Random Episode Discussion

[Janice]

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread to post thoughts on various episodes.

The episode, Games, where Wojo arrests the Army woman for solicitation got me peeved at him. Did he really have to arrest her? After he brought her to the Precinct and heard her sad story, I think he could have talked Barney into letting her go. They let prisoners go all the time.
He expressed regret in Barney's office, and Barney told him, "It's a little late for that now."
I think Wojo was a jerk for that. He could have cut her a break. Her career in the Army was jeopardized.
The storyline was probably playing into his hangup with hookers, who ironically, he has no problem 'dating'.

[Janice]

Interesting tidbit at the closing credits of Dick Van Dyke. After the failure of Fish, they wanted to bring Abe Vigoda back to Barney Miller, but the producers said he was asking for too much money.

I love those tidbits. I want to know where they're getting their information. I've looked for a book on Barney Miller, but turned up empty.

[maclen]

Originally posted by Janice
Interesting tidbit at the closing credits of Dick Van Dyke. After the failure of Fish, they wanted to bring Abe Vigoda back to Barney Miller, but the producers said he was asking for too much money.

I love those tidbits. I want to know where they're getting their information. I've looked for a book on Barney Miller, but turned up empty.

Yeah, and yesterday's preview that you mentioned was the wrong one obviously, but it was interesting because it was for one of the "bomb" episodes TV Land has skipped. For a few seconds there I was all happy thinking they were going to show the episode. The fact that they skipped it was the original reason for my "AARRGH!" post.

maclen

[maclen]

Originally posted by Janice
I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread to post thoughts on various episodes.

Going back to the "The Doll" episode... one of the subplots had a guy who was sold a fake ticket to ride the space shuttle. In the end, the charges against him were dropped by NASA and he was encouraged to apply for a job as an optician to help out with telescope projects, and was also told that who knew.... that maybe by the end of the decade there may be passengers allowed in the shuttle. As the guy left the precint, Dietrich told him something to the effect to not worry about the tiles that protected the shuttle from the heat; that studies had shown that if some of the tiles became unattached, the heat inside the shuttle would reach lethal levels. Two things jumped to mind as I recently re-watched this episode: 1) It was very, very eerie and sad to hear it, and 2) sometimes the stuff that Dietrich talked about was stuff that is more relevant today than perhaps back then, like when he was talking to Barney about computer encryption (and Barney asked him if he knew what the word "pedantic" meant).

The more things change, the more they stay the same... back then, the current issues were unemployment, job cuts, bad economy, rising crime, problems in the Middle East, particularly Israel and Palestine...

That's one of the reasons I like this show so much, because the writers incorporated very "human" and realistic issues, yet in a way that was intellectually stimulating and not just slaptstick and stuff like that.

I'm soooo amazed that there's no book or documentary on the show.

Oh! By the way, Barney Miller got mentioned for about 5 seconds in one of the "Inside TV Land" specials having to do with the current Black History Month theme. Commentary by Ron Glass was sort of predominantly featured though, so that was nice. He still looks really good nowadays.

maclen

[Janice]

Terrific analysis maclen. I also recall that Dietrich said that by the end of the decade, passengers would be allowed to ride in the shuttle. When he said that, I thought of Christa McCauliffe, the teacher who died on the Challenger in 1986. I knew the episode was filmed in 1981....so I got a weird feeling too.
I didn't have it on tape to rewatch as you did, so I didn't make the tile and heat connection of course because the Columbia hadn't exploded yet, but that's just wild.

On the 'Homeless' episode, there was Don Calfa once again...portraying homeless Eddie this time. How many times was this man on the show I wonder. He's great with those puppy dog eyes.
Always great seeing Bruno, the angry store owner. It was a nice ending as he didn't file charges and invited them over to his house.
It was a touching Christmas episode. I liked the ending, with viewers, on the outside, looking at the window and hearing the men talk.

Interesting trivia on how Ron Carey kept a Christmas tree in his dressing room year round. Maybe he wasn't totally 'acting' a little off on the show, lol.

As for a Barney Miller book, you're right. It's crazy one doesn't exist. I've never even seen a television profile on the show. Barney Miller is is underrated that it irks me.

Only about two weeks left until the show's end. I'm wondering what happens next?

[maclen]

Originally posted by Janice
Only about two weeks left until the show's end. I'm wondering what happens next?

Well, what's weird is that they finish the show out but they skip the last three "Landmark" episodes, then TV Land starts over again with episode one and so on (of course they skip episode two with the bomb). I seriously hope they're planning on showing the last three episodes soon seeing as to how they shuffle the order of episodes sometimes. I don't know whether the show will continue beyond February. That reminds me... it's time to post my monthly question for the moderator in the TV Land BM message board, "Barney beyond (insert month here)?". I am missing most of the episodes in Season One, so I would like to tape those.

maclen

[sara]

I couldn't belive it when I saw the two week schedule for Barney Miller. How can they not show their finale!? I just posted a message on the TV Land message board saying as much. Please reply, and show TV Land that they can't do that!

