Barney Miller
Barney Miller is an American sitcom television series set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th Street in Greenwich Village. The series was broadcast on ABC from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker. Former character actor Noam Pitlik directed 102 of the 170 episodes. It spawned a spin-off series, Fish, that ran from February 5, 1977, to May 18, 1978, focusing on the character Philip K. Fish.
Premise
Barney Miller takes place almost entirely within the confines of the detectives' squad room and Captain Barney Miller's adjoining office of New York City's fictional 12th Precinct, located in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. A typical episode featured the detectives of the 12th bringing in several complainants or suspects to the squad room. Usually, there were two or three separate subplots in a given episode, with different officers dealing with different crimes. Rarely, about once a year, an episode would feature one or more of the detectives outside of the walls of the precinct, either on a stakeout or at their homes.The squad consists of:
Capt. Bernard Miller. An affable, personable senior officer who tries to maintain a sense of order while his detectives process a noisy parade of unusual criminals and victims. He reasons with the various complainants to effect a successful conclusion or compromise. Barney is noted around the squad room for his compassion, dedication, and diplomacy, but he does have to cope with the personal problems of his squad. His marriage is troubled; both husband and wife love each other, but Mrs. Miller constantly worries for Barney's safety in dangerous police situations, and agitates for him to leave his job or move somewhere else.
Sgt. Philip K. Fish. The senior member of the squad, the sad-faced Sgt. Fish is a world-weary police veteran who is friendly enough but seldom smiles. He usually makes pointed observations about the strange situations in the squad room. He is constantly telephoned by his lonely wife Bernice, who saddles him with her own problems. Bernice is seldom seen in person; the character is almost always played by Florence Stanley, and once by Doris Belack.
Sgt. Nick Yemana. Second in seniority, Sgt. Yemana is an even-tempered, good-humored Japanese bachelor. He usually shows only mild surprise at the craziness in the squad room, and makes quietly humorous remarks. He is energy efficient, making only token attempts to handle the mountain of police paperwork, but he does follow through on cases. His hobbies are gambling and Japanese cooking, and he makes the worst coffee in town.
Det. Stanley Wojciehowicz. Originally written as the house dumb-bell with a goofy laugh and funny remarks, Wojo becomes an "average man" character who often brings his troubles to the office and turns to Barney as a father figure. Wojo cares about people's problems, and worries about the consequences of governmental inactivity. In these cases, he takes matters into his own hands and summons federal officials, much to Barney's embarrassment. Away from the squad room, Wojo is a ladies' man, whose late nights make him constantly late for work.
Sgt. Ron Harris. Harris is a black bachelor, and early episodes have him using urban street slang. He becomes a literate, intelligent detective who lapses into dialect only under stress. Harris always dresses impeccably and enjoys the finer things in life, with a thirst for more respect and prestige. He moonlights as a writer of fiction, with magazine stories to his credit. His squad-based novel "Blood on the Badge" becomes a success, and his self-centered pursuit of wealth occupies many of his working hours.
Sgt. Chano Amengual. Amengual is a Puerto Rican bachelor and, like Wojo, is sensitive to people's problems. An excellent detective, he is very observant and his unusual methods solve cases. He is bilingual, which is helpful when the need arises, and he is disgusted and frankly embarrassed by the influx of petty criminals who are also Puerto Rican.
Sgt. Arthur Dietrich. When Fish retires, Dietrich replaces him. The bespectacled Dietrich is very low-key and highly intelligent, having trained in both the medical and legal professions, and he has a vast knowledge of specialized topics. He can be counted on to define some esoteric concept quickly and clearly. He is an unusually thorough detective, going to great lengths to follow leads when he thinks he's right, and he uses his wide knowledge to solve baffling cases. Away from the squad room, he is a bachelor who loves jazz and plays a poor clarinet, and he enjoys sports, TV cartoons, and The Three Stooges.
Officer Carl Levitt. An ambitious, obsequious patrolman who delivers the daily mail. He never fails to remind Barney that he is available for plainclothes detective work, and ultimately the persistent Levitt is allowed to work part-time among the detectives. Levitt occasionally displays surprising skills that help solve cases. Away from the squad room, Levitt also enjoys the Stooges, particularly Shemp Howard.
