Abby Dalton played Barney Miller's wife, Liz, while Val Bisoglio, Rod Perry, and a pre-Hill Street Blues Charles Haid rounded out the cast of the pilot.

Abby Dalton was replaced by Barbara Barrie as Liz, and Henry Beckman's character of Uncle Charlie was dropped entirely.

[citation needed] Unlike the remainder of the series, the pilot was shot on film at CBS Studio Center, where the sets of the 12th Precinct and the Miller apartment were originally built.

Max Gail referred to this in the Jack Soo retrospective episode aired on May 17, 1979, remarking that one of the clips shown was a scene that "we finished around 2:30 in the morning."

On the other hand, poor Steve Landesberg (Dietrich) might have to memorize long speeches explaining how nuclear fission works.

In the early years, Danny benefited from the heroic writing efforts of Chris Hayward, who was a veteran writer, and rookies Tony Sheehan and Reinhold Weege who, like me, didn't know any better.

My agent wisely turned down Danny's annual offers of staff jobs, negotiating freelance assignments (so-called "multiple deals") for me instead.

At that time, the premise of the show was to focus on Barney's career as a police captain at the 12th precinct as well as his home life with his wife and children.

At the start of the 1975–76 season, when it became evident that storylines at the 12th precinct were taking precedence, Barrie went to producer Danny Arnold and asked to be released from the show.

In the spring of 1978, Barrie returned to the series as a guest star reprising her role of Liz Miller in the episode "Quo Vadis".

In that episode, Liz meets Barney at the 12th precinct on Christmas Eve to discuss celebrating the holidays with their children, leading up to the possibility of a reconciliation.

In the first season of Barney Miller, the character of Fish (played by Abe Vigoda) proved so popular that ABC was considering a spin-off as early as October 1975.

It focused on the domestic side of Fish's life as he and his wife Bernice (played by Florence Stanley) became foster parents to five racially mixed children known as "Persons in Need of Supervision" (PINS).

ABC was going to renew the show for a third season, but, according to cast member Todd Bridges, Vigoda demanded more money than the producers were willing to pay.

Vigoda did not return to Barney Miller as a regular cast member, but in the spring of 1981, he did make a final appearance as Fish as a guest in the seventh-season episode "Lady and the Bomb", thus giving his character some closure.

It was created as a pilot episode for another possible Barney Miller spin-off to star series regular Max Gail.

The pilot did not sell, Parks's character of Nancy was never seen again and Gail remained with Barney Miller until the series ended in the spring of 1982.

Shortly after the premiere of Barney Miller in early 1975, actress Linda Lavin guest starred as Detective Janice Wentworth on the eighth episode "Ms. Cop".

Lavin never returned to Barney Miller although her character of Detective Janice Wentworth was briefly seen in a flashback in the last episode of the series "Landmark: Part 3".

Cast member Ron Carey's role of Officer Carl Levitt was also expanded at this time to compensate for Soo's absence.

By the time he taped his last appearance which was the installment "The Vandal" that aired on November 9, 1978, Soo's illness was quite evident in his rapid weight loss.

For this installment, the cast of Barney Miller led by Hal Linden appeared as themselves on the 12th Precinct office set as they fondly shared stories and reminiscences about Soo as an actor and as a friend.

During the seventh season, in an attempt to fill the void left by Jack Soo, a new character was added to Barney Miller.

[13] Initially both characters were presented in a stereotypically effeminate manner but in later appearances Darryl began dressing and speaking in a more mainstream fashion.

[15] In the 1975 "The Courtesans" episode (S1 E5) with Nancy Dussault, creator/producer/showrunner Danny Arnold threatened to quit his own show, if network censors removed a risque line.

The network relented and the resulting publicity over the x-rated episode that was banned in two markets ensured the series' ratings survival, according to Hal Linden.

[16] Danny Arnold ended production of Barney Miller in 1982 after eight seasons for fear of repeating storylines; the show was not canceled by the network.

Barney Miller retains a devoted following among real-life police officers, who appreciate the show's emphasis on dialog and believably quirky characters, and its low-key portrayal of cops going about their jobs.

For real detectives, most of the action does happen off screen, and we spend a lot of time back in the squad room writing reports about it.

Like Barney Miller's squad, we crack jokes at one another, at the cases that come in, and at the crazy suspect locked in the holding cell six feet from the new guy's desk.