The BEST Episodes of Barney Miller
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Sep 20, 2021
Network: ABC (US)
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 May 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.
8.35 
#2 - The Mole
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired Mar 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.
8.11 
#3 - Chinatown (2)
Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired Feb 11, 1982
Unless he confesses soon, Harris and Dietrich's unwilling roommate may witness another murder. Meanwhile, harassment charges are pressed against Lieutenant Scanlon.
8.08 
#4 - The Harris Incident
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired Nov 30, 1978
A stockbroker leaves Wall Street to become a beggar; a rookie cop, assuming Harris to be a felon, shoots at him.
8.07 
#5 - Ramon
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired Jan 23, 1975
Captain Barney Miller talks down a junkie who is holding the 12th Precinct hostage.
8.06 
#6 - The Inventor
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired May 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.
8.05 
#7 - The Slave
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired Oct 18, 1979
Harris bristles when he learns that the Burmese chauffeur being booked for a traffic accident is actually an indentured servant.
8.00 
#8 - Field Associate
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired Jan 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.
8.00 
#9 - Happy New Year
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired Jan 8, 1976
On New Year's Eve, Fish tries to stop a jumper, and Wojo delivers a baby.
7.98 
#10 - The Kid
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired Mar 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.
7.96 
#11 - Dorsey
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired Nov 27, 1980
The new detective is convinced that his compatriots are on the take and asks to be dealt out.
7.95 
#12 - Grand Hotel
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired Oct 23, 1975
Wojo and Wentworth pose as marrieds in order to bust a burglary ring set in a posh hotel.
7.89 
#13 - Fear of Flying
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired Jan 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.
7.89 
#14 - You Dirty Rat
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired Nov 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.
7.88 
#15 - Lady and the Bomb
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired Apr 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?
7.81 
#16 - Chinatown (1)
Season 8 - Episode 11 - Aired Feb 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.
7.78 
#17 - Hash
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired Dec 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.
7.75 
#18 - Goodbye, Mr. Fish (1)
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired Sep 15, 1977
A neighborhood vigilante group runs amok, and Fish is AWOL on the day of his retirement.
7.72 
#19 - Vanished (1)
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired Jan 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.
7.70 
#20 - The Experience
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired Jan 30, 1975
A bomber targets the 12th Precinct, as Det. Fish contemplates retirement.
7.69 
#21 - The Judge
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired Dec 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.
7.66 
#22 - The Psychiatrist
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired Feb 26, 1976
A department psychiatrist advises the department to confiscate Wojo's gun
7.66 
#23 - Massage Parlor
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired Feb 19, 1976
Wentworth busts a dime-store cowboy in a massage parlor, and the detectives bust an octogenarian mugger.
7.64 
#24 - The Search
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired Sep 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.
7.64 
#25 - The Child Stealers
Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired Jan 24, 1980
A self-proclaimed time traveler tells Harris to fine tune his stock portfolio; Marty's divrorced gentleman friend Mr. Driscoll attempts to reclaim his son by abducting him from the playground.
7.63