Barney and Fish
(Hal and Abe)
No, Barney and Fish (or Hal and Abe) were not a stand up comedy duo like Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Burns and Allen, Martin and Lewis, Allen and Rossi, Rowan and Martin, Fry and Laurie, or George and John. Instead Hal Linden and Abe Vigoda were stars on one of the most popular (and best) pre-Millennium television shows, Barney Miller.
Hal starred as Captain Barney Miller who directed his detective force housed in the 12th precinct of New York City. Abe (playing the elderly Detective Phil Fish) was joined by Max Gail ("Wojo" Wojciehowicz), Ron Glass (as the suave and urbane Ron Harris), and Jack Soo (taking the part of Detective Nick Yemana and whose forte was making terrible coffee). Later the cast was supplemented by a number of other characters like Detective Chano Amenguale played by Gregory Sierra (best known as Julio on Sanford and Son) and the intellectual Sergeant Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg). Other recurring roles were Detective Janice Wentworth (played by Linda Lavin, later to star in Alice), the often imposed upon Patrolman Levitt (Ron Carey), and the irascible Inspector Frank Luger played by the prolific James Gregory.
As a comedy series Barney Miller was rare for police shows and except for a few episodes it was taped entirely on a set representing the somewhat dilapidated detective headquarters. A boon for the series was the variety of the writers. Although there were certain writers who bore the lion's shares of the scripts, the eight seasons were the product of over 50 writers. This certainly kept the stories from going stale even though as is often the case for television programs of extended tenure, you can argue the earliest shows were the best.
Other actors who rounded out the years were - and to skip this rather lengthy list click here - Jo Jo Malone, Pepe Serna, Fredric Cook, David Doyle, Anne Wyndham, Herb Edelman, Dana Gladstone, Larry Bishop, Fran Ryan, Joe George, Michael Alaimo, Ivy Bethune, Franklyn Ajaye, Sully Boyar, Ned Glass, Philip Roth, Russell Shannon, Panchito Gómez, Norman Rice, Maggie Brown, Susan Peretz, Meg Wyllie, Carol Eve Rossen, Sumant, Titos Vandis, Andrew Bloch, Alan Oppenheimer, Michael Currie, Gabriel Dell, Ian Wolfe, Dick O'Neill, Gilbert Green, James Murtaugh, Caroline McWilliams, George Perina, Charles Lucia, Darryl Seamen, Paul Stolarsky, Victor Brandt, David Lander, Phoebe Dorin, Vincent Di Paolo, Ben Hammer, Ben Piazza, Jack Kruschen, Ron Masak, Phil Rubenstein, Charles Murphy, Ray Sharkey, Katherine Callan, John Cassisi, Tricia O'Neil, Beverly Sanders, Elise Caitlin, Michael Durrell, Richard Libertini, Joey Aresco, Judson Morgan, Sammy Smith, John Hawker, Marilyn Sokol, Keith Langsdale, Ralph Olivia, Stuart Pankin, Milton Selzer, Susan Davis, Helen Verbit, David Tress, Dennis Spiegelman, Raymond Singer, Jack Bernardi, James Gallery, Nick Holt, Earle Towne, Meshach Taylor, Allan Rich, Tasha Zemrus, Doris Belack, Sidney Miller, Arnold Soboloff, Jay Robinson, Mitch Kreindel, Louis Giambalvo, Len Ross, Neil Schwartz, Madison Arnold, Michael Lembeck, Valerie Curtin, Pat McNamara, Judith Cassmore, Allyn Ann McLerie, Janet MacLachlan, Ben Slack, Louis Zito, Sy Kramer, Alice Backes, Manu Tupou, Corey Fischer, Audrey Christie, Lee de Broux, Sarina Grant, Sydney Lassick, Brett Somers, Jon Lormer, Ted Schwartz, Timothy Jerome, Robert Mandan, Lee Kessler, Marla Gibbs, John Morgan Evans, Dan Frazer, Angelina Estrada, Lou Cutell, Bruce Kirby, Alix Elias, José Flores, Louis Quinn, June Gable, Beatrice Colen, Charlotte Rae, Rick Waln, Susan Tolsky, Lucille Meredith, Anna Berger, Jeffrey Tambor, Art Metrano, Kres Mersky, Boris Aplon, Jenny O'Hara, Mark Banks, Paul Kent, Al Berry, Reid Cruickshanks, Henry Slate, Alice Hirson, Kenneth Mars, Judson Pratt, J. Pat O'Malley, Joe Regalbuto, Dave Madden, Jesse Aragon, Lavelle Roby, Shannon Christie, Mabel King, Jack Riley, Jack Bannon, Mike Moore, Robert Pastorelli, Michael Pataki, Charles White-Eagle, Joe Petrullo, David Darlow, Phil Diskin, John William Evans, Joseph Medalis, Rebecca Holden, Dennis Howard, Nora Meerbaum, Michael Panaieff, Darrell Zwerling, Richard Stahl, Val Bisoglio, Angelo Gnazzo, Janet Ward, Marilyn Chris, Garn Stephens, Jack Murdock, Dean Santoro, Sarah Kennedy, Felipe Turich, Barry Pearl, Lewis Charles, Phillip Simms, Nancy Dussault, Jodie Mann, Charles Haid, Johnny Silver, Barry Gordon, Joanna Barnes, Richard Venture, Rudy Challenger, Nick Klar, Rod Perry, Peter Elbling, Bruce MacVittie, Jane Dulo, Dick Balduzzi, Queenie Smith, Tom Henschel, Ray Girardin, Donna Baccala, William Bogert, John Lawlor, Claudio Martínez, Paula Shaw, David Dukes, Estelle Omens, Noam Pitlik, Jerry D'Emilio, Richard Russell Ramos, Robert Burgos, Todd Bridges, Susan