Episode 39: Vanished + The Child Stealers

Welcome to the Life and Times of Captain Barney Millar podcast. I'm your host Mike White. Joining me, of course, is the rookie Chris Dashue. I'm here for the open house once again. Do you guys have anything to eat?

We are talking about three episodes from Barney Miller back in nineteen eighty. We're at the start of a new decade. Started at last month when we talked about People's Court, which came out January third, nineteen eighty. But well, here we are January tenth, nineteen eighty four. Vanished Part one, Vanish Part two would come out a week later, and The Child Steelers comes out a week after that January twenty fourth, nineteen eighty.

That's kind of nice when TV shows didn't take that midwinter break and just tell you to screw off from December to February. If it's even that short these days, I don't even know how long the midwinter break is, but it sometimes it feels intermidable. We've been on a break for a while now for other reasons, so now we'll get the strike break and then the midwinter break later this year. Isn't that nice? Well, you know, people keep saying, oh, strikes over, strikes over.

It's like, yeah, but the actors are still striking, right. I saw Zoey Deschanel on the pick a line, who is probably not the person I want to represent me if I was an actor. But that's a whole other podcast. Wow, goddamn, some hot heat directed at one of the two Deshanel sisters. Shots fired.

Yes, God, Vanished part one, Well, we might as well talk one and two really together, kind of like when we come back next month, we'll be talked about Dietrick's arrest part one and two, and we'll also talk about guns and uniform days. So four episodes, but this one we're just doing three. Vanished one and two. As Chris has referred to our good friend, is it Sam the Vagrant? I believe Jay Ray Ray Brewer played by John Dulegan, who has he has such a great like he didn't even have to reintroduce himself.

I remembered him from that was that episode last season open House, right, I guess that was the name. The name of the episode was open House. Yeah. I remembered him. The moment he walked, I was like, oh, okay, yeah you again.

Yeah, he is so great. He is awesome. Yeah, and he has I mean, he has this weird energy about him too, because again, like he seems a lot more comfortable in the precinct than anybody else ever does. Like he walks in, he's just like, I'm back here again. Hey, everybody remember me.

It's like, even I'm trying to think who not Roy Brock, but there's another actor who he plays the shop owner. Even he even he doesn't act that kind of chummy with the guys in the precinct, and I think we've seen him more. But it's just it's funny, like they're not like trying to get rid of him, they're not trying to throw him out. They more or less like other than him and Harris kind of I guess him and Wojo kind of odds with each other, like they believe him outright, Like they're not even like questioning his story. Which I appreciated that about this episode, that this episode is more interested in like not them questioning him, but trying to figure out what's going And I think that was Stanley Brock.

Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, And yeah, he's terrific. I love the way he comes in just kind of grabs a chit air sits down. He's maintaining Harris's desk in the second part of this episode. Oh but yeah, he's terrific. And he tells a story about how when they he and all of his homeless friends, when they go to sleep at night, they wake up and people are missing, And of course we get the no, we don't get the did you check the basement for POD's line here?

But there's a lot of they do. They're like, what could be going on here? And then yea, of all people, they send out Harris to of all people, Chris, of the most stylishly dressed of all of them, has to rip off all of his amazing outfits and become a homeless person. Yeah undercover. Well, what I find really funny is obviously that's the gag, right, It's like, let's take the most well dressed, well manicured one might even go as far as to say area nite person in the precinct and make him have to go and be, you know, on the streets investigating, you know, undercover.

I do find it funny that they just keep like, he just keeps clowning on Barney's outfit, and then Barney clowns on his like they're clowning on each other this entire episode with their outfits. I'm assuming that the gag, and I mean it's kind of it's implied by the gag, is that they all look terrible lead dressed, but like that's not the case. Like I don't like the stuff that they're wearing doesn't look remotely like they would be homeless or like like no, you know, vagrians is maybe this episode more athlete put it. I just think it's funny. It's like, oh, look at how shitty you're dressed, Like just shitty at all.

