Barney Miller: The Complete Series

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

Like the show itself, the extras on The Complete Series are heartfelt and often hilarious. Series writer-producers Tony Sheehan, Jeff Stein, and Frank Dungan, all of whom continued to collaborate on series like Mr. Belvedere and King of Queens, are featured on commentary tracks for the show’s final three-part episode, “Landmark,” which concerned the closing of the 12th Precinct. The commentaries are informal but informative–the show’s notorious late shoots and last-minute rewrites are discussed–and often very funny. Stein and Dungan also appear on a trio of overlapping making-of featurettes that additionally include new interviews with Linden, Gail, and Vigoda. More important to Miller completists will be the entire original pilot, “The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller,” which aired on an ABC comedy anthology series in 1974. Linden and Vigoda are featured in a cast that includes Charles Haid (Hill Street Blues) among the One-Two’s detectives. The complete version of the series pilot, “Ramon,” which essentially tells the same story as “Life and Times,” is also included in an uncut version that adds two minutes of footage. In addition, there’s an excerpt from You Don’t Know Jack, a 2009 documentary about Jack Soo that includes interviews with Landesberg and Gail about their well-loved fellow actor whom the entire cast feted in a special 1979 episode (included in the set). For many, the set’s curiosity piece is the first season of Fish, the short-lived spinoff series that featured Vigoda’s character riding herd on a quintet of foster children (including Todd Bridges of Diff’rent Strokes). The 13 episodes included here are largely laugh-free affairs and the complete antithesis to the intelligent comedy of Barney Miller. Image quality on many episodes remains as murky as they appeared on the three stand-alone DVD releases from Sony, though this is the case with shows created on videotape rather than film. Such issues, however, should not prevent fans and newcomers alike from spending quality time with the men of the 12th Precinct. –Paul Gaita

I was very much a fan of this show when it first aired on ABC in the 1970’s. All other considerations aside, anyone thinking of purchasing the DVDs of this show should be aware that these are SYNDICATION EDITS, meaning that when the show first went into syndication minutes were edited out to make room for more commercials. I know that Shout Factory is a reputable company and I guess they would have used the complete episodes for this set if they were available but apparently those edited-out minutes went to the cutting-room floor, never to be seen again. In a show like “Barney Miller”, where every line is vital, you just can’t do that. Example: in the episode where Dorsey first joins the squad, Wojo’s line “he thinks we’re on the take!” has been removed, making the plot confusing. Five stars for the original show, three stars for these edited versions.- LKM

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: Hal Linden, Max Gail, Ron Glass, Steve Landesberg, Ron Carey
Directors: Noam Pitlik
Format: Multiple Formats, Box set, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1
Number of discs: 25
Rated: NR-Not Rated
Studio: Shout! Factory
DVD Release Date: October 25, 2011
Run Time: 4440 minutes
ASIN: B005BUA1JY