I’m still old-school when it comes to my TV viewing. Though there’s a few new series I’ve found interest in, I still revel in watching syndicated reruns of old shows that I love, such as Twilight Zone, Quantum Leap and The Outer Limits. And though those choices make it appear that I live in the world of science fiction/fantasy, I have other favorites such as The Andy Griffith Show and Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, episodes of  which I’ve recently discovered on a new channel on my cable. But even better, on that channel there is also another of my old favorites ran on regular basis: Barney Miller.

This show ran eight full seasons, from 1975 to 1982. Not an 8:00 Thursday night passed without me and Mom watching Barney and his detectives and the wacky criminals they’d arrest. And we followed that by watching The Streets of San Francisco at 9:00, another great show that I’ve yet to find reruns of. But watching Barney Miller certainly brings back memories.

An interesting aspect of this show is that Barney Miller took place almost entirely within the confines of the detectives’ squad room and Captain Barney Miller’s adjoining office at the fictional 12th Precinct in Greenwich Village, New York City. Though the locale seldom changed, boredom never entered the equation while watching this show. And the characters were priceless!

Captain Barney Miller was portrayed by Hal Linden who actually began his career as a big band musician and singer in the 1950s. He then worked in summer stock followed by off-Broadway work and the on Broadway. He initially felt that  leaving Broadway to work on Barney Miller was his most irrational act and also one of his best decisions. As Captain, he was in charge of the usual paperwork, dealing with budgets and keeping rein on his quirky men.  Most were detective sergeants.

Abe Vigoda portrayed Phillip K. Fish. He began his acting career on Broadway but went on to appear in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. On Barney Miller he portrayed an old-timer on the squad, an elderly man constantly afflicted with health issues, especially hemorrhoids and constantly having to go to the bathroom. Because of his hemorrhoids, he was known to bring a donut cushion to use on his desk chair.

A well-known character actor, James Gregory, was in the series, portraying inspector Frank Luger who has a nostalgia for the old days on the force.

There was the Japanese-American detective sergeant Nick Yemana, portrayed by Jack Soo, known for his warped sense of humor, his gambling habits, his terrible paperwork filing skills, and for making extremely bad coffee.

Steve Landesberg portrayed Detective Arthur Dietrich, the intellectual of the bunch who the others always looked to describe and explain things they didn’t understand.

Another intellectual detective was Sergeant Ron Harris, played by Ron Glass. He was known for his living high-on-the-hog, above his means, who was constantly worried about his looks and attire and his desire to become a published author.

Ron Carey portrayed regular blue-suit Officer Carl Levitt who was constantly bugging Barney for the opportunity to do plain-clothes work, which occasionally happened, and who wanted to become a full-time detective, which happened in the very last episode.

Of them all, though, my favorite character was Detective Stanley Thaddeus “Wojo” Wojciehowicz. He was a Polish-American who was totally naïve. Initially, he comes across as macho; he was a former Marine. There are times early in the series where he shows decided antipathy towards prostitutes and gays, which was an interesting thing to be discussed on network television at that time. But later on he becomes more understanding of people while performing his duties and being exposed to a broad spectrum of issues. In the first four seasons, he takes the exam to become detective sergeant seven times before passing! As an aside, Wojo’s love life is a constant joke and issue. And he actually develops a relationship with a lady detective on the squad, Janice Wentworth, portrayed by Linda Lavin. But after the second season of Barney Miller, she left to portray the lead role in Alice. Another interesting, and, at the time, controversial story theme was that of Agent Orange when Wojo took a personal interest in a fellow vet whose crime spree might have been related to Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War, which got Wojo worried because he had been there as a Marine.

In the early episodes, the opening had a shot of the New York skyline which included the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. But later on, in the first season, that opening shot changed to a shot of lower Manhattan while coming across the bay from Staten Island, which included the Twin Towers. That’s a site I’ve seen in person myself. But seeing it now on a regular basis, though nostalgic, is heartbreaking. And that’s something that I notice in a lot of old movies, the sight of the World Trade Center, which happens a lot since many movies are filmed in New York City.

Another thing I find sad is the loss of some of these characters from the show. But, hey, the show is over forty-years old! Unfortunately Jack Soo died soon after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer during the fifth season of the show.  At the end of that season a special retrospective episode was created  showing clips of his best moments. The most poignant moment of the show came at the end, when the cast members raised their coffee cups in a final farewell toast to the late actor, whose character in the show was known to make terrible coffee. Ron Carey died in 2007 at 71, and Steve Landesberg passed in 2010 at 74. James Gregory who portrayed the loudmouthed inspector Frank Luger did live to be 90, passing in 2002. But Abe Vigoda beat ’em all. He passed away just this past January at the age of 94. Interestingly, People magazine incorrectly reported Vigoda’s death in 1982. Then in 1987, a reporter for WWOR television in New Jersey mistakenly referred to him as the late Abe Vigoda. Over the years there were many running gags in reference to his supposed death. In 2001 there was a website created  with the purpose of reporting whether he was dead or alive. But ironically, long before this ever happened, in a 1975 episode of Barney Miller, he didn’t get his paycheck. When he called human resources to find out why, they told him he was dead. Art imitating life, beforehand? (Since publishing this post, another of these great cast members has passed: Ron Glass, who portrayed the ever-dapper Detective Ron Harris, passed away in November of 2016, leaving just Max Gail, Sgt. “Wojo” Wojciehowicz, and Hal Linden, Capt. Miller, as the only surviving lead characters of the series.)

Still, when it come to New York City, Barney Miller captures much of the essence of the environment of that city, which is something many would not understand unless they’ve visited or have acquaintances with ones from there, which I do. And  real-life police officers had an appreciation for the show because it had an emphasis on dialog and believably quirky characters. A former Chicago policeman called Barney Miller the most realistic cop show ever seen on television. But I’m totally enjoying seeing all these old episodes again. When I first started watching, they were showing episodes from the last season, which included a final three-part episode. But then it began showing episodes from the first season, so just like the Twilight Zone, Quantum Leap and The Outer Limits, I’ll some day be able to say that I’ve seen every episode of Barney Miller. That’ll take a bit of time, though, and I certainly look forward to the pleasure of seeing it chronologically from beginning to end.