The BEST episodes of Barney Miller
Every episode of Barney Miller ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Barney Miller!
Hal Linden stars in the title role as a NYPD captain in charge of a squad of oddball detectives and even stranger criminals.
#1 - Landmark (3)
Season 8 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/20/1982
Friends, foes and felons alike drop by to pay their last respects as the detectives prepare to leave for new assignments; Harris contemplates his resignation when he's assigned to Flushing Meadows; Barney recalls friends departed before he turns out the squad room lights for the last time.
#2 - The Mole
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/18/1976
Fish considers an operation; a burglar known as ""The Mole"" leads Harris and Wojo on a merry chase through the city sewer system. Ron Carey plays the Mole, and returns as Levitt in the next season.
#3 - Chinatown (2)
Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/11/1982
Unless he confesses soon, Harris and Dietrich's unwilling roommate may witness another murder. Meanwhile, harassment charges are pressed against Lieutenant Scanlon.
#4 - The Inventor
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/1/1980
The squad tries hypnosis to uncover the name of a felon that Wojo has forgotten; an inventor steals the plans for his own creation.
#5 - Ramon
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/23/1975
Captain Barney Miller talks down a junkie who is holding the 12th Precinct hostage.
#6 - The Harris Incident
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1978
A stockbroker leaves Wall Street to become a beggar; a rookie cop, assuming Harris to be a felon, shoots at him.
#7 - Happy New Year
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/8/1976
On New Year's Eve, Fish tries to stop a jumper, and Wojo delivers a baby.
#8 - The Kid
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/6/1976
Fish is attracted to the mother of a young mugger; a man is a bit premature to obtain the unclaimed windfall he found on the street.
#9 - The Slave
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/1979
Harris bristles when he learns that the Burmese chauffeur being booked for a traffic accident is actually an indentured servant.
#10 - Field Associate
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/15/1981
Someone is sending specific information on transgressions of the men to Internal Affairs; Harris sets up a reunion between an elderly cat burglar and the wife who reported him missing years ago.
#11 - You Dirty Rat
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/13/1975
Barney smells a rat when two pounds of confiscated marijuana disappears from the evidence locker, and a homeless man spends the night in a department store—apparently one of many.
#12 - Grand Hotel
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/23/1975
Wojo and Wentworth pose as marrieds in order to bust a burglary ring set in a posh hotel.
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#13 - Fear of Flying
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/29/1976
Wojo must escort a bigamist to Cleveland, even though he is (guess!) afraid of flying. Meanwhile,the bigamist's New York wife shows up. Also, a man turns in an unmarked envelope containing $3500 in cash.
#14 - Lady and the Bomb
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/9/1981
The verdict is in on the Harris/Ripner libel suit, and a woman threatens to blow up the squad room with a homemade bomb. What better time for Detective Fish to drop by for a visit?
#15 - Hash
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/30/1976
Wojo brings hashish-laced brownies his new girlfriend made to the 12th Precinct, getting the detective squad stoned; while an actor and critic (""natural enemies"" says Harris) square off with dueling swords.
#16 - Dorsey
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/27/1980
The new detective is convinced that his compatriots are on the take and asks to be dealt out.
#17 - Goodbye, Mr. Fish (1)
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1977
A neighborhood vigilante group runs amok, and Fish is AWOL on the day of his retirement.
#18 - The Experience
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/30/1975
A bomber targets the 12th Precinct, as Det. Fish contemplates retirement.
#19 - Chinatown (1)
Season 8 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/4/1982
A murder witness is uncooperative, so he, Harris and Dietrich are forced to share an apartment in seclusion until he talks; Lieutenant Scanlon falls for a wealthy mugging victim.
#20 - Corporation
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/6/1977
A quixotic environmentalist faces the high-priced lawyer hired by the chemical plant he's been assaulting.
#21 - Massage Parlor
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/19/1976
Wentworth busts a dime-store cowboy in a massage parlor, and the detectives bust an octogenarian mugger.
#22 - The Search
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/21/1978
Off goes the moustache, as it's Harris' turn for cross-dressing mugging detail; the host of a kids' science show goes off the deep end; Barney's men reopen a twenty-eight year old missing persons case.
#23 - Vanished (1)
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/10/1980
Vagrant Ray returns to report his fellow bums' disappearances; a woman wishes to have a child with a surrogate and is focusing in on Dietrich and Wojo.
#24 - The Judge
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/6/1979
A judge provides an attorney with the ultimate over-ruling—a gavel on the noggin; the crimes reported by a lonely woman emanate from daytime television soap operas.
#25 - The Doll
Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/26/1981
An expensive doll is abducted for ransom; a man claims he was swindled in exchange for a ticket on the space shuttle; Luger informs Barney that he's in his will.
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