It looks Yeah, I mean, I guess to make a vagrant you use like some uh you crumple your hat, yes, and you have some fingerless gloves or in the John Dulligan's case, a a jacket that fits too big, too big, because that's the thing, Like it's never you know, when when a homeless person in media is portrayed, they never have something too small. It's often a jacket that's too big or yeah, the the the crumpled hat, it's just the crumpled hat. Really, just I was hoping he might have a bindle sack, but he's not a he's not a rail riding less person. No, yeah, he's a I guess he's a vagrant. Yeah, probably that's the best term.

I think it's interesting though, because again, obviously, you know, nineteen eighties New York, New York coming out of kind of the thing with Ford. You know, New York can go to Hell, right, all of that. Like, it's interesting that because in this season they haven't really had a lot of I don't know what you would call them, but I guess it's like social messages of like, I don't know, because I don't know if this episode's trying to have a message with what they're doing with the bag, with the vagrants or you know, the John Dulligan character. But it's weird because they care a lot and it doesn't seem like they just care because they at least Barney does. And I've always appreciated that about this show and about Barney Miller as a character, is that he is a genuinely empathetic character and that comes through.

But what's interesting is I would go as far as to say Harris is strangely just as empathetic in the second part of this episode, maybe not so much the first part. But that's because again, he's not out in the field yet. But it's weird because normally Harris is just very not interested in participating in anything that would put him at odds with his image. But he just seems like, okay, like I'm I'm, I'm on board and on the same page as what's going on. Yeah, I'm gonna get this episode in the next one mixed up a little bit because there's at one point they ask Ray, how did you become homeless?

And you expect it to be this real heartrending story, right, and instead it's you know, oh, I was this, I was this, and then uh, one day I woke up and uh I was a vaga grants like what Yeah, but he don't get any any story at all. He plays it so well though, I mean, yeah, Delegate just can milk a scene in a great way. Yeah, he's a he's a really believable like set, he's a really sappy character and like again, like just the way he carries himself, his outfit. Again, he doesn't have the fingerless gloves, but he might as well. I mean, he looks the part, and to your point, yeah, it's it's it's interesting when he goes off and kind the Harris goes off with him, I feel like the episode kind of suffers when they're not around because every I mean, thankfully, we do get to see what I would consider to be at this point, like, Okay, so Luger is part of the show, oh so much.

So like it kind of is or more or less redeemed immediately because Luger shows up and they kind of hand off the episode to him. But holy shit, Yeah, like John Dellgan is so good in this episode that it's a shame when he's not on screen. But yeah, then you transition to the B plot of the biggest Luger storyline I think we've had up into this point in the show, actually, like a storyline for his character and a story moment that I think may have some repercussions down the road, at least for the way he acts towards the people in the twelfth Preecinct. Yeah. Yeah, it's really remarkable that he's I mean, because he comes in and he usually has stuff going on, but I would say he's usually more C level than he's more.

Definitely more B level in this one, if not almost. But I think the homeless story is your a story. I think because it's a two part episode. I think you could almost make the case that it's two A storylines because because the the B plot or C plot is so not anything. I'm not saying it's not funny or not amusing, it's just there's so little to it that it's just this woman in the precinct just kind of ping ponging between d Trick and woo Jehowitz and that's about it.

Do I have to say, Eleaene Giftos, what a giftos to humanity? She was Oh my gosh, she was. I mean she's still around, but she was just amazing. And I remember seeing her in so many things when I was younger, and she just always was so striking. She was almost as striking as I can't remember the actress's name, the one from soap that occasionally shows up as a prostitute on the show.

But I was surprised when gift Toos came in. I was like, oh, well, here's another prostitute, but no, she trying to find a proper father for her baby. And I was very surprised at the end of herst storyline when now she's looking up, well actually more than looking up that it seems like her and uh Levitt have fucked up. Yeah, I wouldn't think that his DNA was proper since he's so short. Well, what's funny is, you know, you have Dietrich making moves and Wojo it's making moves and their game between the two of them, those two guys have no game whatsoever.

