TV show reviews: Barney Miller
Barney Miller, a 1970′s sitcom, I remember with deep affection. This iconic TV show that had its start in late 1974 and continued onwards until 1982 Each episode to me was a masterpiece of comedic and serious writing and acting. Set in New York city during racial and economic turmoil in New York at that time, the series detailed the exploits of the detectives and their captain at the 12th precinct. Although, the theme was about police personnel and their day-to-day duties, it was done in a way that kept us all in stitches-an inconic sitcom that I still watch to this day on the reprise networks. Anybody past forty should remember this show with a huge grin-as I do.
Barney miller, a middle-aged police captain, surrounded by Sergeant’s Yemena, Chano, Fish, Harris, Wojo and Dietrich struggled everyday to maintain law and order and the less than threatening denizens to law and order. With all of the serious police shows premiering then and through the years, it was refreshing to see police personnel in somewhat of a humorous light that didn’t bring disdain to the thin blue line, but to the humans who man it. After all, we are all humans with our comedic moments and situations. Instead of exploring all of the police situations with the dire seriousness that many other shows did, Barney Miller showed dire seriousness with a beautiful and logical sense of humor.
One of my favorite characters was Sergeant Arthur Dietrich, appearing early in the show and not coming on fully until the third season. An intense intellectual who had done many other jobs before joining the force. He got to be Sergeant Ron Harris’ antagonist, which itself was so humorous. One scene had Dietrich taking away Harris’ vacation days to a mountain skiing resort, while Dietrich wanted to go to a ‘Goethe-Festival’-in which Harris was heard to remark that he’d probably get stuck in the Catskills. In which Captain Miller remarked: ‘Philosophy and pretzels’. But my favorite characters were Sergeant Yemena, Fish and Harris. Yemena had a delicious sense of humor; Fish showed us the fraility of getting old; Harris, being the writer, showed us the way to possibly becoming a writer ourselves.
Harris always yearned to be a wealthy writer, having fame and fortune snapped away from him, in a lawsuit, after writing a best-selling book. A slice of comedic reality was shown to us all by that, with Harris emerging back on top with another best-selling book. But the classic episodes were between 1975-1977-with Yemena’s slick and powerful sense of humor in play. Sergeant Fish and his faltering health and fear of played comedically well as we saw him pursue his various duties.
I will always watch this show every chance I get…it’s a gem!
Written by Todd Daigneault
Professional writer
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