Retro Television, Like Barney Miller, Is Comfort Food

Barney Miller debuted on January 23, 1975. A cop comedy set in Greenwich Village's 12th Precinct station house in New York. Led by Hal Linden who portrayed Captain Barney Miller, the sitcom wasn't afraid of tackling heavy subjects, but it never forgot that it was, at heart, a comedy.

The series also starred Abe Vigoda as Det. Phil Fish (Seasons 1-3), Max Gail as Det. Stan 'Wojo' Wojciehowicz, Ron Glass as Det. Ron Harris, Ron Carrey as Officer Carl Levitt (Seasons 2-8), Steve Landesberg as Det. Sgt. Arthur Dietrich (Seasons 2-8), Jack Soo as Det. Sgt. Nick Yemana (Seasons 1-5), James Gregory as Inspector Frank Luger (66 episodes across all eight seasons), Barbara Barrie as Elizabeth Miller (37 episodes from Seasons 1-5)), and Gregory Sierra as Det. Sgt. Chano Amenguale (Season 1-2). And the cast could not have been more perfect for this show.

For years I resisted watching Barney Miller because I thought it would be boring. Who wants to watch a show that is set mainly inside a police station? Where was the action? Where was the physical comedy like you could see in The Andy Griffith Show?

Honestly, I can't tell you what made me decide to give the series a shot one evening about five years ago. It came on one of the retro channels in my area, and as it started to play, I caught a couple of lines that made me chuckle. Then I started really paying attention. And the unique comedic talents of all these actors combined, along with the creativity of the show's writers, drew me in. From that point on, I knew I wanted to watch the entire show so I asked my friend to buy the DVD series for me for Christmas. (She did.) And I was hooked.

Barney Miller isn't a typical comedy. It has an undertone of seriousness as it is set in a police station, and anything can happen. They didn't mock the issues that truly affected people. They told stories around them, and along the way, you got to know this police precinct where the detectives were more familiy than coworkers.

Because the series was set in the 1970s when it aired in the 1970s, it wasn't a vintage or retro show at the time. But now, over fifty years later, watching an episodes is like stepping back into a time machine where the ties were wide, indoor smoking was a thing, and New York was painted with smog.

It's easy to get tired of the gritty and graphic television shows and streaming series that air today where little is left to the imagination. In the world of Barney Miller, any violence took place off-screen. Profanity was scarce, and while there was plenty of innuendos, it was tame by today's standards.

Occasionally, I need to step away from the loud, chaotic world we live in. Get off social media. Turn off my phone. And dive into something that is guaranteed to make me laugh. And it doesn't matter how many times I may have watched an episode, I still get a chuckle out of it. (Side dare: Watch season 3's "Hash" without laughing. I can't do it.) There's a reason it has a 9.4 rating on IMDB. It was Jack Soo and Ron Glass at their finest and funniest.

The old saying is true. Laughter truly is the best medicine, and Barney Miller is medicine and comfort food all rolled up into one. It's getaway comedy that will take you back in time, not necessarily to a better place, but definitely to a better fictional world.