Wednesday 1 July 2009

Barney Miller: The Complete Second Season


Barney Miller: The Complete Second Season
Changes are in store for the men of the 12th Precinct in the second season of Barney Miller, which is presented in its entirety in this three-disc, no-frills collection. Chief among the wrinkles to the show's proven formula are the departure of Gregory Sierra's Chano Amenguale, who would leave for his own series after this season; also, Barbara Barrie, who made a strong impression as Barney's wife Liz in the first season, would be relegated to the sidelines for much of this episode run before leaving the series, though she does earn her own storyline for the first and only time in "Social Worker." Otherwise, the second season is focused largely on Barney and the rest of the detectives (as most fans preferred) as they wrangle with crazed gunmen ("The Sniper"), a marauding rodent ("You Dirty Rat"), job insecurity ("The Layoff") and a punishing New York city summer ("Heat Wave"). Hal Linden's smart performance as Barney remains the glue that holds the series together, though there is excellent work from Abe Vigoda as Fish and Max Gail as Wojciehowicz, especially in "The Kid" (Fish becomes enamored of a pickpocket's mother) and "Discovery" (Wojo investigates police harassment of a gay couple). Series followers will also note the presence of future cast members Steve Landesburg and Ron Carey among the guest cast; both would join the show (as Detective Arthur Dietrich and Office Carl Levitt) in the third season. Video quality is a little worse for wear in certain episodes; the set also features two superfluous "mini-episodes" of Charlie's Angels and The Facts of Life as its supplemental features. --Paul Gaita
Customer Review: DVD TV
I bought season one long time ago, now bought season two. I now remember it on TV growing up. Still good and funny.
Customer Review: Love this show!
I was beginning to think they'd never get around to putting Season 2 on DVD, but here it is, and it's just as wonderful to watch in this decade as it was in the '70s and '80s. So when's Season 3 going to be available???

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