Shark Bytes

I have to agree that the show improved after the departure of Fish. He was a good character, however, his single notedness became somewhat tiresome after several seasons. I, too, was much more amused by the dry sense of humor of Arthur Dietrich. There was one scene with Dietrich and Yemana in which, while talking about nostalgia, Dietrich asks Nick if he ever gets homesick for the "terraced hillsides of his homeland". Nick replies, deadpanned, "I was born in Omaha". Dietrich comments, "Yeah, we have one of those too". It is only one of the masterpiece that is the entire BARNEY MILLER series.

I might be in a minority, but I thought the show improved after Fish left. I cottoned much more to Dietrich's dry, urbane wit than Fish's cynical, aging veteran cop routine.

Barney Miller had to be one of the best written shows of all time. Don't know who the writers were, but they were good. Never jumped the shark. People say it jumped when they bought in a new detective when Fish left, it didn't work out so they moved on. One episode does not constitute 'jumping the shark'. In my opinion, the standard for all 'sitcoms'. They should do a 25 year reunion, something akin to when Jack Soo died. Classic.

Barney Miller was a great show.I watched it while it was on ABC,and then later on in reruns on TV Land.

Tremendous show. A one-set, old-school comedy that delivered laughs while also giving us better-than-average characterizations. We really came to care about Barn, Wojo, Nick...hell, even Lugar, the old so-and-so.

Rarely seen in reruns and only the first two seasons are available on DVD. This should be rectified immediately.

I watched this show from beginning to end in the 1980s. It, along with Night Court, made my day whenever I watched it.

I occasionally watch it now in syndication or TV Land, and it almost ALWAYS makes me laugh out loud.

It NEVER jumped the shark!

Barney Miller never jumped It was a Classic. The funniest Episode was when Wojo brought in Brownies. The way Jack Soo played being high was Great and Fish say's "The first time in my life I feel really good and it has to be illegal"

This show was good at first and became better as it went along, one of the rare occasions that this worked.They got rid of the right characters, like Barneys wife and the hispanic cop, and added Deitrich one of the greatest characters ever in a sitcom. Most of the recurring characters were very inspired as well. The squad room with its stacks of papers, file cabinets and junk strewn, was a work of art to me. I watched it until the end then watched th reruns thru the 80s until they disappeared. One of the great shows of all time, yes it is better than All in the Family, MASH, Cheers, I watched them all. Barney Miller outclassed all of them because it did not go downhill, as those shows did at the end of their runs.

Favorite Harris euphemism for the ambulance taking the oddballs to Bellvue: "The Disoriented Express".

I was just a kid when this ran, but I loved it just the same. One favorite exchange, when some guy insisted that he'd been poisoned or some such -- and the dialogue is approximated, through the haze of memory:

Harris - Wojo, get this guy some cough medicine.
Wojo - Cough medicine? What are you talking about?
Harris - You know, the kind with the arms that wrap around the back...

I have been a fan of Barney Miller since 1976. It is one of the best written and acted shows ever on TV. Smart and witty. I am desperately waiting for Season 3. The Season 2 DVD is really good, but things get better in season 3. I hop eit comes out soon.

What's your problem with Dietrich, Art? Intimidated by fictional characters who are apparently more intelligent than yourself?... Now, that would be my definition of a 'weirdo'.

Even though the show was called "Barney Miller", and early plots revolved around Barney and Mrs. M, the writers wisely gave EVERYONE equal time, so it didn't end up like Happy Days (The Fonzie Show). Hal Linden seemed content to play the straight man while characters like Levitt, Inspector Luger, Dietrich, Fish, Wojo, Marty The Gay Man, The Guy Who Thought He Was A Werewolf (and several other things), and others stole the show week after week. A real treat! An a special treat when Abe Vigoda turned up as a veteran cop in "Law and Order". It made me wish they had pulled a "Lou Grant" and taken a sit-com character and made him into a drama character for at least one episode, but he played someone else. (Nasty guy, as I recall. I think he was a "dirty" cop, so it's just as well he wasn't Sgt. Phil Fish.)

WHEN DIETRICH THAT WEIRDO JOINED THE CAST IT WENT DOWN HILL

Persnickety, you are confusing your opinion with actual intelligent analysis. What you see in the program is something that very very few would see. This leads me to believe that your perspective is somehow out of tune with actual thinkers. Barney Miller was the standard by which most other comedies, from the 70's to now, are to be judged. Virtually all of them, like your analysis, are desperately wanting.