"Barney Miller" (1975) TV series 1975-1982

Creators:

Danny Arnold
Theodore J. Flicker
Chris Hayward

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | unknown

Release Date:

23 January 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The captain of a city police station and his staff handle the various local troubles and characters that come to the building.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Character Driven | Cult TV | Wacky Gueststars | Bad Coffee

Awards:

Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 36 nominations

Cast

Hal Linden	...	Capt. Barney Miller (171 episodes, 1974-1982)
Max Gail	...	Det. Stan 'Wojo' Wojciehowicz (170 episodes, 1975-1982)
Ron Glass	...	Det. Ron Harris (167 episodes, 1975-1982)
Steve Landesberg	...	Det. Sgt. Arthur Dietrich / ... (134 episodes, 1975-1982)
Ron Carey	...	Officer Carl Levitt / ... (131 episodes, 1976-1982)
Jack Soo	...	Det. Sgt. Nick Yemana (98 episodes, 1975-1979)

Also Known As:

The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

30 min (170 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

ABC Television Center - 4151 Prospect Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Four D Productions

Trivia:

The episodes were orginally taped before a live audience. This element of the show was eliminated in later episodes.

Quotes:

Yemana: [when he's stoned on the brownies with the hashish] Barney, Barney, Barney, is your mother from Killarney?
[a minute later]
Yemana: What do you say we guys go down to the beach, and shoot some clams?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "I Love the '70s: Volume 2" (2006)

What Television once was...Funny, Classy, Mature

This show was one of the reasons why the ABC would dethrone the CBS, as the number one network in prime time in the latter 1970's.

Barney Miller depicted the day to day workings of a typical New York City detectives unit. Void of overly melodramatic urban drama, and the now all too over played "tough guy" act, Barney Miller was touted as being a fair portrayal of the life of a detective (with much more levity of-course).

Even though it was first and foremost a comedy series, the writers gave us a much needed balance by injecting a bit of drama into the plot and characters themselves. This dramatic element was so well done, that it added to character development, and provided for more laughter. Their witty dialog rarely left the viewer disappointed, or without a laugh, and with entertainment being the key factor of any Television production, the cast of Barney Miller delivered in episode after episode.

However, the show was produced during a time when crime in NY City was being managed with a overly diplomatic approach. An experiment that would prove it self to be disastrous, effectuated lectures by some of the shows characters, demonstrating an endorsement of this new more "liberal" approach to fighting crime.

There is not much out there today that even comes close to what we had in Barney Miller. It seems that todays Television lacks respect for their audience, as cheap sexual gags, and one liners dominate the sitcom landscape, and leave us with vacuous and cloddish jocularity.

Barney Miller will however, be an example of what Television once was. A time when mature, plot driven humor was demanded, and the crude and immature was rejected.