Brown, Nobu McCarthy, Stanley Kamel, Ed McCready, Linda Dano, Nellie Bellflower, Naomi Stevens, Edith Diaz, Don Sherman, Diana Canova, John O'Connell, Sam Ingraffia, Alan Haufrect, Danny Dayton, Joseph Bova, Roy Andrews, Tom Lacy, Ron Feinberg, Ion Teodorescu, Vivi Janiss, Abby Dalton, Harvey Gold, Bill Dillard, Jeff Corey, Darlene Parks, Liam Dunn, Emily Levine, Trent Dolan, Janet Ruff, George Loros, Jan Stuart Schwartz, Howard Mann, Sandra Deel, Henry Jones, Robert Costanzo, Nehemiah Persoff, Paul Smith, Peter Carew, Jonelle Allen, Zachary Berger, Marjorie Bennett, Mike Kellin, Barrie Youngfellow, Carmen Filpi, George Pentecost, David Wayne, Ed Peck, Phyllis Frelich, Lou Jacobi, John O'Leary, Roger Bowen, F. William Parker, Madison Mason, Bonnie Bartlett, Charles Frank, Lewis Arquette, Herbie Faye, Barney Martin, Peg Shirley, Buddy Lester, Chao Li Chi, Harold Stone, Severn Darden, David Fresco, Ruth Warshawsky, Kay Medford, Vernon Weddle, Peter Pan, Eugene Elman, Elaine Giftos, George Skaff, Elliott Reid, Eddie Barth, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Seymour Bernstein, Gloria Calomee, Opal Euard, Billy Barty, Ben Freedman, Michael Tessier, Gisela Getty, Michael Conrad, David Paymer, Dennis Lipscomb, Nancy Bleier, Jed Mills, Cal Gibson, Bob Dishy, Arthur Malet, Dee Croxton, Trinidad Silva, Derrel Maury, Stephen Pearlman, Anita Dangler, Basil Hoffman, Lyman Ward, Will Seltzer, Jade McCall, Walter Olkewicz, John Christy Ewing, Robert Phalen, Sandy Sprung, Roger Aaron Brown, Wynn Irwin, Larry Block, Bruce Glover, Henry Beckman, Peter Jurasik, Raleigh Bond, Flip Reade, Peter Wolf, Jane Alice Brandon, John Clavin, Larry Hankin, Sharon Spelman, Joanna Miles, Craig Richard Ndelson, Karl Bruck, A Martinez, Charles Fleischer, Gary Imhoff, Steve Franken, Luis Avalos, Rosalind Cash, Larry Scott, Denise Miller, Paul Jenkins, John David McCall, Candice Azzara, Pierrino Mascarino, Gregory Karliss, Joe Mantell, Jeffrey Kramer, Robert Levine, Carina Afable, Leonard Frey, Zane Buzby, Dale Robinette, Ted Noose, John LaMotta, Bruce Solomon, Earl Boen, Warren Munson, John Getz, Arthur Peterson, Kip King, and Mews Small. (To return to the top of the list click here.
Barney Miller was not only a comedy show but a sitcom. Although often disparaged as one of the more lamentable of American contributions to World Culture, the sitcom actually has its roots stretching back as far as Ancient Greece. Specifically historians point to the plays of Menandros (Μένανδρος) who most English speakers know as Menander.
One little known aspect of Greek theater is how rarely the plays were staged and how limited was the audience. Plays were only performed during religious festivals a couple of times a year with the rituals lasting only a few days. The plays were also rather arduous for the attendees. They sat outdoors in open theaters - and it can get hot in Greece - as they watched back-to-back performances. Everyone had to bring their own food and drink and it was customary to share with the less well-to-do. Women were not allowed to act and some historians think that even the audience was exclusively men. It wasn't until the rise of Rome that theater was staged for entertainment, available at all times of the year, and definitely open to everyone regardless of gender.
Although Menander's plays were the precursor of the sitcom, they are examples of what scholars call Athenian New Comedy. The hallmark of these plays is the formulaic plots with stock characters and the situations limited to only one or two locations. Unlike earlier Greek theater which dealt with political intrigue (Agamemnon), philosophical conflict (The Clouds), and gender issues (Lysistrata), New Comedy focused on the doings of a particular family and the trials and tribulations of everyone trying to get along. Often you had the love-sick male adolescent, the disapproving father whose daughter has attracted the young man's affections, and the clever slave who somehow makes everything eventually turn out all right. And as true for our own sitcoms, the humor was light on action but heavy on dialog with the actors coming on stage and swapping barbs before exiting.
None of Menander's 100 plus comedies survive in their entirety. Only Dyskolos (Δύσκολος, "The Grump") comes down to us almost intact. However, as compensation Menander's legacy is long and a tally on a popular informational website lists the number of sitcoms ever produced at over 1500 and rising.
References
Classic Sitcoms, Vince Waldron, Silman-James Press, 1997.
Barney Miller, Internet Movie Data Base.
Ancient Greek Civilization, Jeremy McInerney, The Great Courses, The Teaching Company.
"Three New Galleries Highlighting Greek Wine, Theater and Poetry Open at MFA Boston", Museum of Fine Arts, August 25, 2015.