Barney Miller

[Wyatt Burp]

Don't know their holsters but the guns look like both old style then later Colt detective specials. I really got into the show recently. They play 2 in a row each night. My least favorite guy was "Fish". He might have been realistic but he bored me to death. "Harris" and "Deitrich" are my favorites in that order but everyone else is great, too.

 

[TTSH]

This thread has got me back to watching episodes on YouTube!

God, how I miss that show.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

please delete

 

[Lt JL]

by the time i retired, i was making as many trips to the head as Fish was. I never worried too much about the hardware. i mean, heck, they just left the shotguns behind the door. i do remember Barney's wife was pretty foxy.

 

[johnt671]

I don't remember if it was last season on the year before that, Wojo was a guest on Hawaii Five o.

 

[Old cop]

Someone mentioned cops copying things they see on TV & I saw this too. When Hill Street was running our young uniformed officers wanted to look like the actors on that show, wearing all sorts of unauthorized stuff. I was the midnight shift commander at the time and we'd watch a few minutes of the show after roll call, but had to make sure our charges followed the uniform rules.

 

[stansdds]

I don't remember if it was last season on the year before that, Wojo was a guest on Hawaii Five o.

Watch the original Hawaii Five-O and you will see a good number of young actors who were just getting started in the business. Some made repeat appearances.

 

[majkger]

What I found interesting is that Fish carried what looks like a 4" .357(never saw it drawn) rigged left handed where everyone else carried a snub nose .38.

 

[Real Old Navy]

Ahhh but how many of you should be carrying your ammo like the other Barney...you know the one from Mayberry?

 

[crazyphil]

The detectives in my precinct during the 70's and 80's had these little holsters that barely held on to the model 36s they had on their belts. It was a wonder they never fell out. I guess between the little holsters, the cigars, raincoats and pinky rings that was the sign on a true NYPD detective. Oh yea I almost forgot about the cheap suits.

This little old Chic Gaylord holster looks like my 642 could
easily fall out, but it never has...yet.

 

[S.B.]

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

 

[HorizontalMike]

As a leftie I usually got the bottom of the barrel holster from the property clerk not b/c she was mean, but b/c that's all they had. A little shoe polish and hard work made it come back to life.

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

 

[153]

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.

 

[oink]

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.

 

[gman51]

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.

 

[Peak53]

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?

 

[gman51]

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.

 

[Starsky59]

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.

 

[31FordA]

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?

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.

 

[crazyphil]

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.