Barney Miller: The First Season

According to the Los Angeles Times, sales of television shows on DVD have become the fastest-growing segment of the home entertainment business. It has afforded TV buffs the opportunity to create their own in-home archive of classic series (I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show), pop culture benchmarks (The Simpsons, The Sopranos), guilty pleasures (Green Acres, Gilligan's Island) and cult faves (Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files). Series such as Barney Miller are a bit more problematic: a solid show that garnered serviceable ratings (never higher than 15th) with some Emmys and Golden Globe awards to its credit, this is not exactly must-see TV. But fans will find this 1975-1976 first season an interesting case study how a series gradually finds it voice, as these inaugural 13 episodes divide their time between compassionate Capt. Barney Miller's home life and his job (audiences found the events and colorful characters of the 12th precinct more arresting, and the domestic angle was gradually downplayed). The series breakout stars from the get-go were Abe Vigoda's weary Det. Fish, and Jack Soo's inscrutable Det. Yemana. Gone and forgotten by season two are a pre-Alice Linda Lavin as pushy Det. Wentworth and Gregory Sierra as Det. Sgt. Chano. Barney Miller is more humanistic than primetime's current lineup of more brutal procedural series', but it has yet to rate a reunion special and is not widely syndicated, so this DVD release offers fans some quality Miller time. Recommended for larger collections. (D. Liebenson)