OP, funny how you and I notice these kind of things.
Steve

Yup, and that makes being a lefty rather "convenient" sometimes.

While I liked Barney and his cohorts, based on my expierence, it seemed to me they should have been uniformed Officers. They handled too many calls for service and did very little investigation or follow up.

I was branded with a shift name of Dietrich for several years back in the day. That was a nick name of fondness (I think) from my coworkers. The local street denizens used a different name.

Wojo, Max Gail, played a short part in episode Sid Comes Out in the new sitcom called The Cool Kids which is about some friends living in a retirement community.
Wojo is mostly bald and the hair he has is white. I believe he is 75 years old now. Same smiling Wojo like he was in Barney.

I always thought the cast of Barney Miller all worked so well together. I still watch the reruns and yes I often check out their guns and how they wore their guns. I think Fish often carried in a shoulder holster. I thought Fish was good playing the dressed up woman sting part. His character pulled it off so well.

Someone much more dedicated will correct me if I am wrong .... but, is this the only cop show in history with nary a shot fired? Well, maybe Andy and Barney. Was that a cop show?

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

Peak I don't believe I have ever seen an episode that a gun was actually shot. I did see an episode recently where all were being held at gun point but even then no gun was fired.

From articles I read Andy Griffith was anti gun which might have been why he seldom had a gun on himself in the shows. Even Barney had his one bullet in his pocket.

Abe Vigoda was born in 1921. Which means he was in his mid 50's when he was on Barney Miller.
My god - I'm as old as Fish was.
Also I will say that I really liked that show when it was new and I was in my early teens. I liked to check out the guns then and I still do. If you have Direct TV its on ch. 323 every late night. I bought a mod. 36 because of that show.

No, there were no scenes where a gun was fired that I remember. Almost every scene was set in the squad room, so you wouldn't expect much gunfire. They would refer to shooting incidents. I recall one episode that dealt with Chano shooting a guy and how he dealt with it.

One of the reasons I enjoy "Barney Miller" is the lack of shoot outs. The thing about most cop shows that annoys me is the frequent gunfire. Some of the characters on these shows have more shootings in a season than Jim Cirillo had in his career, and with no consequences.

What makes "Barney Miller" such a great show is that it captures the interactions with people, all sorts of people, that really make up the bulk of the job. It's the diverse cast of real life characters we meet that really make the job what it is, and "Barney Miller" reflected that. When people ask what my job is like I often tell them "we're more Barney Miller than NYPD Blue". What's troubling is I now run into kids who have never seen either show. It's disturbing that I can start to relate to Inspector Lugar.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

There was one episode of Andy Griffith when Barney, unknown to Andy,
put his one bullet in his Colt revolver. A con man got the revolver away
from Barney and was holding him and others at gunpoint when Andy
walked in. Andy, knowing Barney's revolver was "unloaded" took it away
from the con man, but then got a big surprise when he pulled the trigger.

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In Omnia Paratus

my favorite episode of barney miller was when they brought a guy in that said he was a werwolf.

The thread has wandered, so I don't feel amiss in mentioning that Hal Linden was an excellent singer and musician as well as an actor.

In either the first or second episode Sgt. Esterhouse orders the shift to deposit any unauthorized weapons on the table during roll call. Everything from razors to nunchucks to any gun you can imagine comes out of coat pockets, boots and ditty bags. Just after "be careful out there" he tells them to "get all this junk out of my muster room" and it all goes back whence it came.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

my favorite episode was called “The Harris Incident” that was about a racial issue and had a great “Wojo” speech at the end that brought the guys all together after a tense situation. A touchy subject well done and realistically.
Sometimes Barney’s Det. Special wears black pearl plastic grips. And Harris with white grips and maybe nickel plated. “Deitrich” would be a formidable Trivial Persuit opponent. The stuff he comes up with is some of my favorite parts about the show.

Being a retired Chicago Homicide Detective, I can only add to other comments that this was the most realistic Police show about Detectives ever made, at least as far as the Squad room banter.

It was a great show. Good writing, characters, and actors.

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No baby we aint

Some of the places we see them wearing their guns makes me
think they would have to be contortionists to get hold of their
guns.

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In Omnia Paratus

Very early this morning I watched a Barney episode that was kind of
a tribute to Jack Soo. It must have been filmed not too long after he
passed away. Lots of outtakes from previous episodes featuring Jack.
He was well loved by the cast.

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In Omnia Paratus

In a Detective squad room there was always a small group of "house mouse's" who seldom if ever hit the street, the desk men, the unit secretaries, those on limited duty that manned the phones.

