Barney Miller mixed the realistic view of cop life found on Police Story with a slight touch of Car 54 Where Are You?. This formula produced a smart sitcom about the law with a twist of disorder. The Detectives’ Squad Room at the 12th Precinct in Greenwich Village was a rather squalid affair. It was dusty and dilapidated. Unlike today’s modern cop shows covered cutting edge computers and other crime fighting devices, the desks on Barney Miller were lucky to have a manual typewriter and four legs touching the floor. Barney Miller: The Complete Series captures the characters that occupied the squad room during eight seasons.
Originally the series was supposed to balance the home and office life of Barney Miller (Hal Linden). “Ramon” opens the series in Barney’s apartment. His wife (Breaking Away‘s Barbara Barrie) feels trapped behind the security bars. His daughter is engaged to a public defender and his young son has a fascination with guns. He arrives in the squad room to discover Ramon has taken his detective squad hostage. Ramon has stolen the service revolver belonging to the elderly Sgt. Fish (Abe Vigoda). He has it trained on the sophisticated Det. Harris (Ron Glass), the wry Sgt. Yemana (Jack Soo), the streetwise Sgt. Amenguale (Gregory Sierra) and the peppy Det. Wojchiehowicz (Max Gail). Barney’s not to happy. Instead of a big action scene, he attempts to use compassion and compromise to get Ramon to peacefully surrender. The less fuss made, the less paperwork the squad will have to do to explain how Fish’s gun was nabbed. The balancing act of Barney’s home and work is quickly ditched since nothing at his home equals the interaction of the detectives. The ratings were rather bumpy in the early seasons so it just made sense to focus on what the audience liked more. Barney’s wife would drop by the precinct. His kids would go off to live with Chip Cunningham.
Like a real police department, Barney Miller‘s cast changed over the run. The first two seasons were rather stable with the core cast augmented by visits from Deputy Inspector Luger (James Gregory). After the second season Sierra split for A.E.S. Hudson Street. The short lived series was made by the producers behind Barney. Det. Dietrich (Steve Landesberg) replaced him in the squad room. The deadpan Dietrich has his own way of working that sometimes frustrates the other detectives. The fourth season brings another change when Fish finally gets to retire. Although he doesn’t leave the TV screen. He’s spun-off into a show about him and his wife running a foster home. Coincidentally the show was called Fish. The first season of the spin-off is included as a bonus in the boxset. Fishlaunched the career of Todd Bridges as the smart mouth pint-sized star. Fish was canceled after season two and Bridges went on to be the big brother to TV’s newest pint-sized star on Diff’rent Strokes. Officer Levitt (Ron Carey) was given more time in the squad room to make up for Fish’s departure. Nobody replaced Sgt. Yeman since Jack Soo had died of cancer in the middle of season five. His memorial episode is featured in the set when the cast remembers the man and his character.
The short descriptions of Barney Miller episodes could be mistaken for Hill Street Blues plots. This was a cop show with comic elements and not a comedy featuring cops. There are serious elements to the crimes, but not enough to make you think you’re watching The Wire. During its final season, the network had Barney Miller be the lead in for the slapstick cop comedy Police Squad! The series that spawned The Naked Gun movies lasted six episodes while Barney wrapped up with 168 episodes. Anchoring the series in reality instead of going pure comic spoof kept it interesting for the long haul. Barney Miller sits with The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi as the great sitcoms of the ‘70s.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The series was videotaped so it’s not quite as sharp on the screen. The audio is mono. The mix is fine for a live show with a canned laughter. The episodes are Closed Captioned.
With a complete series release, Shout! Factory goes all out in the extras department.
Commentary Tracks are given for all three parts of “Landmark” with Writer/Producers Tony Sheehan, Jeff Stein and Frank Dugan. Trio give each other the business. Turns out they had to use a laugh track since they’d get their scripts done at the last minute and perform lots of reshoots to alter lines.
Inside the 12th Precinct (29:18) is a documentary featuring fresh interviews with Max Gail, Hal Linden and the immortal Abe Vigada. Turns out Fish got a part in an elementary school play because he looked old at 6 years old. The original pilot didn’t sell, but producer Arnold persisted.
Salute to the Old One Two (24:07) addresses the set. They did a lot to make it look dirty.
Inside the Writers Room (16:30) explains how Jeff Stein and Frank Dugan went from viewers to writers.
“The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller” Original Pilot (26:44) is like an alternate world of Barney Miller. Sure it has Hal and Abe in the roles of Barney and Fish on the 12th precinct set. But they’re joined by Charles Haid (Renko on Hill Street Blues), Rod Perry (S.W.A.T.) and Val Bisgoli (John Travolta’s Dad in Saturday Night Fever). This gives a clear look at the set since it was filmed in 35mm.
Season 1 Episode 1 “Ramon” (25:10) is the uncut version with the same plot as the first pilot.
“You Don’t Know Jack” (7:39) is an except from the Jack Soo Documentary. The section focuses on his work on Barney Miller. Steve Landesberg and Max Gail talk about his time with Jack on the series. Steve passed away last December. The movie is playing festivals.
Barney Miller: The Complete Series finally brings together the legendary series. After being painfully teased with 3 season releases over seven years, there’s no more waiting for the police force to arrive. They even throw in the first season of Fish. This is a must buy for fans who want to laugh with law enforcement.
Shout! Factory presents Barney Miller: The Complete Series. Starring: Hal Linden, Max Gail, Ron Glass, Jack Soo, Gregory Sierra and Abe Vigoda. Boxset Contents: 168 Episodes on 25 DVDs. Released on DVD: October 25, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
