NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Barney Miller

Barney Miller was a comedy television series set in a New York City police station that ran from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold (who also did work on Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch) and Theodore J. Flicker. The show was frequently directed by Noam Pitlik. Hal Linden (born Harold Lipshitz March 20, 1931) is an American actor and television director, best known for his portrayal of the title character in the television series Barney Miller (1975-1982). ... Barbara Barrie (born Barbara Ann Berman on May 23, 1931 to a Jewish family in Chicago, but raised in Texas) is an American actress and author of childrens books. ... Abe Vigoda (born Abraham Charles Vigodah on February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor who bears a striking resemblance to professional poker player Gus Hansen. ... Max Gail & Floyd Red Crow Westerman on set of the feature film Tillamook Treasure Max Gail (born April 5, 1943) is an American actor who has starred in television and film roles. ... Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki October 28, 1916 - January 11, 1979) was a Japanese-American actor. ... Latino actor Gregory Sierra was born January 25, 1941 in New York City. ... James Gregory (December 23, 1911 - September 16, 2002) was a great American character actor noted for playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator Joseph Iselin in the Manchurian Candidate (1962) and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller (TV-Series 1975 - 1982). ... Steve Landesberg (born 23 November 1945) is an United States actor, comedian and voice actor. ... Ron Carey (Born December 11, 1935 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film and television actor. ... Ron Glass (born July 10, 1945 in Evansville, Indiana) is an American actor, best known for his role as the witty Detective Ron Harris in the long-running television sitcom Barney Miller (1975-1982). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses, see Police (disambiguation). ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 140th day of the year (141st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... Danny Arnold (23 January 1925 - 19 August 1995) was a double Emmy Award winning producer, writer, comedian, actor and director known for producing Barney Miller, That Girl and Bewitched. ... For the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) video game, see The Adventures of Gilligans Island. ... The Brady Bunch is an American television situation comedy, based around a large blended family. ... Theodore J. Ted Flicker (born 1929) is a screenwriter, playwright, television writer, stage director, film and television director, and actor. ... Noam Pitlik (November 4, 1932 â€“ February 18, 1999) was a television director and character actor. ...

Premise

Captain Miller tries to remain sane while running a police station manned by pessimistic nearing-retirement Philip K. Fish, naive Polish-American Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz, suave African-American Ronald Nathan Harris, philosophical Japanese-American Nick Yemana (who makes awful coffee every day), diminutive (and obsequious) detective-wannabe Officer Carl Levitt and old-school, rambling superior Chief Inspector Franklin Luger. Neurotic Puerto Rican Detective Chano Amanguale was replaced by soi-disant intellectual Arthur P. Dietrich from the third season on. A Polish American is an American citizen of Polish descent. ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A cup of coffee. ... An intellectual is one who tries to use his or her intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate on, or ask and answer questions with regard to a variety of different ideas. ...

The show's focus was split between the detectives' interactions with each other and with the suspects and witnesses they detain, process, and interview. Some typical conflicts and long running plotlines included Barney'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 the writing and publication of 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 morbid nostalgia for the old days with partners Foster, Kleiner and Brown; Levitt's (eventually successful) quest to be promoted to detective; and the rivalry between the precinct's resident intellectuals, Harris and Dietrich.

Cast

Hal Linden (born Harold Lipshitz March 20, 1931) is an American actor and television director, best known for his portrayal of the title character in the television series Barney Miller (1975-1982). ... Abe Vigoda (born Abraham Charles Vigodah on February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor who bears a striking resemblance to professional poker player Gus Hansen. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Florence Schwartz (born July 1, 1924 - Oct. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... A spin-off (or spinoff) is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one such as a new company formed from a university research group. ... In the USA, Fish was a spinoff of the television series Barney Miller. ... Max Gail & Floyd Red Crow Westerman on set of the feature film Tillamook Treasure Max Gail (born April 5, 1943) is an American actor who has starred in television and film roles. ... Ron Glass (born July 10, 1945 in Evansville, Indiana) is an American actor, best known for his role as the witty Detective Ron Harris in the long-running television sitcom Barney Miller (1975-1982). ... Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki October 28, 1916 - January 11, 1979) was a Japanese-American actor. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Latino actor Gregory Sierra was born January 25, 1941 in New York City. ... Steve Landesberg (born 23 November 1945) is an United States actor, comedian and voice actor. ... Detective Arthur P. Dietrich is a fictional character on the TV series Barney Miller. ... Ron Carey (Born December 11, 1935 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film and television actor. ... Linda Lavin as Alice Hyatt on Alice. ... James Gregory (December 23, 1911 - September 16, 2002) was a great American character actor noted for playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator Joseph Iselin in the Manchurian Candidate (1962) and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller (TV-Series 1975 - 1982). ... Barbara Barrie (born Barbara Ann Berman on May 23, 1931 to a Jewish family in Chicago, but raised in Texas) is an American actress and author of childrens books. ...

Recurring characters

Recurring characters included Barney's son David (Michael Tessier) and daughter Rachel (Anne Wyndham). After two seasons, Barney's family was largely written out of the show, although Ms. Barrie would continue to make occasional guest appearances. A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who is not a main character, but appears from time to time during the series run. ... Anne Wyndham (born January 29) is an American actress who is best known for portraying Rachel Miller, the daughter of Barney Miller, in the television series Barney Miller. ...

