I was always under the assumption that Barney Miller just ended its run, but now I am hearing that ABC actually canceled the show. If this is true, why did they can it? I also read somewhere that fans were outraged and sent letters to ABC in protest.

http://timstvshowcase.com/bmiller2.jpg

I heard that the ratings had been declining in the last couple of seasons, and that co-creator/writer Danny Arnold decided to end the show. That's what I've read, anyway. In any case, the show had gone on for 8 seasons. It couldn't go on forever, and it was nice that the show got a real series finale to wrap everything up.

I heard that the ratings had been declining in the last couple of seasons, and that co-creator/writer Danny Arnold decided to end the show. That's what I've read, anyway. In any case, the show had gone on for 8 seasons. It couldn't go on forever, and it was nice that the show got a real series finale to wrap everything up.


That's true...

It had a very nice long run for a program that never even cracked the Top 15 in the Nielsen ratings!!

Barney Miller's ratings the last 3 seasons

1979-80-#20

1980-81-Below #30

The Last season..............."#54"

So I think we know why it ended-LOL


Info from One Season in American Television, 1981

Directory to Primetime Network and Cable Shows, Eighth Edition

Barney Miller's ratings the last 3 seasons

1979-80-#20

1980-81-Below #30

The Last season..............."#54"

So I think we know why it ended-LOL


Info from One Season in American Television, 1981

Directory to Primetime Network and Cable Shows, Eighth Edition

Well, I've seen shows survive with lower ratings, certainly, so that's not the whole story.

Good for Arnold for seeing the writing on the wall and going out on his own terms, and on a high note, though. Personally, though I loved the show and hated to see it end, I think it ended at just the right time. The last season, while still enjoyable, had a much more low key tone than the rest and seemed to dim just a bit in quality for me. It could have limped along for another year or two, probably, but I'm glad it didn't.

^ Exactly. The writing was on the wall when the ratings fell in the later years, but thankfully Danny Arnold saw it and wrapped things up with a nice, big bow. I still think it's a big missed opportunity that a reunion movie or even a retrospective was never done. The surviving cast is already up there in years - we won't have them forever!!!

^ Exactly. The writing was on the wall when the ratings fell in the later years, but thankfully Danny Arnold saw it and wrapped things up with a nice, big bow. I still think it's a big missed opportunity that a reunion movie or even a retrospective was never done. The surviving cast is already up there in years - we won't have them forever!!!

Yeah, and with Arnold, Carey, Soo, Landesberg, and Gregory now gone, my guess is that the survivors will feel less comfortable having a reunion even if the opportunity was there, and will decline out of respect to the absent members.

A real shame, for sure. :(

Even a commentary on DVDs would be good - dang Sony for stopping at S3!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Even a commentary on DVDs would be good - dang Sony for stopping at S3!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

No plans to go further? If so, that IS a shame! :(

Hopefully Shout or another company can pick up the rights from Sony, like they did for The Facts of Life.

I'd love to have the rest of the series on DVD!!

It is also a darn shame that Barney Miller isn't in syndication anymore. :(

I'd love to have the rest of the series on DVD!!

It is also a darn shame that Barney Miller isn't in syndication anymore. :(

Same here - I hope that Antenna TV will eventually pick the show up!!!

Yeah, and with Arnold, Carey, Soo, Landesberg, and Gregory now gone, my guess is that the survivors will feel less comfortable having a reunion even if the opportunity was there, and will decline out of respect to the absent members.

A real shame, for sure. :(
Gergory Sierra is still around :) He has not been in many American TV shows as of late :(

Gergory Sierra is still around :) He has not been in many American TV shows as of late :(

Yeah, I know, I meant James Gregory AKA Inspector Lugar.

:)

Every time I think of James Gregory (even when I saw him in one of the Planet of the Apes movies in full simeon makeup), I always hear his voice saying, "POPPYCOCK, BAH-NEY!!!" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Every time I think of James Gregory (even when I saw him in one of the Planet of the Apes movies in full simeon makeup), I always hear his voice saying, "POPPYCOCK, BAH-NEY!!!" :lol: :lol: :lol:

He did indeed have a VERY distinctive voice. I'll bet he would have done great with cartoon voice work!

He did do voiceover work in an animated film called The Flight of the Dragons:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083951/

Yeah, I know, I meant James Gregory AKA Inspector Lugar.

:)
That is ok :) Everyone makes mistakes :)

He did do voiceover work in an animated film called The Flight of the Dragons:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083951/

Cool! I knew he'd be good at it! :)

Cool! I knew he'd be good at it! :)
I've never seen that movie, but maybe I'll see if I can get it through the library. He did have a very distinctive voice!! :cool:

Another reason that Barney Miller ended its original run after Season 8 is for fear of repeating storylines; the show was not cancelled by the ABC Network.

I say leave it as is and don't do a reunion, no need for one at this point

I still think it's a big missed opportunity that a reunion movie or even a retrospective was never done. The surviving cast is already up there in years - we won't have them forever!!!
I read that Hal said it would never happen.

Yeah, leave the reunion idea alone. Everyone's either dead or too old. Not everything has to be revisited anyway.

Yeah, leave the reunion idea alone. Everyone's either dead or too old. Not everything has to be revisited anyway.

