NYPD Blue earned plaudits for its gritty realism, from the language being used to the nature of the characters themselves, with credit going to veteran homicide detective Bill Clark, who was brought on as a co-producer to ensure realism. The cops talked like cops, and the cops certainly weren’t perfect — far from the stalwart, pure, and honest depictions mandated by the Hays Code of old Hollywood.

As a result, the series struck a chord with real cops. But the brutality of the interrogations on the show is one aspect that doesn’t, not only because you can’t and not only because it’s wrong, but mainly because it doesn’t work. There is a show, however, that one detective, per The New York Times, claims that police officers consider to be the most realistic, even more than NYPD Blue. And what’s interesting is that it’s a 1970s sitcom. That show is ABC’s Barney Miller.

‘Barney Miller’ Was Completely Unlike Any Other Cop Show

The premise of Barney Miller is almost laughably straightforward. It takes place within the confines of the NYPD’s 12th Precinct, and a typical episode saw detectives filling out paperwork, bringing in people who want to report a crime or the people who commit them. If it sounds mundane, it’s meant to be, with series creators Danny Arnold and Theodore Flicker looking to depart from the usual action-adventure police series and focus on the non-spectacular side of police work. It certainly doesn’t sound like something that would be engaging or even funny — let alone for eight seasons — but that’s the beauty of Barney Miller. The comedy comes from the parade of personalities, the eccentrics and oddballs that come through the station, and the bantering between officers in downtime.

Starring Hal Linden as Capt. Barney Miller, who serves as the perfect straight man, the series has a strong, diverse cast, each with their own humorous subtleties. Sgt. Fish (Abe Vigoda) is a brilliantly deadpan, sad-faced senior detective on the verge of retirement. Sgt. Yemana (Jack Soo), is witty, has a calm temperament, gives his paperwork a minimum amount of effort, and can’t make coffee worth a damn. Sgt. Harris (Ron Glass) is a polished, intelligent man of culture, spending his hours pursuing wealth and the prestige that comes with it. Det. Wojo (Max Gail) is just an average guy who cares about people’s problems (almost too much so), and is a late-night ladies’ man when the badge comes off. Sgt. Amengual (Gregory Sierra) is a detective who works in unconventional ways, with excellent results and, like Wojo, empathizes with people. These characters are also wonderfully diverse, including a mix of white, Black, Puerto Rican, Polish, and Japanese. Barney Miller could have gone for the easy, cheap jokes, but the show is largely devoid of the trappings of racial stereotypes, with only one running gag where Yemana is constantly referenced as being Chinese from others, which he quickly corrects.

Not only was Barney Miller funny, but it addressed many social issues of the day in a humorous, but respectful manner, like women’s rights, drug abuse, and police corruption. In one of its most powerful episodes, the show tackled racism with Harris being shot by another police officer, who simply saw a Black man in civilian clothes running down an alley with a gun, not a fellow officer running after a perp. Initially, the episode included a scene where Harris apologizes for having lost his temper with Miller about it, but Glass himself said, “What the hell am I apologizing for? I’m the guy who got shot at. Why am I?” That changed the narrative of the episode, for the better. And in another, the show made TV history by introducing the first openly gay couple on television, thankfully in a positive light.

A Real Detective Explains Why Police Love ‘Barney Miller’

In the previously cited article in The New York Times, Detective Lucas Miller explains why these elements appeal to police officers, and why they believe it to be more realistic than NYPD Blue. As he notes, Barney Miller focuses on the mundane side of police work, as intended, and that makes up a large part of what police officers actually do. They can’t be on the street 24/7, and it’s a reality that rarely, if ever, is referenced in other police shows (Brooklyn Nine-Nine being one notable exception). Like the squad in the show, officers crack jokes at one another, and suspects, from the dangerous to the eccentric oddballs, are sometimes locked in a holding cell mere feet away from the new guy’s desk.

Likewise, detectives spend much of their time talking to people — witnesses, victims, suspects. That doesn’t make for a great police drama, but it’s another reality that Barney Miller shines a light on. In essence, police dramas like NYPD Blue are the fantasy, in spite of its realism, where cops are always doing something exciting and dangerous. But Barney Miller is the reality, where cops are accountable for those exciting and dangerous moments. Miller perhaps puts it best, saying, “Life really is more like Barney Miller than NYPD Blue, but our jokes aren’t nearly as funny.”

Release Date

1975 – 1982-00-00

Directors

Danny Arnold, Bruce Bilson, Max Gail, Alex March, David Swift, Hal Linden, Jeremiah Morris, Allen Baron, Bill Davis, Dick Wesson, Jerry Davis, John Rich, Stan Lathan, Mark Warren

Writers

Bob Colleary, Nat Mauldin, Herbert Baker, Jordan Moffet, Richard Baer, Sam Simon, Mario Roccuzzo, Chris Hayward, Danny Arnold, Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein, Jerry Davis, Reinhold Weege, Steve Gordon, Tony Sheehan

• 

• 

  Max Gail

  Stan Wojciehowicz

• 

• 

  Steve Landesberg

  Det. Sgt. Arthur Dietrich