Barney Miller...

[Warped9]

I'm midway through watching the second season so far. The first season feels the most dated insofar as catering to certain stereotypes. But even so I find a lot of the content could work just as well today given the right creative team and actors. I find a lot of it still hilariousy funny because much of the subject matter is timeless. If you were to just listen to it without the video, like a radio program, very little would give itself away as set in the late 1970s. A lot of the issues raised in the episodes would sound very familiar to contemporary audiences.

Barney Miller was voted as never having jumped, on the old Jump the Shark site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/a...s-on-the-beat-in-a-complete-dvd-set.html?_r=0

Love that show.

Can't argue with that. It never felt as if it had gone too far.

 

[Push The Button]

I loved Barney Miller. Well written, with well developed and likeable characters. A comedy, but dealt with serious subject matter. Gave a great impression of grimy disgusting 1970's New York City by showing only a broken down old squad room and the parade of criminals and crazies that moved through it every week.

Barney, Fish, Nick Yemana, Wojo, Dietrich, Harris, Chano, Carl Levitt, and Franklin D. Luger, NYPD, I loved them all.

 

[Warped9]

The only guy on any modern cop show that looked like he could perhaps fit in with Barney Miller would be Lenny Briscoe. He seemed to have a similar sense of humour.

 

[Christopher]

Worth noting that a number of shows since have used the fictional 12th Precinct, which is to New York City TV cops what "555" is to telephone exchanges. This includes CSI:NY and Castle, as well as the short-lived WB Tarzan series from 2003. I've sometimes thought it would be cool if Castle did a Barney Miller crossover -- say, have Ron Glass show up as Harris and talk about how much the 12th has changed since his day.

 

[Forbin]

My wife and I watch a half-hour sitcom on DVD every evening during dinner. We have a stack of shows we rotate thru. Barney Miller and Night Court are both in the rotation. I think they both hold up just fine - even if the subject matter is dated, the humor itself is still... humorous.

 

[nightwind1]

I always considered Night Court to be sort of a spiritual sequel series to Barney Miller.

My head canon has the people arrested by Barney and the guys going before Judge Harry later.

 

[Marsden]

(oh, wow, now I want someone to do a Law & Order titles mashup featuring the 12th Precinct gang as "Law" and Harry's courtroom as "Order").

I would dearly love to see that.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think this belongs in Gen Media, not Science Fiction.

But it had Shepherd Book!

And Londo Mollari (okay, only in 2 eps)

And Corbin Entek...and Admiral Hanson...and Dr. Tristan Adams...

 

[sojourner]

I always considered Night Court to be sort of a spiritual sequel series to Barney Miller.

My head canon has the people arrested by Barney and the guys going before Judge Harry later.

 

[Warped9]

...even if the subject matter is dated, the humor itself is still... humorous.

That's the thing. I think a lot of the subject matter isn't dated. People still struggle with and bitch about political ineptness, corruption, environmental issues, different kinds of crime, similar and familiar personal issues and people's roles in society.

Fish for example. His issues with health sound a lot like the issues many of our parents, grandparents and even ourselves are still dealing with. Political and police corruption (and ineffectiveness) are still with us even if the names have changed.

One thing distinctly different is seeing people smoking right in the workplace. That's something that is nonexistent today.

Otherwise so much of the subject matter still rings true.

 

[Forbin]

Well, I'm thinking of things like the women's lib episodes with Linda Lavin as their first female detective....

 

[urbandefault]

Worth noting that a number of shows since have used the fictional 12th Precinct, which is to New York City TV cops what "555" is to telephone exchanges. This includes CSI:NY and Castle, as well as the short-lived WB Tarzan series from 2003. I've sometimes thought it would be cool if Castle did a Barney Miller crossover -- say, have Ron Glass show up as Harris and talk about how much the 12th has changed since his day.

Not to mention that it would be another Firefly reunion.

As for Barney Miller's notable guests and recurring characters ... the "God" of Sha-ka-ree, Lt. Scanlon.

 

[Warped9]

Well, I'm thinking of things like the women's lib episodes with Linda Lavin as their first female detective....

Well I did say "a lot" of the subject matter and all the subject matter. Their dealing with women's lib as well as gay issues are dated today. And yet even then there are echoes of things we still hear today. I know some men who still have issues with women in certain professions.

 

[Marsden]

...even if the subject matter is dated, the humor itself is still... humorous.

That's the thing. I think a lot of the subject matter isn't dated. People still struggle with and bitch about political ineptness, corruption, environmental issues, different kinds of crime, similar and familiar personal issues and people's roles in society.

Fish for example. His issues with health sound a lot like the issues many of our parents, grandparents and even ourselves are still dealing with. Political and police corruption (and ineffectiveness) are still with us even if the names have changed.

One thing distinctly different is seeing people smoking right in the workplace. That's something that is nonexistent today.

Otherwise so much of the subject matter still rings true.

I agree. The issues are the same. The emotions are the same. The only thing that's really changed is the technology. No more typewriters, cell phones and computers instead. But that doesn't change the humanity at the core of the story, just the tools which the characters use. Barney and the squad were never overly dependent on their technology, and those typing jokes could work just as good with a computer.

I think that's why the original Star Trek has endured so well, too, it's not overly dependent on it technology, it's futuristic but "people are still people" and it's humanity carries the whole thing very well that a few tech oddities won't bring down the show. The people in Barney Miller are what we're watching, not what they are using.

 

[Forbin]

I just realized Detective Harris and Castle have something in common - they're both authors. I can see Castle's reaction "Ron Harris? Author of Blood on the Badge!? You're one of my inspirations!"

 

[jespah]

Dangit, plot bunnies! Now I wanna write that.

 

[Christopher]

I've sometimes thought it would be cool if Castle did a Barney Miller crossover -- say, have Ron Glass show up as Harris and talk about how much the 12th has changed since his day.

Not to mention that it would be another Firefly reunion.

That was implicit. It's why I picked Glass instead of someone else.

 

[publiusr]

The Jack Soo retrospective was fully the equal to anything on MASH

 

[urbandefault]

I've sometimes thought it would be cool if Castle did a Barney Miller crossover -- say, have Ron Glass show up as Harris and talk about how much the 12th has changed since his day.

Not to mention that it would be another Firefly reunion.

That was implicit. It's why I picked Glass instead of someone else.

I knew that, but sometimes what's implied isn't obvious to everyone.

But Ron Glass would be the obvious choice for a crossover, even without the Firefly connection. As pointed out above, Harris was a successful author with BOB.

Going back, one standout conversation that has stuck with me all these years had Yeamana doing a crossword, or some other thing to kill time. Barney came along and asked if he didn't have anything better to do. Yeamana said no. Barney asked about the pile of paperwork on his desk, to which Yeamana replied, "You said 'better', not 'different'."

Hilarious line, and I've been waiting 40 years to use it. :/

 

[Drone]

A tangential SF connection that comes to mind because I just recently saw it for the first time. Hal Linden as Capt. Black on Ray Bradbury Theater. Having the crew so much older, amongst other reasons, gave the story quite a different tone than its presentation in the NBC Martian Chronicles production.