Barney Miller

Did You Know?

• The theme song's distinctive bass line was improvised by studio musician Chuck Berghofer at the request of producer Dominik Hauser.
• The pilot was never broadcast in syndication but was released on DVD in 2011 as part of Shout Factory's complete series set.

Premise and main characters

The series takes place almost entirely within the detectives' squad room and Captain Barney Miller's adjoining office of New York City's fictional 12th Precinct in Greenwich Village. Episodes typically feature the detectives bringing in complainants or suspects, with two or three separate subplots. Rarely, an episode shows detectives outside the precinct, such as on a stakeout or at home.

Pilot

The series emerged from an unsold pilot, The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, which aired on August 22, 1974, on ABC's summer anthology Just for Laughs. Hal Linden and Abe Vigoda played their series roles; no other eventual cast members appeared. Abby Dalton played Barney's wife Liz, and Val Bisoglio, Rod Perry, and Charles Haid rounded out the cast. The pilot script was largely reused in the debut episode 'Ramon', with Bisoglio's lines split between Yemana and Chano, and Haid's character becoming Max Gail's Wojciehowicz. Rod Perry's character was replaced by Harris, and Abby Dalton by Barbara Barrie. The pilot was shot on film at CBS Studio Center, while the series was recorded on videotape at ABC Television Center. The pilot was never broadcast in syndication but was released on DVD in 2011.

Opening theme

The theme music is an instrumental in jazz fusion style, written by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson, opening with a distinctive bass line improvised by studio musician Chuck Berghofer. Several versions were used over different seasons. The theme plays over shots of the Manhattan skyline and character credits. Season 1 opened and closed with a view of Midtown Manhattan from Weehawken, New Jersey; from Season 2 onward, the opening showed Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights with a barge, and the closing showed Midtown from Long Island City. The theme ranked No. 23 and No. 27 on lists by Complex and Paste magazines of best TV theme songs.

Production

Production deliberately resembled a theatrical stage play, with scenes rarely straying from the squad room and Miller's office. Fewer than a dozen of 170 episodes were partially or fully set elsewhere, such as a stakeout location, hospital room, or apartments. The show tended to obey the classical unities of place and time but not unity of action. It was one of the few sitcoms of the period that occasionally referenced the current year. Taping sessions were notoriously long; early seasons were recorded before a live studio audience with a laugh track, but creator Danny Arnold often rewrote and restaged scenes after the audience left, leading to sessions lasting into early morning. By season 4, only a quiet laugh track was used. The show ended when Arnold could not find replacement writers.