Barney Miller aired from January 1975 until September 1982 on ABC.
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Here's what Time Magazine had to say about Barney Miller in March 1975.
Or turn to Barney Miller, which is not only the best new cop show but also the best new sitcom as well. That is faint praise, considering the competition. But at least Barney Miller is not concentrating on one joke—Karen Valentine's shortness on Karen, George Jefferson's uppityness on The Jeffersons—or covering stupidity with loudness as they do on Hot L Baltimore. Admittedly, one half-hour show offers only faint hope of restoring the Mack Sennett spirit to our view of the police. Still, there is variety about the humor in a detective squad room that contains a black, a Puerto Rican, a Chinese, a slow-witted Pole, an old gaffer tottering gratefully toward his pension and a captain (Hal Linden) whose graceful toleration of foolishness never becomes syrupy.
A Review from TV Guide
Published April 12, 1975
Review
By Cleveland Amory
Barney Miller
We've had rich cops and poor cops, fat cops and thin cops, rookie cops and kookie cops, he-man cops and she-person cops, wise guys cops and disguise cops, We've even had hippie cops. Now we've got happy cops.
All this happiness happens at a friendly neighborhood station house in New York' Greenwich Village. Your hero is Capt. Barney Miller who is kind of a cross between happy and hippie. He's got a wife and two children at home, but down at the station house he's got the motliest assortment of cops since Keystone. Talk about Tokenism-Here they've got a token senior citizen , a veteran of 38 years on the force who still hasn't got a first name. He's just Fish. Then there's a kind of Puerto Rican Serpico named Chano, A pole named Wojehowicz, who is big on karate and little on Polish jokes, a cool black named Harris, who's bucking for Barney's job, and finally a Japenese Philosopher named Nick Yemana.
They all have crosses to bear. Yemana, for example complains the top cops upstairs don't like him because Orientals ruin the looks of the St. Patricks Day Parade. IF such lines aren't enough to keep you in stitches, there is also all manner of hilarity from streetwalkers and muggers, panhandlers and purse snatchers, all of whom go in and out of the station house as fast as actors in a French bedroom farce. There's even a homosexual purse snatcher who insists that he wants to be a cop. "What's wrong with a Gay Cop?" he asks. "There are gay robbers."
There is really an awful lot going on, and most of the lot is awful. but least it's better than awful little. For one thing, each episode has at least three plots, apparently on the theory that if you can't have one good one, you atleast have a choice. One episode gave us an exhibitionist in a snowstorm, $200,000 in cash to be kept overnight, and no heat in the station house. Another episode gave us the afromentioned purse snatcher and a mad bomber who left his bomb-you guessed it-right in the station house.
Plot Number 3 was about Fish getting too old. He goes to sleep even when Barney is giving him compliments. He also went to sleep at the end of the show-and by that time we were nodding too. Another episode we saw involved crooked cops. Policeman on the take would strike us as possibly the least likely subject for humor these days, but this show tried anyway. And you know what? We were right. Nonetheless, there are good things about this series. One is the Hal Linden and Barbara Barrie scenes at home. Another is Abe Vigoda's characterization of Fish. A third is the fact that the lines are generally good. Nancy Dussault, for example, had a really funny part as a street walker. The trouble is that the writers apparently build the scenes to get the lines in, they don't write solid scenes and then add good lines. Indeed, they often pick up on a joke from one scene and put it in the next. It's kind of like instant replay-but it isn't necessarily instant refun.
Here is Creator Danny Arnold's Obituary from The New York Times
Danny Arnold, 70, Creator of 'Barney Miller'
Published: August 22, 1995
Danny Arnold, the creative force behind television's "Bewitched" and "Barney Miller," died on Saturday at his home here. He was 70.
The cause was heart failure, said John Freear, funeral director at Mount Sinai Memorial Park.
Mr. Arnold won two Emmys for outstanding comedy series. His first came in the 1969-70 season for "My World and Welcome to It," a sitcom loosely based on the work of the writer James Thurber. He won his second Emmy for the 1981-82 season as executive producer of "Barney Miller."
Mr. Arnold was born in New York City, and had his first taste of show business while acting in summer stock and working as a stand-up comedian in vaudeville. When he moved to Hollywood in the 1940's, after serving in the Marine Corps in the South Pacific, he did a little of everything, including film editing, acting, writing and producing.
He acted in two films with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and later was a writer of "The Caddy," another feature in which they appeared. He began writing for television in the 1950's, first working for Tennessee Ernie Ford and later for Rosemary Clooney.
Mr. Arnold had seven television sitcoms under his belt by 1985, starting with the last season of "The Real McCoys" in 1963. "Barney Miller," which he created with Theodore J. Flicker, was his biggest hit.
But success took a toll. Mr. Arnold was compulsively involved in almost every aspect of the show while it was on ABC, and was a self-proclaimed workaholic. In 1979, he had a heart attack and underwent a bypass operation.
"I was also drinking a lot, smoking a lot, eating a lot," he told The Los Angeles Times in 1985. "I was 45 pounds overweight. What happened was inevitable. People who knew me were not at all surprised, because I knew that one day they were going to carry me out of there. It was just a question of how long I would last."
In 1985, the Writers Guild of America gave Mr. Arnold its lifetime achievement honor, the Paddy Chayefsky Award.
He is survived by his wife, Donna, and two sons, David and Dannel, both of Los Angeles.
James Gregory's Obituary from The New York Times
James Gregory -- Actor, 90
Published: September 19, 2002
James Gregory, a character actor who played Inspector Luger on the television show ''Barney Miller,'' died on Monday at his home here. He was 90.