It wouldn't be unusual to see them carrying a five shot chief in the most comfortable manner they could, not really ready to use it, and in most cases not even carrying extra ammo.

Now I got to go and watch reruns...…. I do remember watching this show and Dragnet. Wow forgotten good times.

I just watched Jack Webb in the "DI" a night or so back, brought back memories.
Steve

How do feel about "The Wire"?

There was an episode where Andy does shoot his pistol in the line of duty. One of the later seasons where Barney has moved on. There was a printing shop opened in Mayberry where counterfeiting was going on and when the criminals were fleeing Andy shoots at the car to stop them from escaping.

Barney Miller a wonderful show and favorite for both of us here. My favorite scene from the show was the one with Jeff Corey(the original Tom Chaney from True Grit) as a mugged Amish man:

"Some scalawags mocked my garb and stole my purse."

Harris: "Scalawags? I will look through the records of the local ne'er do wells.".

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KM
S&WCA 3110 S&WHF 625

Oh, Barney Miller. For a moment there, I thought you were referring to this world-famous law enforcement officer...

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Agreed.

Shame of it is that this show wouldn't even be considered to be made today, since police officers are no longer people to some. Particularly those who decide what shows to make. Sad.

What better life could thee be than binge watching Barney Miller?

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

I'm another fan of the show. I think with the re-runs I've finally seen all the episodes. Not to throw water on this but there is only one thing I didn't like and that was his stance on gun control.

Pretty hard to find an image of that character showing gun and holster. Back then, in real life, holsters used would have come from Jay-Pee or one of the other makers of authorized holsters.

A clarinet player IIRC.

Yes, it was a great show, very good cast.

It shows how good TV used to be back in the day of the 3 networks and PBS.

Today, don't get me started.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Not just a good show, but one of the best theme songs ever.

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My sgntr is mor thn 30 chrctrs

Yes but you can tell he knows how to properly handle a gun. If you notice, almost every time he handles a gun on the show he points it away from everyone and checks the chamber to make sure it's empty.
Most actors treat guns like tennis rackets and such.

How right you are.

I worked at the bus station on the 3pm to 11pm shift when I was in college. The office folks upstairs left at 5, at which point I would go across the street to Kelly’s Brass Rail for take out brats and tall boys. By 630 my ticket counter buddy and I would be feeling good and Barney Miller would be starting up on the little TV we had stashed away. I would hold the PA mike up to the TV and blast that awesome start to the song for all to enjoy.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I just watched a re-run episode of Barney Miller a couple of days ago. It was an early one, where Chano was still on the show. I always liked him.

Had to shake my head when the opening credits showed the NY skyline with the Twin Towers standing proudly.

I've posted this elsewhere, but in the '70's I had a lot of (professional) contact with detectives in a major city PD. I was puzzled by all the folks who carried their snubby's on the point of the opposite hip. I'd have bet a months pay that they needed the other hand to put the gun in the shooting hand. But, I figured they managed to qualify and actually got face to face with very few bad folks suddenly.

Then I happened to be where I could watch a few qualify. They'd take their old duty holsters, pistols and ammo carriers out of a brief case, put them on their pants belt and shoot. Afterward, went back into the brief case till next year.

I love cop shows of all types, but for the life of me I just cannot get into Barney Miller, never have been. I know, I know- wet blanket!

My department was like that for a number of years. One of our detectives carried a S&W M59 on duty, but on range day, he showed up with a 6" Python in a cowboy Buscadero rig!

We finally got to the point where everybody qualified with their duty sidearms.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I like the show and watch it every night it is on during the week.
Classic good TV show.

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

My Counselor in College (a retired Police Lieutenant) told us that “Barney Miller” was the most realistic cop show on TV.

I think the show where Chano shot those two robbers moved me more than any other episode. Chano seemed to have an extra measure of compassion to begin with and like all good LEO’s he never wanted to hurt anyone. IIRC at the end of the shift he went home to an empty apartment to grieve.

As far as “Hill Street Blues”, our shift (except for the Sergeant) used to meet to watch it (IIRC it was every Thursday night) as no one we knew had a VCR.

When we started our careers, we identified with Wojo. By the time we started to retire, we identified with Fish.

One time he was showing Barney's gun to Opies friend, the gun had already been fired (Barney) and Andy showed the proper way to clear it, finger off the trigger and pointed away to dry fire, not bad TV gun handling.

One of the best shows from the 70's and early 80's. Still watch it every night at midnight for two episodes. If I can't I record it.