I mean, Wojo. What's funny is it almost feels like because of Wojo's girl, I can never see that character as like a sexual being anymore because he is. He seems so out of sorts as a person when he's not in the precinct where it's like I can't believe you would go on a date with someone because I've seen it now and you are completely unable to even hold a conversation with someone. And so like I'm during this, I was like, there's no first off, there's no way that Dietrich is not an alien, which again I think is more or less established that he is not of and enough we'll talk about it, well, we'll talk about it that real soon. But my point is like I can't even believe, like it's more believable that it's Levit because to me, at this point, Levitt is the only human character on this show other than Barney.

Everybody else is just this like they're so specifically a thing that like there they are a bundle of so many things that like Barney feels like a human and Levitt now feels more like a human than ever. But yeah, Wojo can't see him as a sexual being anymore. And Dietrich just again, like now they're going in such a weird angle with his character that he's losing his humanness because that's seemingly what they want to do, right. I want to talk about the very beginning of the episode because it's very strange. This episode almost starts in meteor res, Like it starts off with this over the shoulder, the shit shot of Wojehowitz as he's eating a sandwich, and you've got Dietrich and Harris in the background as far back as you know, the precinct that's pretty small.

Harris, it looks like he's a yogurt or something. Yeah, yeah, And and Dietrich is standing there and he kind of turns from Harris like he like he had been talking with Harris and he just turns from him and then walks over to Wojo's desk, and I'm like, was there a whole conversation that we missed here? Did something happen? And so I even went out to dailymotion dot Com and was watching the episode that way because I was like, well, you know, we've seen this before where this this happens. And the one that's on uh daily Motion starts later on.

It starts with Ray opening the door and coming in and Harris is still eating that that that yogurt or pudding or whatever. So it's like, okay, well, the beginning is cut off on certain episodes, but it feels cut off even on the longest version that I was able to find. It was so strange. Yeah, it is a weird. It is a weird opening.

I do like the whole idea, Dietrich going baiting Wojo into kipping him path of his right. Such a fucking dickhead. But what I mean, like again, like I don't know, like there's like one conversation that needs to happen before they get to that. Well, yeah, it's the conversation that he has with Hairristright. I imagine that he had it and was trying to get some of Harris's lunch, and when that doesn't work, he goes over to Wojo, but we're missing that completely.

Yeah, well, I wonder, I wonder if it just didn't if it didn't play well, if the joke wasn't that good. I don't know, maybe I could see it Dietrich talking about like how they make yogurt and like, oh, yogurt is you know, mold? And you know, all right, right, because I mean again it is like yogurt is is it cultured cultured milk product? So it's it's mold and you know it's don't you know what that is? And it's the same stuff that's on top of your cheek, Like I could see that, but it's not there.

I don't know, it's there have been some weird things in this show. I am trying to remember back a couple episodes ago, there were a couple of weird shots that we were commenting on where it was like we took close up shots of people that were very atypical for a show of this type, or at least this show specifically. Yeah, yeah, it's so strange because by the time, so the one on Daily Motion is from tv Land, which is probably we should probably say that Bernie is no longer on Amazon Prime, But I imagine it was that same version, because yeah, we talked about that ash probably I think in the sixth season another episode where it got caught off at the beginning and it's like, okay, just editing for time so you can stick in more commercials just as our I've got to assume that's what it was.

Yeah, And I love the interplay of Dietrich and Barnie when Barney's trying to do a crossword puzzle, because it's just like, you know who you go to if you're having problems with a crossword puzzle, you go right to Dietrich. And then Dietrich just mail gaving him why don't you He's like, why don't you ever come and talk to me just normal, like just have a normal conversation or no, he says, we have noticed we never have any personal conversations, is what He's right? Yeah, and that the answer to the crossword was Miller and then how he like looks over his shoulder, He's like, oh, do you want me to it's blank? What was it? Blank?

