Barney Miller

How come there are not more TV shows like Barny Miller? This was one of the best TV shows on TV. The writing and characters were fantastic and even though it has a 1970's feel and look to it, the show still packs a punch.

Barney Miller dealt with important topics as gay police officers and the fact that even though they are gay, they are still valuable members of society.

There are not really and funny shows anymore. What is a TV viewer suppose to watch? Friends?? Paris Hilton washing a cow. Please give me something!!!

This is one of the absolute greatest shows on television - never fails to entertain. Too bad the "suits" didn't catch on and try to copy what so obviously worked. It ranks right there with M*A*S*H, Frasier, Cheers, and Married...With Children as examples of how good comedy can be...

I am a fairly young person and I was very pleased to find such a wonderful show on DVD. The title of the show through me off, but after reading a bit about the show I was intrigued and bought it.

At first the show mainly focuses on the situations and what the cops are doing, but after a while the show starts to focus only on the squad-room where the detectives convene.

Barney Miller is always getting into other peoples business. When a criminal comes in he Interrogates them and tries to get the whole story out of them and also tries to put his own opinion or label on it.

Most of the stories are very light-hearted, but some do hit close to home. The show is funny, comical, and well played, but some episodes do have a serious vibe at the end of them.

By season three the cast is permanent and the show gets its real humor on. Each detective has an impressive amount of character depth. It was interesting to learn about each of them as I watched all of the episodes. By the end, I felt as if I knew each of them personally.

The only parts of the show I didn't like was Lt. Scanlon. His character was played so well, I truly didn't like him. Inspector Luger was played by a veteran actor, but his character seemed a little dim-witted. By the end of the series, the only set you would see is the squad room. After having visited a couple different stage sets (for example: Barnies apartment, Fish's apartment and the hide-out apartment) it seemed very confining to only use the squad room in the later seasons.

The exits of Fish and Yemada were torture on the show. Fish was great when it came to quick and ironic humor while nick tried to do the same, but his character was never truly replaced.

Overall, I love this show and I continue to watch it often. The humor, the stories, the backgrounds of the people are all interesting and entertaining. This show is recommended for all who love comedy and also recommended for all who wish to enjoy a simple show.

"Barney Miller" showed the gritty realism of police work in New York City in the 1970s, albeit with humor. Skits about the impending bankruptcy of the city, some of the futile criminal behavior (man stuck inside ductwork trying to burglarize a store), the mundane day in, day out existence of police officers with the occasional heart-pounding, adrenalin rush of excitement, and of course, what we in the profession called "the hairbags" - the old cops, forever full of stories, content to live in the past as Inspector Lugar exemplifies. To those who say "Barney Miller" is dated, I say the show is a timeless slice of life, and can be set in almost any locale and time period. The cast could not have been picked with any more brilliance, and the production was seamless. I say "Barney Miller" is a classic for the generations.

This is the most impressive of the sitcoms ever done about law enforcement. It is understated, intellectual, comical, & entertaining while dealing with the beat of a group of New York City Dectectives. The show draws its characters well, & defines & redefines them throughout the show.

This show was a slow starter in the ratings, partly because of it's subtle humor, & partly because early on it would get distracted away from the police station with Barney's wife (played by Barbara Barrie). After the first couple of seasons, the show started concentrating more on it's knitting, the police station, & graduated into a more sophisticated comedy.

The recent death of the late Ron Carey reminded me of just how well he played Officier Carl Levitt. His character always behaved like all the Detectives looked down on him, an underling. Carey played that attitude brilliantly.

Hal Linden was always a consummate Captain Miller, always being put on the spot by his team & shooting from the hip at times. Steve Landesburg (Dietrich)was the most intellectual of the detectives always taking a simple conversation & making it complex.

James Gregory as Inspector Luger was alway bugging Barney with stories of the old days he'd have to listen to from a superior. In some ways this was the veteran movie actors best role. Max Gail as Wojo was always being played as stupid but often got the last word in.

Abe Vigoda was perfect as Fish, so good they spun him off from here to his own series. Jack Soo was brilliant as Yemana but sadly death cut his role short in this series, similar to Coach on CHEERS. Ron Glass as Detective Harris was very good as another mainstay on the show. This show had a diverse cast, even Linda Lavin who would go on to play ALICE got a good start on this show.

The writers were brilliant in that they constantly kept developing the characters to the point that when the last show came along, they ended the show with a script where everybody finally got what they wanted in promotions for years, and ended with Barney closing the door on the squad room for the last time.

As this show hits the DVD's, I bet it gets a slow start but once young folks get exposed to it, the sales will pick up speed. The shows are that good.