Barney Miller
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| Barney Miller | |
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| Format | Sitcom |
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| Starring | Hal Linden Barbara Barrie (1975-76) Abe Vigoda (1975-1977) Max Gail Jack Soo (1975-1978) Gregory Sierra (1975-1976) James Gregory Steve Landesberg (1976-1982) Ron Carey (1976-1982) Ron Glass |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 168 |
| Production | |
| Running time | ca. 26 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | January 23, 1975 – May 20, 1982 |
Barney Miller is a comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village that ran from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker. Noam Pitlik directed the majority of the episodes.
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[edit] Premise
Captain Barney Miller (Hal Linden) tries to remain sane while leading the 12th Precinct's detectives: crochety, nearing-retirement Jewish-American Philip K. Fish (Abe Vigoda); naive but goodhearted Polish-American Det. Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz (Max Gail); ambitious, arrogant African-American Det. Ronald "Ron" Nathan Harris (Ron Glass); philosophical, wisecracking Japanese-American Nick Yemana (Jack Soo); and dauntless Puerto Rican Chano Amanguale (Gregory Sierra). He also has to deal with his unapologetically old-school superior, Deputy Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory), and diminutive (and obsequious) Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey), who passive-aggressively badgers Miller constantly about being promoted to detective. Amanguale was replaced by intellectual Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg) from the third season on.
The show's focus was split between the detectives' interactions with each other and with the suspects and witnesses they detained, processed, and interviewed. Some typical conflicts and long running plotlines included Miller's frustration with red tape and paperwork, his constant efforts to maintain peace, order, and discipline, and his numerous failed attempts to get a promotion; Harris's preoccupation with outside interests, mainly his novel, and his inability to remain focused on his police work; Fish's incontinence and reluctance to retire; Wojciehowicz's impulsive behavior and love life; Luger's nostalgia for the old days with partners Foster, Kleiner and Brown; Levitt's (eventually successful) quest to become a detective; the rivalry between the precinct's resident intellectuals, Harris and Dietrich and continually - but reliably - bad coffee (usually made by Yemana).
Decades after its cancellation, Barney Miller retains a devoted following among real-life police officers, who appreciate the show's emphasis on dialogue and believably quirky characters, and its low-key portrayal of cops going about their jobs. During his appearance on Jon Favreau's Independent Film Channel talk show Dinner for Five Dennis Farina, who worked as a Chicago policeman before turning to acting, called Barney Miller the most realistic cop show ever seen on television. Hal Linden has told interviewers that he still occasionally gets called "Lieutenant" by working police officers.
[edit] Cast
- Hal Linden as Captain Barney Miller
- Abe Vigoda as Detective Phil Fish (1975-1977). Fish's wife Bernice (played mainly by Florence Stanley) made an appearance from time to time. In 1977, the Fishs were spun off into their own show, Fish.
- Max Gail as Detective Stan "Wojo" Wojciehowicz
- Ron Glass as Detective Ron Harris
- Jack Soo as Detective Sergeant Nick Yemana (1975-1978). After Soo died on January 11, 1979, a special memorial episode was aired, with the actors breaking character and recalling their favorite Yemana scenes, ending with them raising their coffee cups in tribute.
- Gregory Sierra as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale (1975-1976)
- Steve Landesberg as Detective Arthur Dietrich (1976-1982)
- Ron Carey as Officer Carl Levitt (1976-1982)
- Linda Lavin in a recurring role as Detective Janice Wentworth (1975-1976)
- James Gregory as Deputy Inspector Frank Luger, Barney's supervisor
- Barbara Barrie as Elizabeth "Liz" Miller (1975-1976; 1978), Barney's wife
[edit] Recurring characters
[edit] Barney's family
In addition to Barney's wife Liz, Barney's son David (Michael Tessier) and daughter Rachel (Anne Wyndham) were recurring characters. Barney's family was written out of the show after the first episode, while his wife made appearances through the second season. Barrie would continue to make very occasional guest appearances for the remainder of the series run, and Wyndham also reprised her role in one later episode.
