Ramon

Having heard so much about this show my wife and I sat down 22 minutes ago to give it a chance. Here's my instant reaction

I see potential here depending on how the creative team decides to expound on the characters introduced in the first episode. Almost every show struggles through the first season, and the tone, characters, overall mood can change as the writers become more comfortable with the world that they have created.

The wife shows potential. She had some of the best lines from the first episode and her cynicism is a nice counter balance to a seemingly optimistic police officer. Speaking of her husband, the character of Barney Miller is great and Hal Linden seems to balance strength, wisdom, and empathy well as an actor. The cast of misfits at the police station haven't shown anything yet, but I'm withholding saying too much until later on in the show. Can't wait to see how it goes from here!

Rating: 20/40

Unlike the later episodes of Barney Miller.

The first episode has a focus on Barney's homelife. Other episodes were wholly set in the police station room.

Phil Fish's incompetence with his own gun means that an arrested drug addict called Ramon holds the others hostage.

Barney's job is to calm Ramon down. Ramon knows he has done something rash.

Barney cannot let him just walk away from the police station. Barney can give Ramon a card for a defence lawyer. The lawyer goes out with his daughter.

For a first episode of the series. There are less laughs and jokes due to the hostage situation. We don't get to know much of the other characters in the precinct.

It might be that Barney Miller might have started out to be a dramedy instead of an ensemble comedy that it became known as.

"Ramon" was the beginning of BARNEY MILLER, running for eight seasons on ABC, quite an achievement for a midseason replacement. A videotaped remake of the original pilot (THE LIFE AND TIME OF CAPTAIN BARNEY MILLER), shot on film with a mostly different cast, this version introduces Barney's family straight off: wife Elizabeth (Barbara Barrie, replacing Abby Dalton, seen in only ten further episodes), daughter Rachel (Anne Wyndham, seen only twice more), son Davey (Michael Tessier, never seen again), and Rachel's lawyer boyfriend (Mike Moore), who also was never seen again. Both pilots give us a glimpse of Barney's home life (seen again in "Graft"), which does detract from the everyday activities at the 12th Precinct. Already in place are detectives Philip Fish, the 'tired old cop' (the unforgettable Abe Vigoda), Vietnam vet Stanley Wojciehowicz (Max Gail, already chewing gum), prissy Ron Harris (Ron Glass), Chano Amenguale (Gregory Sierra, who left after two seasons), and Nick Yemana (the incomparable Jack Soo). When Fish has his gun stolen by a suspect (Chu Chu Malave, also retained from the pilot, two further episodes), Barney has to reason with the teenage addict so nobody gets shot; the remainder takes place back at the Miller home, giving the wife another round of ammunition to grouse about the dangers involved with Barney's job. The new casting of Chano provides a telling confrontation between Puerto Rican cop and Puerto Rican hood, not possible in the filmed pilot. Our first look at Fish has him complaining that he needs a vacation (taking only one aspirin), while Yemana is quickly established as a gambler who usually picks the wrong horse (no coffee gags yet). The finale is at least back in the squad room, with the sight of Harris in drag doing vice, complete with moustache (in the original this was Rod Perry's Det. Wilson, who does appear in the next episode "Experience"). One other character retained from the filmed pilot is Harry the Bookie, again played by Buddy Lester, who repeated the role in 1975's "Graft" and 1977's "Abduction" (renamed Sidney in this one).

A revised version of the original pilot episode, 'Ramon' begins this cop sitcom with a fair amount of biting wit. Showing us a glimpse of Barney's home life to start, it ultimately tells a tale of a young Puerto Rican drug addict (Chu Chu Malave, "Dog Day Afternoon") grabbing Fish's gun away from him and holding all of the detectives at gunpoint, until Barney arrives and has to spend several stressful minutes talking the suspect down.

The various opening jokes and gags concerning the travails of life in NYC are a hoot. For one thing, Barney's apartment has bars on the windows. The cynicism of his wife Elizabeth (Barbara Barrie) is most amusing, and there's a generous amount of time devoted to her dislike of her husbands' profession, and her wishes that he'd give it up and go into chicken farming.

Some of the lines are indeed pretty funny, and there's some pertinent dialogue between the kid and Puerto Rican detective Chano Amenguale (Gregory Sierra) to add some subtext. Elizabeth tends to get the best one-liners. The characters are nicely established right away, with Sgt. Yemana (Jack Soo), for example, portrayed as a gambler with mostly bad luck. But for this viewer, it's not so much the jokes and one-liners that make this work: it's the characters, and they should prove to be interesting to watch as this viewer begins working his way through this series. Certainly the actors assembled here (also including Max Gail, Ron Glass, and the inimitable Abe Vigoda) display a winning chemistry as this colorful assortment of lawmen.

Actually, this viewer laughed hardest at the running gag with Barney's son (Michael Tessier), never to be seen again, and his predilection for toy guns (or aiming toys at Barney as if they were guns).

Also guest starring stand-up comedian and character actor Buddy Lester as Harry the bookie.

Seven out of 10.

...but doesn't quite gel yet. Part of the problem is the reliance on Barney's home life. Luckily, this was dropped quickly as the Squad is more family than Barney's. Fan favorites such as Harris, Yamana, Fish and Wojo are there, but contain none of their future quirky traits.

Fairly generic, but thankfully Danny Arnold would give it his own spin and it would become the television classic we remember.