The series starred Abe Vigoda as New York City Police Department Detective Phil Fish and Florence Stanley as his wife Bernice.

The series focused on the domestic side of Fish's life: he and Bernice became foster parents to a racially-mixed group of five children known as "Persons in Need of Supervision" or PINS.

The kids were played by Todd Bridges, Denise Miller, Len Bari, John Cassisi, and Sarah Natoli.

Barry Gordon played Charlie, a graduate student majoring in child psychology, assisting Fish and Bernice in supervising the kids.

Two characters from Barney Miller made crossover appearances on Fish: Steve Landesberg as Det.

The intention was to have a pilot air as an episode of Barney Miller in early 1976 with a series debut that fall.