January 23, 1975: “Barney Miller” Premieres

The opening cast. Top row, left to right:

Ron Glass, Jack Soo, Gregory Sierra.

Bottom row, left to right: Max Gail, Hal Linden, Abe Vigoda.

January 23, 1975: Barney Miller premieres on ABC, created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker. The show's minimalist set, rarely leaving the squad room, made it look like a stage play, and it was probably the funniest police show in TV history.

Moreover, with its tedium, bureaucracy, and comparative lack of actual violence, many real policemen said it was the most realistic cop show ever. And it had one of the best theme songs of all time, composed by Jack Elliott (a veteran TV arranger, and not to be confused with folksinger Ramblin' Jack Elliott) and Allyn Ferguson, featuring an opening bass guitar line by Chuck Berghofer, before moving into electric guitar and then closing with horns taking the lead.

Barney Miller (played by Hal Linden) commands the Detectives in the New York Police Department's 12th Precinct, which has never actually existed in New York. He is respected, but informal, to the point where his subordinates call him "Barney" or "Barn."

As with such later sitcoms Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond, however, the title character is the least interesting member of the main cast. This is reflected in the fact that, after 2 seasons, his wife, Liz (Barbara Barrie) was phased out. The Millers had a son and a daughter.

There were 5 Detectives under Barney at the start. Philip K. Fish was nearing retirement, and looked like a very old man (even though Abe Vigoda, then best known for playing Sal Tessio in The Godfather, was only 54 years old). Nick Yemana (Jack Soo) was a weird guy, who made the Precinct's horrible coffee, and was a compulsive gambler. But he was a good cop, and, as a Japanese-American, proud of his service in the U.S. Army.

Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz (Max Gail) was proud of his service in the U.S. Marine Corps, and of his Polish heritage, and was an enthusiastic cop. He was not, however, very bright: Half the time, he didn't understand what Barney was telling him, and it took him 4 tries to pass the Sergeant's exam.

Ron Harris (Ron Glass) was very bright, and proud of being black. But he was a bit snippy, and, when he wasn't writing the novel that would become Blood On the Badge, often acted like he would rather be in the Fashion Police. And, so that they would fill out the Bingo card -- Fish was Jewish -- there was a Hispanic detective, Miguel "Chano" Amanguale (Gregory Sierra).

Sierra left after 2 seasons, and was replaced by Detective Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg), a hyper-intellectual. Also brought in was the diminutive Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey), who desperately wanted to go from uniform to plainclothes, sucked up to Barney every chance he could, and resented anybody who seemed to be getting ahead more than he was.

Vigoda left in Season 4 as Fish retired, and the "old man" role was taken by Deputy Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory), technically the commanding officer for the entire precinct. Luger was behind the times, not knowing how to handle young, especially nonwhite detectives, and frequently sat on the couch in Barney's office, lamenting the passing of the old days and the old ways of policing -- showing that "the good old days" weren't so good.

Soo's death in 1979 led to a Season 5 finale that was a clip-show tribute. It also led to more use of the Luger and Levitt characters, because the various short-term detectives that were brought in to replace Nick (to Levitt's dismay) never caught on with viewers. The show lost some steam, and it was decided to wrap it up after 8 seasons, despite the ratings still being good.

The surviving cast's coffee-cup salute to Soo. Left to right:

Max Gail, Steve Landesberg, Hal Linden, Ron Carey, Ron Glass, James Gregory.

The premise of the 3-part finale was that the NYPD was closing the Precinct and selling the famously crumbling building. The crew was broken up, sent to other precincts, and Barney was promoted to Deputy Inspector, having been denied that twice before. Levitt didn't get his Detective's shield, but he did get his Sergeant's stripes.

Linda Lavin briefty guest-starred as a detective, and that helped her get her own sitcom on CBS, Alice. Vigoda starred in the spinoff Fish, but it didn't last long. A "backdoor pilot" for a sitcom about Wojo didn't go over well.

In 2009, ABC premiered Castle, set in a revived 12th Precinct, albeit in a modern building. In what may have been an inside joke, the cops there started out with lousy coffee, until Castle got them an espresso machine, and starting bringing Beckett coffee every morning.

As I said, Jack Soo died in 1979. Danny Arnold in 1995, Jack Elliott in 2001, James Gregory in 2002, Ron Carey in 2007, Steve Landesberg and Allyn Ferguson in 2010, Theodore J. Flicker in 2014, Abe Vigoda and Ron Glass in 2016, and Gregory Sierra in 2021. As of January 23, 2022, Hal Linden, Barbara Barrie, Max Gail, Linda Lavin and Chuck Berghofer are still alive. (UPDATE: Lavin died in 2024.)

Linden, Vigoda, Gail, Glass, Sierra and Barbara Barrie (who played Barney's wife in the 1st season only) are still alive; Soo, Landesberg, Ron Carey and James Gregory have died.

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January 23, 1975 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks bet the Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-89 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 96-95 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* And the Golden State Warriors, who used to play in Philadelphia, beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-100. Rick Barry scored 55 points for the Warriors.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The Kentucky Colonels beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 113-109 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. And the Denver Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-117 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Atlanta Flames, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Kansas City Scouts beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden. This was a stunning road win by a bad expansion team away to a returning Stanley Cup Finalist.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-0 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Juha Widing had a hat trick.

And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Indianapolis Racers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-2 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Vancouver Blazers, 6-1 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).