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Barney Miller - The First Season

Barney Miller - The First Season

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $23.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MORE Please
Review: This show is a classic, when can we expect Season two to come out? I can not believe some of the trash that seems to be put on DVD each month while there is no word of when and if we can expect more of Barney Miller.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dum...da da dum...da da dum...
Review: Who can forget that classic bass line intro! Barney Miller is finally on DVD in a two DVD set featuring the first 13 episodes of season 1 totally uncut and commercial free for the first time! Barney Miller ran from Jan. 1975 to May 1982 (8 seasons, 170 episodes). The sitcom was a new concept, concerning a group of Police Detectives and their Captain and the goings-on in a NY precinct squadroom. The cast, which would make slight changes over the years, had to be one of the most diverse in TV history. In season one, the cast includes Barney (Hal Linden), Wojciehowicz (Max Gail), Harris (Ron Glass), Fish (Abe Vigoda), Yemana (Jack Soo) and Chano (Gregory Sierra). Season 1 is also the only time Barney's whole family were shown. In Season 2, only his wife Elizabeth (Barbara Barrie) had appearances and by Season 3, even she was written out of the show. Barney Miller is a rare sitcom from the 70s that is essential and makes a welcome addition to other classics like All in the family, Sanford & Son, and the Jeffersons. Season one includes these episodes:

Disc One:
01. Ramon
02. The experience
03. Snow job
04. Graft
05. Courtesans
06. Stakeout
07. The Bureaucrat
08. Ms. Cop
09. The vigilante
Disc Two:
10. The guest
11. Escape artist
12. Hair
13. Hero

Trivia:

*The characters of Barney, Wojo, & Harris would be the only detectives to remain throughout the entire series as regular cast members. Fish left after 3 seasons, Chano after 2, and Yemana after 4 (Jack Soo passed away in January 1979). In season 3, Detrich (Steve Landesberg) & Levitt (Ron Carey) would join the cast as regulars until the series ended.

*Look for Linda Lavin (TV's Alice) in episode 8 debuting as Det. Janice Wentworth. She would make appearances in the second season as well.

*Before Barney Miller, Gregory Sierra (Chano) was popular for his role as Fred and Lamont's neighbor, Julio, who had a pet goat named Chico, on Sanford & Son. He made appearances on everything from All in the Family (where he had no accent) to Miami Vice. After Barney Miller, Sierra joined the cast of Soap.

*One of the main series writers, Reinhold Weege, previously wrote on M*A*S*H* and went on to create one of the funniest sitcoms ever, Night Court! (by the way, where's season one?!!)

Jack Soo (1916-1979)
James Gregory (Insp. Frank Luger) (1911-2002)
Florence Stanley (Bernice Fish) (1924-2003)

Also Highly recommended on DVD:
All in the family
Sanford & Son
The Jeffersons
Good Times
What's Happening
Three's Company

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny, Funny, Funny
Review: Wow! Barney Miller had a lot of talented actors. Abe Vigoda as "Fish" is one of our favorites. We thought that Gregory Sierra was great as Julio on "Sanford & Son", and we enjoyed him just as much on "Barney Miller". The multicultural crew was a tremendous mix of people and personalities. We thought "Barney Miller" was one of the funniest shows on TV. This wasn't one of the seasons that won an Emmy, but a good season anyway. As others have noted, the video quality is not the best. The audio is acceptable with the dialogue being understandable in most places. I don't mind the lack of extras. I'd rather have no extras than something thrown together at the last minute. It would have been great to have the pilot, "The Life and Times of Barney Miller". The price seems a bit high for only 13 episodes. ("Gilligan's Island" has 36 episodes and the pilot episode for only a few dollars more!) We loved the comedy on this show.

Here is an episode guide, with a tiny description:
1. Ramon: A junkie holds the precinct hostage.
2. Experience: Detective Fish thinks about retiring. A bomb is left at the precinct.
3. Snow Job: Wojo has been entrusted with cash from a department store during a blizzard.
4. Graft: An inspector arrives to investigate possible corruption at the precinct.
5. The Courtesans: When Wojo tries to reform a hooker, she threatens to file harrassment charges.
6. Stakeout: A stakeout operation is threatened by some nosy neighbors.
7. Bureaucrat: A drunken bureaucrat is jailed.
8. Ms. Cop: Linda Lavin's first episode as a "by-the-book" cop.
9. Vigilante: An elderly man defends his neighborhood. An inspector insists that the 12th precinct should be hated by the citizenry.
10. The Guest: Wojo eats a poisoned sandwiched intended for a mob prisoner. Chano sets up a drug buy with his coworkers' money.
11. Escape Artist : The 12th precinct holds an escaped prisoner. Harris starts writing a police novel.
12. Hair: A long-haired scruffy type from Narcotics is transferred to the precinct. Fish's afternoon at a massage parlor upsets his wife, Bernice.
13. The Hero: Chano shoots a robber.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny, Funny, Funny
Review: Wow! Barney Miller had a lot of talented actors. Abe Vigoda as "Fish" is one of our favorites. We thought that Gregory Sierra was great as Julio on "Sanford & Son", and we enjoyed him just as much on "Barney Miller". The multicultural crew was a tremendous mix of people and personalities. We thought "Barney Miller" was one of the funniest shows on TV. This wasn't one of the seasons that won an Emmy, but a good season anyway. As others have noted, the video quality is not the best. The audio is acceptable with the dialogue being understandable in most places. I don't mind the lack of extras. I'd rather have no extras than something thrown together at the last minute. It would have been great to have the pilot, "The Life and Times of Barney Miller". The price seems a bit high for only 13 episodes. ("Gilligan's Island" has 36 episodes and the pilot episode for only a few dollars more!) We loved the comedy on this show.

Here is an episode guide, with a tiny description:
1. Ramon: A junkie holds the precinct hostage.
2. Experience: Detective Fish thinks about retiring. A bomb is left at the precinct.
3. Snow Job: Wojo has been entrusted with cash from a department store during a blizzard.
4. Graft: An inspector arrives to investigate possible corruption at the precinct.
5. The Courtesans: When Wojo tries to reform a hooker, she threatens to file harrassment charges.
6. Stakeout: A stakeout operation is threatened by some nosy neighbors.
7. Bureaucrat: A drunken bureaucrat is jailed.
8. Ms. Cop: Linda Lavin's first episode as a "by-the-book" cop.
9. Vigilante: An elderly man defends his neighborhood. An inspector insists that the 12th precinct should be hated by the citizenry.
10. The Guest: Wojo eats a poisoned sandwiched intended for a mob prisoner. Chano sets up a drug buy with his coworkers' money.
11. Escape Artist : The 12th precinct holds an escaped prisoner. Harris starts writing a police novel.
12. Hair: A long-haired scruffy type from Narcotics is transferred to the precinct. Fish's afternoon at a massage parlor upsets his wife, Bernice.
13. The Hero: Chano shoots a robber.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My favorite cit-com of all time...
Review: Yep! You old fogies can keep your "I Love Lucy," and your "My Three Sons." "Barney Miller" is situation comedy at it's finest. Chopped with intelligent writing, and stark realism, this was one of the first shows of it's kind. Try as it might, "Bakersfield PD" couldn't hold a candle to "Barney Miller." I can't wait for the next season to be released on DVD.


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