotion; the writing and publication of Harris's novel, and his inability to remain focused on his police-work; Fish's incontinence and reluctance to retire; Wojciehowicz's overimpulsive behavior and love life; Luger's morbid nostalgia for the old days with old partners Foster, Kleiner and Brown; Levitt's desire to be promoted to detective; and the rivalry between the precinct intellectuals Harris and Dietrich.
The show became notorious among television studios for its marathon taping sessions. In the beginning, the show was taped in front of a studio audience which presumably saw the episode as originally scripted and rehearsed. After the audience left the studio, creator/producer
Danny Arnold would begin to (sometimes heavily) rewrite and restage scenes, and a taping session that began in the afternoon or early evening would then continue on into the early morning hours. (Max Gail referred to this in the Jack Soo retrospective noted above; he remarked that one of the clips shown was a scene that "we finished around 2:30 in the morning.") This haphazard method of creating an episode may explain the show's heavy reliance on a
laugh track, and the eventual jettisoning of the studio audience altogether after the first three seasons.
Some of the show's creative staff—though none of the main cast—went on to make the series
Night Court, which, while also popular, long-running, and similar in many key themes (including the bass line at the beginning), did not receive the same critical acclaim, possibly because its comedic situations were broader and less subtle, and its characters less well developed than those of
Barney Miller. A number of character actors that appeared on
Barney Miller also appeared on
Night Court.
Barney Miller won an
Emmy Award for
Outstanding Comedy Series in
1982, after it was cancelled.
The first season (13 episodes) was released on
DVD in January 2004. Due to the set's high cost and lack of extras, sales were poor and plans to release the rest of the series on DVD were cancelled.
