1975-76: THE SECOND SEASON

Year-End Rating: 19.0 (38th place)

As executive producer, Danny Arnold continues to perform and supervise a wide array of creative tasks in the second year. Arne Sultan joins Chris Hayward as producer for the show's first full season, and Noam Pitlik is established as the show's primary director, a distinction he will maintain throughout most of the series's run.

14 Doomsday    First Aired: September 11, 1975
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: William Windom, J.J. Barry, Steve Landesberg

A nervous human bomb threatens to blow himself up to protest the sorry state of Western civilization; the plumbing conks out; and Wojo arrests a bogus priest.

The guest cast is made up of friends, old and new. William Windom had starred in Danny Arnold's 1969 comedy My World and Welcome to It; J.J. Barry probably spent more time in the Twelfth Precinct's cage than any other actor; and Steve Landesberg would be invited back to play Sergeant Dietrich the following season.

15 The Social Worker    First Aired: September 18, 1975
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Art Metrano, Herbie Faye, Alex Henteloff

The detectives book a master forger, but Barney is preoccupied with worry after Liz begins her new job as a social worker on the streets of the South Bronx.

16 The Layoff    First Aired: September 25, 1975
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Bob Dishy, Oliver Clark, Candy Azzara, Sandra Deel, Milt Kogan

New York City's cash crunch forces Barney to lay off Chano, Harris, and Wojo; a manicurist stabs her client; and an unemployed stockbroker turns purse-snatcher.

17 Ambush    First Aired: October 2, 1975
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: David Doyle, Dick O'Neill, Milt Kogan

Barney is offered a new job in Florida; and the men are shocked to discover that bystanders failed to assist after Yemena was shot in an ambush.

18 Heat Wave    First Aired: October 9, 1975
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Story: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Linda Lavin, Janet Ward, Harold Oblong, Gloria Calomee, Paul Lichtman, Angelo Gnazzo

Wojo and Wentworth go undercover to lure a rapist into the open; and a wife reports her husband for assault and battery.

19 The Arsonist    First Aired: October 16, 1975
Writer: Tony Sheehan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Roger Bowen, Jack Somack, Leonard Stone, Steve Franken

The detectives suspect arson after a rash of fires; and Chano arrests a man for shooting a subway candy machine.

The first script by Tony Sheehan, a prolific writer whose eventual contribution to the series would be incalculable. Sheehan was hired on the basis of a spec script he'd written for M*A*S*H--in longhand, on a legal pad--while still a student at UCLA. Larry Gelbart recommended him to Danny Arnold, who hired the talented young scribe as story editor. During his long tenure on the show, he would be a credited author on more than sixty Barney Miller teleplays, and an uncredited contributor to scores of others.

20 Grand Hotel    First Aired: October 23, 1975
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Story: Chris Hayward, Danny Arnold
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Linda Lavin, Robert Mandan, Adam Arkin, Queenie Smith, Beatrice Colen, Joe Medalis, Arnold Soboloff

Wojo and Wentworth pose as a wealthy couple to flush out a burglary ring in a luxury hotel; and a college student is arrested for registering with his underage girlfriend.

The smoldering romance between Wojo and Wentworth was actually part of Danny Arnold's grand plan to please ABC's insatiable appetite for a spinoff series, preferably starring Fish. The producer refused--why jeopardize the chemistry of Barney Miller by pulling Fish out of the squad room for his own series? Instead, Arnold's novel solution proposed pulling all of the detectives out of the squad room--one at a time--for a separate anthology series that each week would examine the private life of a different member of the squad. Wentworth and Wojo's romance was projected as the basis for one storyline; and alternating episodes might pick up Barney's life at home with Liz, or perhaps the camera would follow Fish home to a house full of wayward foster kids. Unfortunately, the producer abandoned the project as too ambitious for Barney Miller's already overworked staff, though he did salvage the latter storyline as the basis for the Fish spinoff, which finally aired two years later.

21 Discovery    First Aired: October 30, 1975
Writers: Tom Reeder, Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Director: Lee Bernhardi
Guest Stars: Jack DeLeon, Ray Stewart, Norman Rice, Philip Sterling

The department's computers declare Fish dead; and an impostor harasses neighborhood gays while posing as a detective from the Twelfth Precinct.

22 You Dirty Rat    First Aired: November 13, 1975
Writers: Arne Sultan, Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Story: Arne Sultan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Ned Glass, J. Pat O'Malley, Franklyn Ajaye, Val Bisoglio

A hungry rat is the suspect when two pounds of marijuana come up missing from the evidence locker; and a vagrant spends the night in a department store.

23 Horse Thief    First Aired: November 20, 1975
Writer: Tony Sheehan
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Ron Masak, Jack Dodson, Liam Dunn, Bruce Solomon, Judy Cassmore

A hansom-cab driver's horse is stolen during the Bicentennial celebration; and a canny streetwalker uses patriotic souvenirs to mask her trade.

