show was very close to being cancelled after season one. So just wondering what seperated the first and second season.?

Well I think they stopped trying to make it a show about both Barney's home and work life. After the 1st season they focused just on the squadroom and the "men of the ol' one two"

show was very close to being cancelled after season one. So just wondering what seperated the first and second season.?

I think the show just got better and better with each season. The characters became more defined, and the running jokes --Yemana's coffee, Fish's bladder, Harris's writing career -- developed over time. We watched Wojo mature, and got to know Deitrich's quirks over several seasons. I think the reason the show got better with time was that cast beacame a real ensemble group. And one thing that show had that no other sitcom had was the abillity to bring in periphial characters -- the criminals, or the victims -- which always kept it relevant and fresh. I just wonder if Barney ever did eat the oliveloaf sandwich. I also want to get the "Quarantined" two-part episode.

I think the show just got better and better with each season. The characters became more defined, and the running jokes --Yemana's coffee, Fish's bladder, Harris's writing career -- developed over time. We watched Wojo mature, and got to know Deitrich's quirks over several seasons. I think the reason the show got better with time was that cast beacame a real ensemble group. And one thing that show had that no other sitcom had was the abillity to bring in periphial characters -- the criminals, or the victims -- which always kept it relevant and fresh. I just wonder if Barney ever did eat the oliveloaf sandwich. I also want to get the "Quarantined" two-part episode.



I saw that the show stayed in the top 20 until the 80's. I think I need to watch a Marathon of this show to see if it's really worth watching.

Yeah - a lot of it had to do with switching the focus from Barney and his wife to more of him in the squadroom and the characters he worked with. I actually felt really badly when they had him divorce - I liked his wife but I guess she didn't want to hang around for a more and more minor role.

I think also, it was like Cheers - an excellent show from day one, but just hadn't caught on with audiences for whatever reason (maybe timeslot, night, what it was up against at the time). By the second season word of mouth caught on.

You'd HAVE to like at least some episodes Solomon. One of my favourites was when one of Wojo's girlfriends bakes "spiked" brownies (with hashish) and he doesn't know and brings them into the squadroom. They all get into them and its just funny to see their reactions - it's not like drunks (I know you're not big on that). Harris turns ghetto, and Jack Soo is priceless. I still laugh to this day when I see that ep and I've seen it at least 20 times.
Apparently, for its time, it was really the most realistic cop show on t.v. until Hillstreet Blues came on. Now they have a cell right there in the squadroom, which isn't the norm, but its done obviously to provide more characters and conflict.

Yeah - a lot of it had to do with switching the focus from Barney and his wife to more of him in the squadroom and the characters he worked with. I actually felt really badly when they had him divorce - I liked his wife but I guess she didn't want to hang around for a more and more minor role.

I think also, it was like Cheers - an excellent show from day one, but just hadn't caught on with audiences for whatever reason (maybe timeslot, night, what it was up against at the time). By the second season word of mouth caught on.

You'd HAVE to like at least some episodes Solomon. One of my favourites was when one of Wojo's girlfriends bakes "spiked" brownies (with hashish) and he doesn't know and brings them into the squadroom. They all get into them and its just funny to see their reactions - it's not like drunks (I know you're not big on that). Harris turns ghetto, and Jack Soo is priceless. I still laugh to this day when I see that ep and I've seen it at least 20 times.
Apparently, for its time, it was really the most realistic cop show on t.v. until Hillstreet Blues came on. Now they have a cell right there in the squadroom, which isn't the norm, but its done obviously to provide more characters and conflict.




When this show was on TV LAND it was on so late that I was unable to see if I lked the show or not. It was on at 2:30am and I always fell asleep before the show ended. I think I need to watch this show at 8pm and see can I get into.

When this show was on TV LAND it was on so late that I was unable to see if I lked the show or not. It was on at 2:30am and I always fell asleep before the show ended. I think I need to watch this show at 8pm and see can I get into.


I know!! That's what makes me mad about TVLand these days - they put my favourite shows on in the middle of the night, meanwhile they're repeating the same old ones back to back, over and over earlier in the evening. Even Nick used to really kick-in around 9:30 - now you're lucky to have stuff start at 11!! I didn't mind the first season or so of Three's Company (even tho my screename looks like I'm a huge fan) - it was more the Jack character I liked really - so I don't even bother watching the two eps they run nightly anyway.

I would love it if they put Bob Newhart, Barney Miller, WKRP and maybe Too Close For Comfort run even for the summer earlier in the evenings.

I know!! That's what makes me mad about TVLand these days - they put my favourite shows on in the middle of the night, meanwhile they're repeating the same old ones back to back, over and over earlier in the evening. Even Nick used to really kick-in around 9:30 - now you're lucky to have stuff start at 11!! I didn't mind the first season or so of Three's Company (even tho my screename looks like I'm a huge fan) - it was more the Jack character I liked really - so I don't even bother watching the two eps they run nightly anyway.

I would love it if they put Bob Newhart, Barney Miller, WKRP and maybe Too Close For Comfort run even for the summer earlier in the evenings.



Sanford and Son needs to be replaced since all seasons will be on DVD very soon.

Barney Miller was a decent show.

Sanford and Son needs to be replaced since all seasons will be on DVD very soon.


That would be nice. That's one I can't really get into all that much so it would be nice to replace it with Barney!

Even though S1 wasn't as good as the later seasons, there was at least a couple of eps. from S1 that were good, particularly the infamous "Bomb Episode" that TV Land did not show, but my local Chicago Me-TV station did.