[Janice]

Another banner episode. I think this is the angriest Barney has ever been....with Inspector Luger for getting too rough with the purse thief. He yelled liked crazy.
The closest he came to being this angry was when he yelled at Harris for not taking his duties seriously. I think it was when Harris didn't want to wear his uniform.
The episode kind of made me wonder what kind of a nasty cop Luger must have been. Wait....this is only a show. He really wasn't a cop, lol.
I do think that the viewers have been given enough information through the years to safely assume that Luger wasn't the friendly neighborhood policeman. Examination Day confirmed it.
Great line from Dietrich to the Investigative Reporter, "What's up with Barney and Luger?"

[Kitt]

Last nights episode had Barney getting very angry. He was angry about Levitt not getting a citation and just the general hopelesness of being a cop, never being able to affect change. Something that he has spoken about a number of times.

Speaking of Lugar, Dietrick said to Wojo in a moment of boredom, "You wannta call Luger and hang up? LOL!

At the end of the show Levitt made a speach about Barney being an admirable leader. it was interesting the way everone agreed but weren't about to pile on any more complements or praise.

[maclen]

Originally posted by Janice
Another banner episode. I think this is the angriest Barney has ever been....with Inspector Luger for getting too rough with the purse thief. He yelled liked crazy.

James Gregory shines on this one. He plays his character to perfection! I think Inspector Luger is the character that feels and displays more emotions than anyone else, going from being absolutely furious, to breaking down and crying.

In the past couple of episodes we've seen Barney become more frustrated with the job becoming increasingly meaningless in his mind, and we're also seeing the detectives get bored more. I read it was decided at the beginning of the 8th season, that it would be the last. Given everyone's state of mind, it would have been difficult to continue writing for the show without radically changing its dynamics. The events of the last episode (promotions for Barney and Levitt, the possibility of Harris quitting the police force to dedicate himself to writing, Luger's marriage and upcoming retirement) made for a nice climax and end to the show.

On last night's show "The Clown", it was the first (and only?) time Barney called Levitt "Carl" (when he broke the news that his medal request had been turned down).

maclen

[Janice]

Kitt, I loved Dietrich's line too, "Let's call Luger and hang up." It was hilarious.
It was interesting to see Barney get so mad and disillusioned with the system. The show had some of the most talented actors.

[egregiousgirl]

Originally posted by maclen
Going back to the "The Doll" episode... As the guy left the precint, Dietrich told him something to the effect to not worry about the tiles that protected the shuttle from the heat; that studies had shown that if some of the tiles became unattached, the heat inside the shuttle would reach lethal levels.

I taped all the episodes from the week before, but I didn't get around to watching them for awhile. It was the day after the Columbia, and when I heard Dietrich saying this...it was just weird.

I thought Hal Linden was so good in that episode where he got all mad and yelled at everyone. I can't believe he never won an Emmy for Barney Miller (he didn't, did he?).

I just have to add that I love Dietrich, for so many reasons. When he asked Wojo if he wanted to crank call Luger...that was too funny! And then last night, when that guy at Riker's let all the prisoners out, Dietrich mentioned something about how the prisoners were celebrating Bastille Day, and I got all excited because my birthday's on Bastille Day. Of course Dietrich was speaking metaphorically, but I still enjoyed that.

[maclen]

In the Chinatown, Part 1 Episode, there's a part when Scanlon is trying to talk to the good looking widow, but he just spends what seems to be an eternity trying to come up with something to say. His body language and facial expressions during that moment were absolutely priceless! And the lady's blow-off made me laugh out loud, "it was nice talking to you, Ben", even though Scanlon hadn't said a word!

Poor Scanlon, he was pretty slimy. George Murdock's roles in the Barney Miller world were those of a slimy guy and he pulled it off beautifully. Scanlon of course, Captain Revell, the bigot Army recruiter, and he also played a detective from the Brooklyn precint in one of the Fish episodes ("The Missing Fish"). Fish had disappeared on his last day of work, and Murdock's character came to Fish's house to get information on him, but ended up upsetting the whole household. In the end he ended up buying a stolen Police scanner from Fish's stepchildren.

Awesome cast!

maclen

[Janice]

Originally posted by maclen
In the Chinatown, Part 1 Episode, there's a part when Scanlon is trying to talk to the good looking widow, but he just spends what seems to be an eternity trying to come up with something to say. His body language and facial expressions during that moment were absolutely priceless! And the lady's blow-off made me laugh out loud, "it was nice talking to you, Ben", even though Scanlon hadn't said a word!

Poor Scanlon, he was pretty slimy. George Murdock's roles in the Barney Miller world were those of a slimy guy and he pulled it off beautifully.
maclen

Lt. Scanlon was great in Chinatown. It was funny how he was so socially inept that he couldn't even string two sentences together to start a conversation with the woman. I actually felt bad for him.
I've said it before, but I would like to see more of Scanlon. I wouldn't want him to appear too frequently, but he wasn't on enough for me. Whenever he walks through the door, I swear my heart skips a beat. I've never seen even one performance of his fall flat. The man is hilarious.

[Janice]

Originally posted by kittflynn
At the end of the show Levitt made a speach about Barney being an admirable leader. it was interesting the way everone agreed but weren't about to pile on any more complements or praise.

I noticed that too Kitt. What's up with that? Dietrich even said, "I got nothing to add to that."
The men were never big in the praise department, but I guess we all knew they respected each other.