Barney Miller and Fish
Barney Miller and Fish
Barney Miller (1975-1982)
Fish (1977-1978)
Type: Spin Off
Barney Miller was a sitcom set in a New York police station. Barney was captain of
an oddball group of cops. Officers came and went. Stanley Wojohowitz was Polish and, unfortunately,
not all that bright. Detective Harris was a black officer with a well to do attitude and aspirations
to be a writer. Nick Yemana was an older Asian officer who was reknown for his coffee and who sadly
died when actor Jack Soo who played him died in real life. There were a number of others and last
but not least Detective Phil Fish.
As played by actor Abe Vigoda, Fish was an older broken down wreck of a cop. He had big tired of the world eyes and a voice of low in tone and emotion it probably dragged on the floor. He was always complaining - not whining mind you. That would take energy. Fish had no energy. He was the immovable object trying to get itself going. He talk about and on the phone to his wife Bernice quite a bit. He constantly talked of retiring and in 1977 he finally did. You would think that now in retirement, the world weary Fish would find peace. You would be wrong.
In his spin off series, Fish found himself and his wife moving into a huge wreck of a house (more problems - uhhhhhhh). Why did they move into such a big mess of a place? Because his wife Bernice was a sweet loving woman who wanted the house so that they could take in troubled foster kids with nowhere else to go. They took in five city kids of varying backgrounds who of course made Fish nuts. Most notable of the kids was Loomis, notable because he was played by Todd Bridges who would later find fame on the hit sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. He had also appeared earlier in a memorable episode of Barney Miller.
As it turned out Fish in the police station with his buddies was comedy
magic. Fish in a rundown house full of kids wasn't and ABC put Fish into full time retirement fairly quickly.
Links To Barney Miller Related Web Sites
Official Max Gail page (Barney Miller's "Wojo" Wojohowicz)
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