I noticed in the episode "the Abduction" was aired on 2/3/77 and the Fish spinoff aired that Saturday, 2/5/77. So the character was never transitioned off of Barney Miller?

I have an EXCELLENT memory; I'm 61 and can remember even back to when I was 1. Anyway....

I remember when I used to watch both shows every week and I don't remember one.

I have an EXCELLENT memory; I'm 61 and can remember even back to when I was 1. Anyway....

I remember when I used to watch both shows every week and I don't remember one.

Yeah that's weird, especially since he appeared on BM 2 days before his show premiered on ABC

There wasn’t a transition episode when “Fish” first premiered because the Fish character was meant to exist on both shows. Danny Arnold, the creator of the show, didn’t really want to spin off Fish, but agreed to do it as long as the character still occasionally appeared on “Barney Miller”. Abe Vigoda was still credited in the opening credits of “Barney Miller” after the spinoff started, and he appeared in an episode or two of the last half of season 3 (which ran concurrently with his spinoff).

But Abe Vigoda ultimately wanted to do his spinoff only. So the Fish character retired from the force at the beginning of season 4.

There wasn’t a transition episode when “Fish” first premiered because the Fish character was meant to exist on both shows. Danny Arnold, the creator of the show, didn’t really want to spin off Fish, but agreed to do it as long as the character still occasionally appeared on “Barney Miller”. Abe Vigoda was still credited in the opening credits of “Barney Miller” after the spinoff started, and he appeared in an episode or two of the last half of season 3 (which ran concurrently with his spinoff).

But Abe Vigoda ultimately wanted to do his spinoff only. So the Fish character retired from the force at the beginning of season 4.

Was that the Goodbye Mr. Fish ep?

There wasn’t immediately because they wanted Abe to do both shows but he found it exhausting and told them to pick one. They decided to keep the spin off and Fish was transitioned off BM in the 2 part ep Goodbye Mr. Fish, although Fish did visit a few times after he retired.