Seen in occasional recurring roles at the 12th Precinct were other officers and staff, including Officer Kogan, the desk sergeant (Milt Kogan); Detective Eric Dorsey (Paul Lieber); Detective Maria Battista (June Gable); Officer Rosslyn Licori (Mari Gorman); and gay Officer Zatelli (Dino Natali). Stopping by from time to time from headquarters were aggressive Internal Affairs investigator Lt. Ben Scanlon (George Murdock) and Inspector Kelly (Dick O'Neill). Milt Kogan (born 1936 in Camden, New Jersey) is an American actor. ... Paul Lieber is an American stage, television, and film actor. ... June Gable (born 5 June 1945) in New York City, USA, is a Tony award-nominated American actress, best known for her role as Estelle Leonard of The Estelle Leonard Talent Agency in the American sitcom Friends. ... Dino Natali is an American actor who is best known for playing Officer Zatelli, the gay police officer, on the sitcom Barney Miller. ... George Murdock (Salina, Kansas, June, 25, 1930), also known as Eric Rush, is an North American actor. ...

Regular complainants, habitues 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 Stewert); liquor store owner Mr. Cotterman (Jack Somack); vigilante Bruno Binder and his wife (Stanley Brock and Mari Gorman); building superintendent Beckman (Paul Lichtman); group home children Jilly (Denise Miller) and Victor (John Cassisi); delusional "werewolf" Mr. 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); rabbi Yacov Berger (Nehemiah Persoff); transient Ray Brewer (John Dullaghan); crook Arthur Duncan (J.J. Barry); flasher Lyle W. Farber (Ron Feinberg); and Mr. Lukather (Judson Morgan). Alex Henteloff is an American actor, from Los Angeles, California. ... Jack DeLeon (died October 16, 2006) was an American actor. ... Denise Miller on Archie Bunkers Place. ... John Cassisi (b. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Peter Hobbs is the author of The Short Day Dying, a novel, and I Could Ride All Day in my Cool Blue Train, a book of short stories. ... Doris May Roberts (b. ... Nehemiah Persoff (born 1919, Jerusalem) is an actor. ... John Dullaghan is a director who made the documentary film Bukowski: Born into This. ... Ron Feinberg (died January 29, 2005) is an American character actor who appeared in films and on television. ...

Awards

Barney Miller won the DGA Award from the Directors Guild of America in 1981. The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. ... Director Guild of America building on Sunset Boulevard. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...

The series won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1982, after it was cancelled. 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. The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Comedy or Musical Series in 1977 and 1976, and was nominated for various other Golden Globe Awards. The Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ... For the main article see Golden Globe Award. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The show won the Peabody Award in 1979. The George Foster Peabody Awards, more commonly referred to as the Peabody Awards, are annual international awards given for excellence in radio and television broadcasting. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

Pilot

The series sprang from an unsold television pilot, The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, that aired August 22, 1974, as part of an ABC summer anthology, Just for Laughs. In this telecast, Linden and Vigoda were cast in their eventual series roles, and Abby Dalton played Barney Miller's wife, Liz; no other later Barney Miller cast-members were present. The pilot script was later largely re-worked as Barney Miller's debut episode "Ramon". A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. ... is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... An anthology, literally a garland or collection of flowers, is a collection of literary works, originally of poems. ... Abby Dalton is an American actress born Marlene Wasden on August 15, 1932, or 1935 born in Las Vegas, Nevada. ...

Opening music

The distinctive opening notes of the theme song's bass line, performed by studio musician Chuck Berghofer^{[citation needed]}, play over a shot of the New York skyline followed by shots of the characters. The closing credits featured a different shot of the skyline. A bassline is a series of notes with tones that are low in pitch or frequency. ... A studio musician is a professional musician who is hired on a freelance basis by a performer, group, advertising jingle agency, film music director, or for any other reason, yet is not otherwise affiliated with these artists or products. ... For other uses, see Skyline (disambiguation). ...

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. A prison Cell A prison cell or detention cell refers to the accommodation of a prisoner in a prison or jail. ...

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." The series stopped using a studio audience after the first three seasons.^{[citation needed]} Danny Arnold (23 January 1925 - 19 August 1995) was a double Emmy Award winning producer, writer, comedian, actor and director known for producing Barney Miller, That Girl and Bewitched. ...

Harris's Lament

Barney Miller has contributed "Harris's Lament" ("All the good ones are taken!") to the lexicon. The catchphrase originated from an episode in which Harris attempts to find a good apartment in New York City. It has since been used to describe the problems of inherent scarcity of such things as the names of computers on networks^[1]^[2] and boyfriends^[3]. In economics, scarcity is defined as a condition of limited resources, where society does not have sufficient resources to produce enough to fulfill subjective wants. ...

Trivia

This article is about the television series. ... Night Court was an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 1984 until May 1992. ...

DVD release

On January 20, 2004, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Due to poor sales, Sony has no plans to release any more seasons on DVD.^{[citation needed]} January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video, DVD, and UMD distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. ...

January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Footnotes

is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is an international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company in New York City, New York, USA, with Asian and European editions, and a worldwide daily circulation of more than 2 million as of 2006, with 931,000 paying online subscribers. ... is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ... is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since April 2007 | 1975 television program debuts | 1982 television program series endings | 1970s American television series | 1980s American television series | American Broadcasting Company network shows | Fictional police officers | American television sitcoms | Television series by Sony Pictures Television | Television shows set in New York The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

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