Google? So Barney Google. I thought I thought that was pretty good. I thought that was it was a nice little touch, and I mean it is funny though if you if you think about it, the Dietrich character has a point. Him and Barney have very impersonal interactions, more so than he does with anybody else.

I mean, Barney is almost like a father figure to wo Joe. I think not almost. I mean I think he more or less is a surrogate father figure. And then I don't know how Harris views Barney, but I mean Levit clearly views him as the boss. But I don't know.

I think Dietrich views him as like an equal, like an intellectual equal. Maybe like it's I can never get the sense of how Dietrich viewsed Barney, because again, Dietrich is such a strange, intentionally strange character. But he does seem somewhat hurt that Barney doesn't want to like to know him, right, But he makes it so awkward. I think that's the joke. But like, that's the point, right, co workers like Dietrick and yeah, you just don't want to get caught in a personal conversation with them, you know, we never have personal conversations.

That's intentional, Yeah, exactly. And then I want to hear about your collection of like it, right, I don't want to hear what goes on at the Girth the festival. Yeah, exactly exactly. But well, actually, I bet the way Harris views Barney is he probably viewsed Barney as the guy who shouldn't be in charge and Harris should be in charge. And that I mean that that came through was that?

Oh no, that's oh man, I think I washed ahead. Have Barney and Harris yelled at each other yet? Okay, I've watched ahead then, I mean, other than the one where it was Barnie not getting Harris is back with the racism stuff. But that's I think the way Harris would view Barney. But it's interesting because again, like I think Dietrich has a point as much as he can have a point.

Yeah, No, I think if this was a few years later, then I think still in nineteen eighty, I mean, because we have never seen anybody at like Barniey's level or above that is an African American, right. And then even when we think about the female cops that come in, I think they're all white females that come in, or Hispanic or Hispanic, right, or white people pretending to be Hispanic, I think, or Italians seen her for right. Yeah, the whole thing with Luger is kind of upsetting. It's ageist, right, I mean, it's the ageist thing, like, oh, if you're not going to retire, we'll just demote rights. It's a weird storyline because if this had happened in the first season, I would been like, who gives a shit it right?

But now it's like, Okay, it's Luger season six. Luger a very different version of himself, a much more palatable version of himself. You feel bad because like he's just like a he's more or less been because he wanted to continue to work, probably because he has right, because he has nothing left to live for, which is more or less what this episode says. It's fucking horrifying. And then and then in the next episode, which is again this is two parter, in the next episode, nobody wants to work with him, and it's like, Okay, so not only does this guy seemingly suicidal, but everybody in the precinct is like, fuck this asshole, which I mean, we all know somebody like Luger who is who they are, and that sometimes can be prickly in a problem.

But I mean he's not that bad. No, No, he's kind. This is kind of a dang dong more than anything else. I mean, they'll tell you all the stories about Brownie and all those guys, but you know, I mean, I'm sure his stories get pretty old after a while. But yeah, he seems like a sincere person.

I mean, it was probably a little awkward, you know, at Bernie's Thanksgiving a few years ago when he invited him. I think he invites him multiple years right, right, Well, I like that Luger makes a pass at at Ellen Giftos. She just looks at him and goes no things. Oh man, you know, I think of the two parters that we've seen, this is a pretty good two parter. At least.

The first part is it doesn't feel like this only needed to be one and an half episodes, you know, like we don't have enough story to maintain at an hour. This has enough story to keep us going. Yeah, yeah, Well, and again you mentioned we have some pretty good interactions between Luger and Barney talking about Brownie and Kleiner at all. They tried to do the same thing the Kleiner two weeks later he was shot. Right again, what's funny is like, it's just they're giving Luger a lot more characterization is as an empathetic character than they ever have, and it works like he is.

I think he's a believably empathetic character. And the way that he interacts with Harris at the end I think is also is also really funny. I don't know, because him and Harris always feel like they've never been able to get on the same page obviously, and I don't know. I think I think I think we're moving closer in that in that direction, and I hope Lucer is more a part of the show. I mean again, kind of seems like it, yeah, yeah, well yeah, because it was the first few episodes in this season where it's like the how's lucor why have we seen this guy?

