Pilot
The series sprang from an unsold television pilot, The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, that aired on August 22, 1974 as part of an ABC summer anthology, Just for Laughs. Linden and Vigoda were cast in their series roles; no other eventual cast members were present. Abby Dalton played Barney Miller's wife, Liz. The pilot script was later largely re-used in the debut episode "Ramon".
Cast
- Hal Linden as Captain Barney Miller
- Abe Vigoda as Detective Phil Fish (1975-1977). Fish's wife Bernice (first played by Doris Belack, then mainly by Florence Stanley) made an appearance from time to time. In 1977, the Fishs were spun off into their own show, Fish.
- Max Gail as Detective Stan "Wojo" Wojciehowicz
- Ron Glass as Detective Ron Harris
- Jack Soo as Detective Sergeant Nick Yemana (1975-1978). After Soo died on January 11, 1979, a special memorial episode was aired, with the actors breaking character and recalling their favorite Yemana scenes, ending with them raising their coffee cups in tribute.
- Gregory Sierra as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale (1975-1976)
- Steve Landesberg as Detective Arthur Dietrich (1976-1982)
- Ron Carey as Officer Carl Levitt (1976-1982)
- Linda Lavin in a recurring role as Detective Janice Wentworth (1975-1976)
- James Gregory as Deputy Inspector Frank Luger, Barney's supervisor
- Barbara Barrie as Elizabeth "Liz" Miller (1975-1976; 1978), Barney's wife
Premise
Captain Barney Miller (Hal Linden) tries to remain sane while leading the 12th Precinct's detectives: crochety, nearing-retirement Jewish-American Philip K. Fish (Abe Vigoda); naive but goodhearted Polish-American Det. Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz (Max Gail); ambitious, arrogant African-American Det. Ronald "Ron" Nathan Harris (Ron Glass); philosophical, wisecracking Japanese-American Nick Yemana (Jack Soo); and dauntless Puerto Rican Chano Amanguale (Gregory Sierra). He also has to deal with his unapologetically old-school superior, Deputy Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory), and diminutive (and obsequious) Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey), who passive-aggressively badgers Miller constantly about being promoted to detective. Amanguale was replaced by intellectual Arthur P. Dietrich (Steve Landesberg) from the third season on.
The show's focus was split between the detectives' interactions with each other and with the suspects and witnesses they detained, processed, and interviewed. Some typical conflicts and long running plotlines included Miller's frustration with red tape and paperwork, his constant efforts to maintain peace, order, and discipline, and his numerous failed attempts to get a promotion; Harris's preoccupation with outside interests, mainly his novel, and his inability to remain focused on his police work; Fish's incontinence and reluctance to retire; Wojciehowicz's impulsive behavior and love life; Luger's nostalgia for the old days with partners Foster, Kleiner and Brown; Levitt's (eventually successful) quest to become a detective; the rivalry between the precinct's resident intellectuals, Harris and Dietrich and continually - but reliably - bad coffee (usually made by Yemana).
