Did you notice?

[polymath784]

I'm new to this message board and a new fan of the series since a network in Canada started showing episodes a few months ago. I started watching in the middle of Season 2 and am currently at the beginning of Season 7. It's such a smart, well written, funny show with a lot of the subject matter still relevant today. As with any show I get into, I start noticing characters' quirks & nuances as well as general details. Here is a list of those obvious and not so obvious things. (And I apologize in advance if a thread like this has already been done):

-Hal Linden in left-handed, although he holds his gun in his right hand.
-Chano was the only cop who wore casual clothes rather than a suit or shirt & tie.
-A large number of bald men came through the precinct.
-In a era where facial hair was the norm, none of the cops had beards.
-Harris really did look lovely in drag!
-Hal Linden and Steve Landesberg both had very slight stutters.
-There are episode titles that included the names of most of the characters but not one with the title character.
-Dietrich has only raised his voice 3 times (that I recall).
-The cops rarely used their guns and a shot was never fired in the Squad Room.
-The theme song was so ****in' cool!

[Chocolate Moose]

People at that time - and even later - who were lefties, were changed to righties by teachers in school. I'm not surprised to see someone using both hands at that time.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by polymath784

I'm new to this message board and a new fan of the series since a network in Canada started showing episodes a few months ago. I started watching in the middle of Season 2 and am currently at the beginning of Season 7. It's such a smart, well written, funny show with a lot of the subject matter still relevant today. As with any show I get into, I start noticing characters' quirks & nuances as well as general details. Here is a list of those obvious and not so obvious things. (And I apologize in advance if a thread like this has already been done):

-Hal Linden in left-handed, although he holds his gun in his right hand.
-Chano was the only cop who wore casual clothes rather than a suit or shirt & tie.
-A large number of bald men came through the precinct.
-In a era where facial hair was the norm, none of the cops had beards.
-Harris really did look lovely in drag!
-Hal Linden and Steve Landesberg both had very slight stutters.
-There are episode titles that included the names of most of the characters but not one with the title character.
-Dietrich has only raised his voice 3 times (that I recall).
-The cops rarely used their guns and a shot was never fired in the Squad Room.
-The theme song was so ****in' cool!

-In a era where facial hair was the norm, none of the cops had beards.


Detective Paul Gardeno (guest star Michael Lembeck) had a beard, but ended up shaving it off !

[polymath784]

Bonniegirl, thank you for reminding me of that.

A few more character/actor specific observations:

-Barney rarely smiled with teeth.
-Wojo's tie was sometimes bunched up and/or on crooked.
-When Dietrich was explaining things/giving facts in detail to someone, he stood very close to them.
-Ron Glass had the cutest dimples!
-Steve Landesberg would break character occasionally and it was usually in his scenes with Ron Carey.
-Season 7 saw noticeable hair changes for 3 characters: Wojo's hair was shorter and pushed to the side, Dietrich's hair was poofier & curlier and Harris' afro was considerably smaller.

[polymath784]

Another rather amusing observation:

At the end of every episode when it says "CREATED BY DANNY ARNOLD AND THEODORE J. FLICKER" the font makes "FLICKER" look like "****ER"

[polymath784]

-we never find out what the middle initial in Philip K. Fish, Arthur P. Dietrich, Carl E. Levitt and Frank D. Luger stand for.

-all the male cops have been flirted with at least once.

-not one character appeared in every single episode; Barney did not appear in "Wojo's Girl Part 2 (5x17). Wojo was only absent from Mrs. Cop (1x08).

[sara]

Originally Posted by Bonniegirl

-In a era where facial hair was the norm, none of the cops had beards.


Detective Paul Gardeno (guest star Michael Lembeck) had a beard, but ended up shaving it off !

"Freeze I'm a police officer"

Yemana bursts into laughter.

[KatieAnn]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Moose

People at that time - and even later - who were lefties, were changed to righties by teachers in school. I'm not surprised to see someone using both hands at that time.

If he was changed to a rightie wouldn't he always use his right hand, especially to write, since that's when the teacher would have tried to switch him to being a rightie, while he was writing?