Well? And I think they even acknowledge it at the beginning of the first part and they're like, hey, it's been a while since we've seen it, right, Yeah, it has been on it it has been a while. Is he was he filming the Flight of the Dragons? You think? Was he doing the voiceover work for that rankin and bass thing that he was in?

You mean a flight of dragons? Oh? A flight of dragons? Not to be confused with the sequel Flight of Dragons, Right, yeah, yeah, I love He's just like, I'll be in my office Bard, not your office, Bro. I have to say the sorry to just be a weirdo for a second.

But these episodes, especially Part two and the next one, I don't know what it is, but they look really good. The ones that we have just look really nice. And I'm like, what happened here? Why are these episodes so nice compared to some of the other ones where it's like they just look washed out and just you know, kind of kind of crummy VHS ripped type of stuff, and these they look pretty solid. Yeah, it's I don't know, maybe it's like that.

It's it's the eighties ness of it again, because now we're in you know, now it's eight, right, it's still I will say, I don't think the show has gotten into the eighties yet. I mean it's only eight, so the eighties doesn't pick up until you know, what woul the eighties friady pick up into what eighty three eighty four in terms of what, Yeah, I mean find some things that you're expecting to see in the styles that exist as like the mid eight right, yeah, because the Reagan isn't even in office yet. We are in the election year coming up, so probably I don't even know if he's really running. Probably running a little bit. They probably have had the convention to nominate him.

But yeah, it's it's still not proper eighties. I mean, we are the pump is primed for Yeppegs and all of the garbage that goes along with the nineteen eighties. Yeah, and that's and that's the thing. The show is there, but it's there yet, and just like the times itself, so it's it's it's there's a little bit of lag time. But I mean the show still looks great.

And hey, when Levit shows up at the beginning of the second episode, we're in that outfit, he looks pretty good for once. For once the man cleans up. Well, it's so put out after he's just like, oh, hey, you're going to need some manpower in the last episode. And that he shows up here in the suit, freaking Luger is sitting at his desk. It's like, Okay, what's going on here, Barnes.

Yeah no, And and it's you know, I like, I like where they've gone with Levitt, and I like where they've gone with what his kind of expectations are. Again again, I'm assuming he never becomes a major part of the precinct in terms of like actually being there as opposed to just showing up from time to time when they need it. But I feel like at this point I would be okay if he was there, Permit, Yeah, I would be too. Another really funny thing, And I was glad that I was able to guess this joke before they had it, which was when they finally figure out that Harris is missing. They're like, oh, we need to put out an APB and need to put out a photo.

And it's like, what photo are we going to use? And I was just like the author photo, the author folks. And then they're like, oh, he doesn't really like this photo that much. And then it's like okay, we'll use this one then. And I like where they end up going with the kind of the way the storyline is resolved.

I guess it makes sense mm hmm. And as much as it can, I don't know, shanghaiing a bunch of like homeless people and forcing them to go work, like yeah, it seems I mean, you know, this is what happens when we don't have open borders in the US, okay, where we can just use migrant workers. Instead we have to shanghai homeless people and drive them down to where's it, North Carolina? North Carolina. Yeah, it's like it's like bar Wick.

Yeah yeah, and it calls from the Stuckies on the Freeway, which was pretty good. He and then he's like, I gotta go back next week too for all these like what why did you get yourself involved in here? Right? Right? I was?

I think if the episode if Vanished one and two has a weak spot, it is and I hate to say this, it's Leonard Fray's character as Alfred Royce, the People's Candidate, which is a great joke in there. But Alfred Royce, the guy that plays him, Leondard Frey, he is great or Fry. I love him as an actor though, And this this reference is going to go right over your head. Maybe I kept expecting him to start talking about a sewing machine. No, right, yes, so nice, that's what I thought.