I don't think a real scripted reunion would really work now, no...but maybe a retrospective where the surviving members {I think Linden, Glass, Gail, Vigoda and the supporting characters or those who left quickly (Lavin, etc.) are the only ones left now} just sat around and talked about the show while hosting clips would be cool.

It worked for M*A*S*H when they did it about twelve years ago.

No, those things are just sad; think of the Happy Days reunion.

No, those things are just sad; think of the Happy Days reunion.

Well, what was sad about it? Sure, people get old but I doubt that you stop seeing people in real life just because they reach a certain age; at least I hope you don't.

Ron Glass who played Harris still acts. I see him on TV every once in a while. He doesn't have the afro, but it was the 70's.

Ron Glass who played Harris still acts. I see him on TV every once in a while. He doesn't have the afro, but it was the 70's.

I saw him in a final-season Star Trek: Voyager episode called "Nightingale," aired 11/22/00; he played Loken. He was also in a third-season episode of Hart to Hart called "Hartland Express," aired 11/3/81 as Conductor Slattery.

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I heard that the ratings had been declining in the last couple of seasons, and that co-creator/writer Danny Arnold decided to end the show. That's what I've read, anyway. In any case, the show had gone on for 8 seasons. It couldn't go on forever, and it was nice that the show got a real series finale to wrap everything up.

Watching the final episode now... where the cast all their separate ways

Now, apparently the first B.M. in on... opens at home with his wife?

Danny Arnold decided to end it. He though the show had begun to repeat itself and couldn’t find any new scripts he was satisfied with.

Both:lol:

I wanna believe finishing below 40 two seasons in a row led to cancellation

Both:lol:

I wanna believe finishing below 40 two seasons in a row led to cancellation

Yes, I have a feeling if it was still in the top ten they would have kept going.

Both:lol:

I wanna believe finishing below 40 two seasons in a row led to cancellation

It wasn’t canceled. ABC wanted another season. Danny Arnold said no.

Either way they ended on a high. Barney Miller's final season won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.

It wasn’t canceled. ABC wanted another season. Danny Arnold said no.

Wanted another season of BM at #54 and cancelled Making the Grade at #38?:lol: I find that hard to believe

Wanted another season of BM at #54 and cancelled Making the Grade at #38?:lol: I find that hard to believe

Do you have some strange fixation on ratings numbers? That’s all you talk about. The show won the Emmy for outstanding comedy show that year. And yes, Danny Arnold pulled the plug, not ABC. Both Max Gail and Hal Linden told me this.

Do you have some strange fixation on ratings numbers? That’s all you talk about. The show won the Emmy for outstanding comedy show that year. And yes, Danny Arnold pulled the plug, not ABC. Both Max Gail and Hal Linden told me this.

Well the newspaper said cancelled so...

Well the newspaper said cancelled so...

So, it's possible the newspaper could have been mistaken while Mr. Gail and Mr. Linden being closer to the action could be telling the truth of what happened.

Well the newspaper said cancelled so...

I think Hal Linden and Max Gail are more reliable sources than the newspaper. They were actually there after all.

I think Hal Linden and Max Gail are more reliable sources than the newspaper. They were actually there after all.

http://www.tvparty.com/70-barney-miller.html

Broadcast from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982, on ABC, Barney Miller is considered one of the best sitcoms of the 1970s. The show grew out of an unsold television pilot, The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, airing in the summer of 1974, as part of an ABC summer anthology series, Just for Laughs, where the network would dump pilots they didn’t intent to pick up. The networks would take the best of the rejected batch and give them an airing in primetime during the summer when viewership was down, a way to get back some of the cost of that pilot.

Basically, star Hal Linden insists, the end of Barney Miller came down not to ratings, but to keeping good writers who were constantly getting lured to other projects. “It was never canceled,” Linden told the Television Academy. “The next to last season [producer Danny Arnold] was going to close it. Sitcoms are by definition self destructive. That is, they feed on themselves… We had, what, let’s say five writing sources. A team, a writer, another team. Five, maybe six writing sources, something like that. You know, numbered [descending] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The minute you have a show that’s a hit, the number 2 team, their agent is at every network… So you’re always losing your number 2 team every year. And maybe number 3 team!”

That being said, Barney Miller finished it’s last season at #54, at the bottom of the ratings. Producer Danny Arnold’s failing health also contributed, every script went through him for revisions until he suffered a heart attack. Barney Miller was one of the few sitcoms of the period that occasionally mentioned the then-current year.

Sitcom writer Tom Reeder described the stress of working on the show, “In the early years, Danny benefited from the heroic writing efforts of Chris Hayward, who was a veteran writer, and rookies Tony Sheehan and Reinhold Weege who, like me, didn't know any better. They were the Barney Miller writing staff. My agent wisely turned down Danny's annual offers of staff jobs, negotiating freelance assignments (so-called "multiple deals") for me instead. Even so, the pace was frantic—on one assignment I was given 3 hours to write the story outline. On another occasion, a friend came into my office at ABC-Vine Street and said, ‘Hey, Reeder, want to go get some lunch?’ I pointed to the paper in my typewriter and said, ‘This script is on the stage—thanks anyway.’”