24 Rain    First Aired: November 27, 1975
Writer: Tony Sheehan
Story: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Sidney Miller, Phil Leeds, Paul Lichtman

The squad room ceiling springs a leak; and the officers are forced to put up with a steady stream of bad jokes from an incarcerated comedian.

25 Fish    First Aired: December 4, 1975
Writer: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Herbert Baker
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Doris Belack, Steve Landesberg, Emily Levine, Darryl Seman

Fish worries about his job when a new detective is assigned to the precinct after his doctor puts him on restricted duty.

Stand-up comic Steve Landesberg debuts as Sergeant Arthur Dietrich, a one-shot tryout whose low-key appeal made him a natural for the squad room ensemble. He would be added to the precinct's permanent roster the following season.

26 Hot Dogs    First Aired: December 11, 1975
Writer: Tony Sheehan
Story: Arne Sultan, Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Director: Lee Bernhardi
Guest Stars: Jonelle Allen, Nellie Bellflower, David L. Lander, Howard Honig

A pair of eager lady cops makes an overzealous drug bust; and a confused husband identifies his missing wife with a dime-store photo of Jean Harlow.

27 Protection    First Aired: December 18, 1975
Writer: Tom Reeder
Story: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Tom Reeder
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Jack Somack, Ralph Manza, Ray Sharkey

A protection racket springs up amid rumors that the precinct is about to be shuttered; and a local hood confesses to a crime that can't be proven.

28 Happy New Year    First Aired: January 8, 1976
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Arne Sultan
Director: Bruce Bilson
Guest Stars: Edith Diaz, Johnny Lamotta

The precinct hosts a suicidal man on New Year's Eve; and Wojo delivers a pregnant shoplifter's baby.

Edith Diaz also played the very expectant Puerto Rican mother who gave birth in a crowded elevator on All in the Family exactly four years earlier.

29 Sniper    First Aired: January 22, 1976
Writers: Tom Reeder, Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Director: Lee Bernhardi
Guest Stars: Charlotte Rae, Jay Robinson, Sully Boyar

A space-age travel agent bilks a couple out of the cost of a round-trip to Saturn; and Wojo and Luger are targets of a sniper outside the station house.

30 Fear of Flying    First Aired: January 29, 1976
Writer: Reinhold Weege
Director: Lee Bernhardi
Guest Stars: Jack Riley, Valerie Curtin, Charles Murphy

Wojo must overcome his fear of flying when he's chosen to accompany an extradited bigamist to Cleveland.

Writer Reinhold Weege would become a major force in the show's middle years, first as a prolific writer and story editor, and finally as producer in the fifth year. He learned his lessons well: His 1984 NBC series, Night Court, owed a considerable debt of inspiration to Barney Miller.

31 Block Party    First Aired: February 12, 1976
Writer: Tom Reeder
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Larry Bishop, Linda Lavin, George Murdock, Stanley Brock

Wentworth stops an assassin at a block party, but is frustrated when Chano gets all the credit.

32 Massage Parlor    First Aired: February 19, 1976
Writer: Tony Sheehan
Director: Dennis Steinmetz
Guest Stars: Linda Lavin, Florence Halop, Meg Wyllie, Kenneth Tigar, Charles Frank, Janet Ruff, Opal Euard

Wentworth goes undercover in a massage parlor and gets the goods on a bewildered midnight cowboy; and an elderly woman is arrested for mugging.

This would be Linda Lavin's last appearance as Detective Wentworth. The actress left Barney Miller to star in Alice, the long-running CBS series that would premiere the following season.

33 The Psychiatrist    First Aired: February 26, 1976
Writers: Tony Sheehan, Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Story: Greg Tiefer
Director: Noam Pitlik
Guest Stars: Fred Sadoff, Neil J. Schwartz, Martin Garner

Wojo's aggressive tendencies come under the scrutiny of a psychiatrist who insists that the officer is unfit to carry a gun.

34 The Kid    First Aired: March 4, 1976
Writers: Tony Sheehan, Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward
Director: Stan Lathan
Guest Stars: Charles Murphy, Arny Freeman, Angelina Estrada, Jose Flores

A good Samaritan returns to retrieve the unclaimed cash he turned in a month earlier; and Fish is smitten by the mother of a teenage pickpocket.

35 The Mole    First Aired: March 18, 1976
Writers: Danny Arnold, Chris Hayward, Reinhold Weege
Director: Mark Warren
Guest Stars: Dean Santoro, Richard Russell Ramos, Ron Carey, Severn Darden

Fish agonizes over an upcoming operation; and Harris and Wojo track a burglar through the sewers.

Ron Carey plays the subterranean thief who would return to the precinct as the uniformed cop Officer Carl Levitt at the start of the following season. The episode also marks the final appearance of Greg Sierra's Chano. The actor eventually resurfaced in AES Hudson Street, a short-lived attempt by Barney Miller's creator to duplicate the chemistry of the Twelfth Precinct in a hospital emergency room.

The producers were confident that the series could withstand the loss of major characters like Chano--and eventually, Fish. As Danny Arnold observed, "The squad room itself is as much a personality as any of the characters. Our audience buys the situation, and change is part of it."