Cast
Regulars
| Actor | Character | Seasons |
| Hal Linden | Captain Bernard "Barney" Miller | 1–8 |
| Max Gail | Detective 3rd Grade Stanley Thaddeus "Wojo" Wojciehowicz | 1–8 |
| Ron Glass | Detective 1st Grade Ronald Nathan Harris | 1–8 |
| James Gregory | Deputy Inspector Franklin D. Luger | 1–8 |
| Abe Vigoda | Sergeant Philip K. Fish | 1–4, 7 |
| Jack Soo | Sergeant Nick Yemana | 1–5 |
| Barbara Barrie | Elizabeth "Liz" Miller | 1–2, 4, 5 |
| Gregory Sierra | Sergeant Miguel "Chano" Amengual | 1–2 |
| Steve Landesberg | Sergeant Arthur P. Dietrich | 2–8 |
| Ron Carey | Officer Carl E. Levitt | 3–8 |
Recurring characters
Other officers and staff
‡12th Precinct regulars
The 12th Precinct had a number of regular complainants, habitués of the holding cell, or other people who often dropped by. Characters seen on three or more episodes included:| Actor | Character | No. of Appear- ances | Seasons |
| Jack DeLeon | Marty Morrison, shoplifter and petty criminal | 8 | 1–8 |
| Alex Henteloff ‡ | Arnold Ripner, opportunistic lawyer | 7 | 1–8 |
| Stanley Brock ‡ | Bruno Binder, vigilante | 7 | 4–8 |
| Jack Somack | Mr. Cotterman, liquor-store owner | 6 | 2–5, 7 |
| Ray Stewart | Darryl Driscoll, Marty's friend | 5 | 2–8 |
| John Dullaghan ‡ | Ray Brewer, street person | 5 | 5–8 |
| J.J. Barry ‡ | Arthur Duncan, robs disadvantaged people | 4 | 7–8 |
| Ralph Manza ‡ | Leon Roth, blind man | 4 | 3–8 |
| Doris Roberts ‡ | Harriet Brauer | 3 | 4–7 |
| Peter Hobbs | Philip Brauer, invests in gold | 3 | 4–7 |
| Paula Shaw | Paula Capshaw, call girl | 3 | 3–4 |
| Carina Afable | Perlita Avilar, Insp. Luger's mail-order bride | 3 | 8 |
Pilot
The series was born out of an unsold television pilot, The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, that aired on August 22, 1974, as part of an ABC summer anthology series, Just for Laughs. Linden and Vigoda were cast in their series roles; no other eventual cast members were present. Abby Dalton played Barney Miller's wife, Liz, while Val Bisoglio, Rod Perry, and a pre-Hill Street Blues Charles Haid rounded out the cast of the pilot. Guest stars included Mike Moore, Chu Chu Mulave, Henry Beckman, Buddy Lester, Michael Tessier and Anne Wyndham.The pilot script was later largely reused in the debut episode "Ramon". For this reworked episode, Bisoglio's lines were more or less evenly split between the new characters of Yemana and Chano, while Haid's character of Kazinski became Max Gail's Wojciehowicz. Rod Perry's character, Sgt. Wilson, was replaced by Harris in the reworked episode, although Wilson would reappear one more time in the first-season episode "Experience" before disappearing from the series entirely. Abby Dalton was replaced by Barbara Barrie as Liz, and Henry Beckman's character of Uncle Charlie was dropped entirely. The rest of the guest cast reprised their roles in the debut episode.
Unlike the remainder of the series, the pilot was shot on film at CBS Studio Center, where the sets of the 12th Precinct and the Miller apartment were originally built. When the show went into regular production in late 1974, it was recorded on videotape. The sets were moved to the ABC Television Center in Hollywood, where they remained until production ended in 1982.
The pilot was never broadcast in syndication. It was released in 2011 as part of Shout Factory's complete series set on DVD.
Episodes
Opening theme
The show's theme music is an instrumental in a jazz fusion style, written by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson. The theme opens with a distinctive bass line performed by studio musician Chuck Berghofer. The bass line was improvised by Berghofer at the request of producer Dominik Hauser: "Can you do something on the bass? This guy is a cop in New York. Can we just start it out with the bass?" Several versions of the theme were used during different seasons.The theme plays over scenes of the Manhattan skyline, followed by shots of the characters and opening credits. Season 1 opened and closed with a shot of Midtown Manhattan as seen from Weehawken, New Jersey. Season 2 onward opened with a shot of Lower Manhattan as seen from Brooklyn Heights, with a barge being towed in the foreground, and closed with a shot of the Midtown Manhattan skyline as seen from Long Island City.
The theme song was ranked No. 23 and No. 27, respectively, by Complex and Paste magazines, in their lists of "best TV theme songs".