During eight seasons with ''Barney Miller'' in the late 1970's and early 80's, Mr. Gregory played his most famous role, that of an old-school cop with a fondness for gory reminiscences. He also appeared in 25 Broadway shows, including Arthur Miller's ''Death of a Salesman,'' in which he played one of the sons, Biff.
Among his 30 film credits were the Elvis Presley vehicle ''Clambake'' in 1967 and the 1965 western ''Sons of Katie Elder'' with John Wayne and Dean Martin. In 1962, he played Senator John Iselin in the acclaimed thriller ''The Manchurian Candidate.''
He is survived by his wife, Anne.
Here is Ron Carey's Obituary from The New York Times.
Ron Carey, Comic Actor, Dies at 71
By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: January 19, 2007
Ron Carey, the pint-sized, round-faced comic best known as the unjustifiably cocky Police Officer Carl Levitt on the long-running television situation comedy “Barney Miller,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 71.
He died of a stroke at a hospital near his home, a nephew, Michael Ciccolini, said.
At 5-foot-4 and with traces of an inner-city New Joisey accent, Mr. Carey played a uniformed cop constantly seeking a promotion by currying favor with his superiors.
“Barney Miller,” which ran from 1976 to 1982, starred Hal Linden as the captain of a New York City police precinct whose officers dealt with the zany characters who came, not always by choice, into the station house. Mr. Carey, as Officer Levitt, would inject unsolicited opinions on how to handle whoever was in the holding cell. Besides playing roles in other less successful sitcoms, Mr. Carey appeared in 15 movies, including “High Anxiety” in 1977 and “History of the World: Part I” in 1981, both with Mel Brooks.
In “High Anxiety,” a parody of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, he played Brophy, the chauffeur and foil of Dr. Richard Thorndyke, the incoming administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. Mr. Carey’s running gag in that movie was to grab something heavy and say, “I got it! I got it! I got it!” Then, unable to lift it, he would squeak, “I ain’t got it.”
“History of the World” traces mankind’s evolution, or lack of it, from the dawn of time. Mr. Carey played Swiftus, the agent-manager for Mr. Brooks’s character, Comicus, a stand-up philosopher in ancient Rome.
Ronald Cicenia (Carey was his stage name) was born in Newark on Dec. 11, 1935, a son of John and Fanny Cicenia. Besides his brother James, of Roseland, N.J., he is survived by his wife of 38 years, the former Sharon Boyeronus.
Mr. Carey started doing standup comedy in New York. His break came in 1966 when he appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show.” He later appeared on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” and "The Ed Sullivan Show."
Much of Mr. Carey’s comedy reflected his upbringing as the undersized, quick-witted kid on the block. An Italian Catholic, he considered the priesthood at one time, his nephew said. That ambition was realized when he played Father Paglia in “Have Faith,” a sitcom about inner-city priests, which ran for half a season in 1989.
Here is Steve Landesberg's Obituary from The New York Times.
Steve Landesberg, ‘Barney Miller’ Actor, Dies at 74
By HAMILTON BOARDMAN
Published: December 20, 2010
Steve Landesberg, an actor and comedian with a friendly and often deadpan manner who was best known for his role on the long-running sitcom “Barney Miller,” died in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 74.
The cause was colon cancer, his daughter, Elizabeth, said.
On “Barney Miller,” which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1982, Mr. Landesberg played Sgt. Arthur P. Dietrich, an intellectual detective with a quiet manner who seemed to have an unrivaled knowledge of practically any topic that arose, much to the bewilderment of his fellow detectives.
He was also given to odd, unexpected pronouncements. In one 1980 episode he tells his boss, Captain Miller, played by Hal Linden, that he is working on a case that dates to 1973. Miller says: “That was seven years ago! Nixon was president!” Dietrich’s low-key response: “No, he’s got an airtight alibi for this one.”
Mr. Landesberg received three Emmy Award nominations for that role.
Set in a New York City police station, where most of the action takes place, “Barney Miller” portrayed a group of wisecracking detectives and the oddball characters who ended up there. Some police officers said the show represented the real life of rank-and-file officers better than many television detective dramas.
After “Barney Miller” left the air, Mr. Landesberg appeared on “The Golden Girls,” “Law & Order,” “That ’70s Show” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” among other shows. He had a recurring role on the short-lived 1998 sitcom “Conrad Bloom.” Most recently he played Dr. Myron Finkelstein, a Freudian therapist, in “Head Case,” a comedy on the Starz cable channel.
In 2008 he played a pediatrician whose patient (played by Jason Segel, the film’s writer and star) is in his 20s in the hit movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” His other movies include “Wild Hogs” and “Leader of the Band.” His distinctively dry, deep voice was also heard in cartoons and commercials.
Stephen Landesberg was born on Nov. 23, 1936, in the Bronx. He began his career as a stand-up comic in the late 1960s and became known for his off-center observations and eccentric delivery. He performed in New York comedy clubs alongside comedians like Freddie Prinze and Jimmie Walker.
Mr. Landesberg appeared on “The Tonight Show” for the first time in 1971 and several times on “The Dean Martin Show” before landing his first recurring role, as a Viennese violinist, on the sitcom “Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers,” in 1974.
Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Nancy Ross Landesberg.
Initial reports of Mr. Landesberg’s death, relying on numerous biographical sources, said he was 65. In acknowledging that he was actually nine years older, his daughter said he had provided varying birth dates over the years. “He got kind of a late start in show business,” she explained, “so he tried to straddle the generations. He fooled the whole world. People were surprised to think he was even 65.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 21, 2010
An earlier version of this article misstated Mr. Landesberg's age and the year of his birth. He was 74, not 65, and he was born in 1936, not 1945.
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