[edit] Other officers and staff
Seen in occasional recurring roles at the 12th Precinct were other officers and staff, including:
- Officer Kogan, the desk sergeant (Milt Kogan) (seasons 1-2)
- Detective Eric Dorsey (Paul Lieber)
- Detective Maria Battista (June Gable)
- Officer Roslyn Licori (Mari Gorman)
- Officer Zatelli (Dino Natali)
- Building superintendent Beckman (Paul Lichtman) (seasons 1-3)
- Stopping by from time to time from headquarters was aggressive Internal Affairs investigator Lt. Ben Scanlon (George Murdock).
[edit] 12th Precinct regulars
Regular complainants, habitués 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)
- Group home children Jilly (Denise Miller) and Victor (John Cassisi)
- Delusional "werewolf" Mr. Anton 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)
- Yacov Berger (Nehemiah Persoff)
- Transient Ray Brewer (John Dullaghan)
- Small-time crook Arthur Duncan (J.J. Barry)
- Flasher Lyle W. Farber (Ron Feinberg)
- Mr. Lukather (Judson Morgan).
[edit] Awards
Barney Miller won the DGA Award from the Directors Guild of America in 1981.
The series won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1982, after it was concluded. It also won Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series in 1980 and Outstanding Directing in a Comedy or Comedy-Variety or Music Series in 1979, and was nominated for numerous others.
It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Comedy or Musical Series in 1976 and 1977, and was nominated for various other Golden Globe Awards.
The show won the Peabody Award in 1979.
[edit] Pilot
The series sprang from 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, 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. The pilot script was later largely re-used in the debut episode "Ramon".
[edit] Opening theme
The distinctive opening notes of the theme song's bass line, performed by studio musician Jim Hughart,[1] are played over a shot of the New York skyline (with a garbage barge being towed in the foreground, from Season Two on) followed by shots of the characters. Several slightly different versions of the theme song featuring minor variations in the song's composition and performance were used during different seasons. The closing credits featured a different shot of the skyline.
[edit] Production
As the show progressed (and especially by the final seasons), the program became unusual for its increasing resemblance to a stage play, in that its scenes almost never strayed from the single set of the precinct station's squadroom (with its prominent open-barred holding cell) and Miller's adjoining office. Almost all of the action and dialog took place on this single set. Characters came and went, but they were virtually never shown outside or in other buildings. Moreover, each episode in the later seasons usually took place within the course of a single workday. Thus, Barney Miller tended to obey two of the three classical unities of drama, unity of place and unity of time. The third unity, unity of action, was not followed, since each episode had multiple subplots.
The show became notorious among television studios for its marathon taping sessions.[citation needed] In the beginning, it was taped in front of a studio audience. After the audience left, creator and executive producer Danny Arnold would begin to (sometimes heavily) rewrite and restage scenes; 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 episode; he remarked that one of the clips shown was a scene that "we finished around 2:30 in the morning." In a 1977 blooper, a crew member (presumably a stage manager or director) mentions it being 3:15 a.m.[2] The series stopped using a studio audience after the first three seasons, and utilized a laugh track.[citation needed]
The debut of the series made an impact on another series, The Six Million Dollar Man. In November 1974, two months before Barney Miller became a weekly series, the science fiction show had aired an episode entitled "The Seven Million Dollar Man" that introduced a villain named Barney Miller. When this character made a return appearance in the fall of 1975 in an episode entitled "The Bionic Criminal", the character's name was changed to Barney Hiller.[citation needed]
[edit] Ratings
- 1974-1975: #70
- 1975-1976: #38
- 1976-1977: #17
- 1977-1978: #18
- 1978-1979: #16
- 1979-1980: #21
- 1980-1981: #33
- 1981-1982: #54
[edit] DVD releases
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released seasons 1 through 3 on DVD in Region 1.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 13 | January 20, 2004 |
| Season 2 | 22 | January 22, 2008 |
| Season 3 | 22 | March 17, 2009[3] |
[edit] Online viewing
Seasons 1-4 are available for online viewing at Hulu.com and Crackle.com.
[edit] References
- ^ David Meeker. "Jazz on the Screen". Library of Congress. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/warehouse/jots/200028017/0001.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-02-25. Page 82
- ^ youtube.com/
- ^ tvshowsondvd.com
[edit] External links
- Barney Miller at the Internet Movie Database
- The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller at the Internet Movie Database
- TV.com: Barney Miller
- The Barney Miller homepage
- Sitcoms Online: Barney Miller
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