The best thing that Barney Miller did was cut out the home life and make it all about the precinct. Thankfully, Danny Arnold and the other big cheeses caught this early on. BM was also blessed with a terrific ensemble cast and great writers. The only bad thing?? Gregory Sierra/Chano being written out after Season 2. :crying:

The best thing that Barney Miller did was cut out the home life and make it all about the precinct. Thankfully, Danny Arnold and the other big cheeses caught this early on. BM was also blessed with a terrific ensemble cast and great writers. The only bad thing?? Gregory Sierra/Chano being written out after Season 2. :crying:

He was only written out because He was starting a new show-
"AES HUSDON STREEET" not because they feel he didn;t add anything to the show

He was only written out because He was starting a new show-
"AES HUSDON STREEET" not because they feel he didn;t add anything to the show
I know...but I still missed him!!! :eyes: :heart: :eyes:

I know...but I still missed him!!! :eyes: :heart: :eyes:
Same here :eyes: :heart: :eyes:

Definitely one of the most underrated/underappreciated actors of our time.

The Ten Best BARNEY MILLER Episodes of Season Two (https://jacksonupperco.com/2021/05/18/the-ten-best-barney-miller-episodes-of-season-two/)

If Barney Miller’s selling point is its realism, particularly via its leads, then Season Two is not a great advertisement, for while showrunner Danny Arnold wisely drops Barney’s home and wife (she only appears twice), and focuses on the precinct where there are richer opportunities with the regulars and the premise, he also makes a surprising attempt to rev up the show’s never-comparably-excellent comedic engine, and this doesn’t acquit the year well, especially because it isn’t aligned with the series’ slower, quieter understanding of character. In other words, Two is a huge structural advancement, which makes it easier to find stories that satisfy the concept and make time for the leads, who yes, find definition gradually from mere exposure and thus naturally improve, but the year is so prematurely aggressive that it undermines what we already see as the series’ strength. It’s all most obvious in Two’s first trimester, when Chris Hayward’s old pal Arne Sultan is a credited producer and there’s an evident crusade to make the show funnier — not only through a reduction of drama (both didactic and personal), but also in an over-reliance on the few hooks and gags that have been carrying the comic burden, like weekly guests/plot, Yemana’s coffee, and Fish’s to-camera mugging. This lack of emotional weight and more forceful drive for laughs makes narrative-based angst unusually strained (for Barney Miller), and with so few of the leads ready to participate, its rare sources of humor (like Fish) are magnified in a way that stretches their credibility, relative to everything else. Also, the year is still trying to shoot in front of an audience, and there’s a theatricality — see, for instance, Linda Lavin’s portrayal of Wentworth — that’s against the show’s softer baseline and stands out as false, even in comparison to One, which was at least grounded by heavier moments… And yet, while this does a number on Two’s overall standing, the last, oh, half of the season begins a formative self-correction, with the humor modulating alongside the characters, all of whom become more defined through added use, as scripts offer more of both believable heft and the series’ trademark continuity (practiced here within, among other things, the casual Wentworth/Wojo romance). This all helps set the table for Three, the show’s peak largely because of Two’s strides with character and accumulating realism. That’s for next week though; first…

I didn't start watching Barney Miller until 1979 (Vacation episode) when I was visiting a friend who happened to be watching it - and I got hooked. I have a hard time watching some of the early episodes. Partly it is due to Barney's home life scenes. Also, Wojo’s gum chewing and goofy laugh were annoying - I was glad he toned it down a little in subsequent seasons. And Harris had not yet evolved into to the ambitious, dapper, intellectual that he would eventually become. I did not like Chano or Wentworth - I'm glad they were removed.

I didn't start watching Barney Miller until 1979 (Vacation episode) when I was visiting a friend who happened to be watching it - and I got hooked. I have a hard time watching some of the early episodes. Partly it is due to Barney's home life scenes. Also, Wojo’s gum chewing and goofy laugh were annoying - I was glad he toned it down a little in subsequent seasons. And Harris had not yet evolved into to the ambitious, dapper, intellectual that he would eventually become. I did not like Chano or Wentworth - I'm glad they were removed.

Was the vacation episode involve scenes out of the police station?

He was only written out because He was starting a new show-
"AES HUSDON STREEET" not because they feel he didn;t add anything to the show

Actually he probably would have left anyway. He wasn’t happy with how Chano was written, he didn’t get along with Hal, and his wife was ill. Poor guy was having a rough go of it.

Was the vacation episode involve scenes out of the police station?

No, it was about Dietrich and Harris fighting because they both wanted to go on vacation the same week!

Not showing Barney's Home life looks like it was definitely the reason the show was not watchable. because the show went from 68 all the way to 37 in just one season and the timeslot stayed the same

Not showing Barney's Home life looks like it was definitely the reason the show was not watchable. because the show went from 68 all the way to 37 in just one season and the timeslot stayed the same

The show was never unwatchable. It never would have lasted 8 seasons if it was. The ratings were low the first season because it was a mid season replacement. That’s never a good starting place for a new series.

It's a fascinating show to watch:

1. It was supposed to have a good dose of Norman Lear ethnicism in it. Early on, someone comes in and says, "How are things here at the UN." It never disappears, but it declines very quickly;

2. It starts as a Dick van Dyke/MTM clone, with Barney ping ponging between work and home every episode. Again that's quickly ditched, and it becomes the first of the next generation, the workplace shows including Taxi, WKRP, Cheers, Night Court.

3. The casting becomes outrageous, both in overturning the main cast and in bringing back the same character actors year after year, sometimes as the same character, sometimes as someone else who's indistinguishable.