I've noticed a lot of athletes (mostly in hockey) are right handed but they play hockey left handed, and I am right handed play most sports left handed. Maybe Hal Linden has that same trait but in reverse.

I never noticed Barney using his gun so I didn't notice he used his right hand for that.

[polymath784]

Originally Posted by KatieAnn

If he was changed to a rightie wouldn't he always use his right hand, especially to write, since that's when the teacher would have tried to switch him to being a rightie, while he was writing?

I've noticed a lot of athletes (mostly in hockey) are right handed but they play hockey left handed, and I am right handed play most sports left handed. Maybe Hal Linden has that same trait but in reverse.

I never noticed Barney using his gun so I didn't notice he used his right hand for that.

I noticed that in athletes too.

The only time I saw Barney hold his gun was in "Dog Days" (5x05) when a man was in put in the cage for illegal dog fighting. The German Shepherd had the squad cornered in the Squad Room and Barney threatened to shoot him if the man didn't call him off.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by sara

"Freeze I'm a police officer"

Yemana bursts into laughter.

He WAS so young looking and very cute!!! Here he is in the hospital after being shot!!! Poor baby!!!

OMG!!! I wish I were a nurse in that hospital!!!!

[polymath784]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

The episode "Liquidation" ends with a hung over Harris being tormented by a guy in the cell singing "High Hopes." Are there other episodes where someone from outside the precinct gets the last word?

Not the last word, but the terrific Season 6 finale "Fog" (6x22) ends with a street musician (arrested for assaulting classical musicians playing on his corner) playing his trumpet in the cage with the guys listening in the dimly lit Squad Room.

In "Resignation" (7x07) Dietrich almost resigns after he feels extreme guilt for shooting a teenager. His colleagues gang up on him and convince him otherwise and a man who robbed nuns in Arizona turns to Dietrich and has the last line: "I'm glad you're staying".

I'm sure there are some other examples but the main characters almost always got the last word. Good observation, Alan Brady's Hair.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Moose

People at that time - and even later - who were lefties, were changed to righties by teachers in school. I'm not surprised to see someone using both hands at that time.

I'm left-handed, and people of that era were mostly not forced to right-hand. (I grew up in the 50s and 60s and was not forced).

I think a lot of left-handed people are more ambidextrous than right-handed people. I played (most) sports with the right hand (as I think many lefties do), and I drink with the right hand. A girl who sat next to me at work used scissors with her right hand.

The forced to right-hand stuff happened in the 30s and 40s and probably before. My mother's best friend was forced to be right-handed.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by stevea

I'm left-handed, and people of that era were mostly not forced to right-hand. (I grew up in the 50s and 60s and was not forced).

I think a lot of left-handed people are more ambidextrous than right-handed people. I played (most) sports with the right hand (as I think many lefties do), and I drink with the right hand. A girl who sat next to me at work used scissors with her right hand.

The forced to right-hand stuff happened in the 30s and 40s and probably before. My mother's best friend was forced to be right-handed.

Michael Lembeck ( Det.Paul Gardeno) is left handed ! When he first comes on board in Barney Miller and is checking in you can clearly see he is signing in on the board with his left hand! Also in One day at a time (as Max) ,he is for sure left handed as we can see in his writing and eating!!

Michael was born in 1948 , wondering if his parents or in school tried to make him right handed ? But than he wasn't in school till the 1950's !

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by stevea

The forced to right-hand stuff happened in the 30s and 40s and probably before. My mother's best friend was forced to be right-handed.

Yeah, my dad is 77 and he was forced to be right-handed.

[polymath784]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

Thanks for these! I think "Fog" might give the last line to JJ Barry (who usually plays Arthur Duncan), who looks up as the man is playing and asks, "What year is this?" Always cracks me up.

That's right! It was a rather dark episode (the main storyline revolved around a depressed Barney getting turned down for Deputy Inspector for the third time) but that line during that bittersweet final scene was perfect and made me laugh. The show was so good at injecting humour whenever things got too dramatic and/or tense.