Yeah, yeah, very nice, good one, Chris. Yeah, that's that's a Fiddler reference. Oh yeah, Fiddler fans out there, the big fiddler head convention that we have. Yeah, that's what they call them. Yeah, he's I mean, as an actor, he's fantastic, but he just kind of shows up, does a little bit nunny leaves.

I mean they don't, he doesn't overstays welcome, but you know, he's still kind of the weakest part of the whole thing. He's the weakest part of a relatively well done two part episode in a sitcom, which is I don't know how you feel about this, but sitcoms and two part episodes tend to like not be worth their time. Oh no, no, And this is a weird season because, like I said earlier, we've got another two parter coming up in our next episode. Yeah, so it's it's weird to me, Like, I normally don't think very highly of two parters, but I think it's a very well done two part I mean, the stakes of what's going on are pretty low. It feels like normally two parters are left for like some sort of big you know change in the show, like a seat change or like a scenery change or something.

But they're no, nope, just just cuz I actually not even sure why this is a two part story. Yeah, I mean, really, they could have just said that's the end of the episode. I mean you would be like, well, where's Harris when this starts. But they are starting to get into continuity a lot more in these later seasons, and that is the crazy because we really haven't seen a lot of continuity. I mean continuity in terms of like characters showing back up.

Yeah, and we'll talk about that about the next episode we're talking about. But the continuity that they've done has been more just like reminding us that Wentworth is still around by having her name on the board. Right, that's as much like, oh, you know, there's Nick's desk. Nick has been dead obviously, all right, question, because it's ever been really addressed. Is nit Yamana dead?

I thought they said. I thought they said why he's not on the show anymore other than the episode where it was the Remembrance of Jack Sue. Okay, but he I thought he got reassigned or something. But I don't, I don't, I don't remember. So that's why I'm asking you and the listeners or or auto who wrote the book, please mention didn't We just didn't catch it because they Nick's Desk is a kind of weird part of this episode because that's where Luger is, That's where Levitt wants to be.

But yeah, I just was thinking about that, like is because again Jack Sue passed away and they had the Jack Sue remembrance episode, but they I again, unless they did, I don't it's kind of weird that they've never like outright addressed it, right, right, I mean, this season, it feels like they're treating it like he died. But last season when he was just missing, I don't think that they ever said that he passed away, right, Yeah, They're they're treating him like he's dead, I guess. Yeah, because of the reverence. Yeah, the whole reverence of the desk and yeah, and that was also you know, there's a little bit of reverence. But then there was also Captain Miller.

I thought you wanted me up here, and now I don't have a place to sit. So it became kind of a thing for Levitt, which showed his character. Right. No, actually, I think this is probably the best levit has been so far in the show up until this point. And as a testament to Ron Kerry as I mean, I think, you know, again, the acting of Ron Carrey was not being served by the plot and the storylines and the dialogue they were giving him.

He's a great actor. I mean, he's in History of the World Part one, He's in one of the better segments in that. But yeah, I feel like the show and the show runners were using him as kind of an after so there's a lot of button of the jokes frankly, right, And I'm glad that that's not the case anymore. And he's kind of the butt of the joke in this episode. But he, like you said, he kind of gets to show his you know, show what he's made of, as it were, And I think that's a much more important lesson to learn as a character and a thing to see as an audience than him just getting what he wants just because exactly.

Yeah, I love when Harris comes back. He's got all those homeless guys with him, and he just has to like doing the handsome knows like no, no, you stay over there, like he's doing just yeah, him as kind of the king of the Hoboes, and this is pretty great. And then the people's candidate becoming the secondary king of the Hoboes. Right, I'll listen to him. They're not registered to vote, right, sure?

I like where the episode concludes, and I like that. Yeah, you know, Luger goes back, of course he does. He was never gonna be in like he's never going to be in the precinct full time. Like that would be nice, that'd be a nice interesting change. But James James Gregory, I don't think signed up no note for that.

But he's welcome in this episode in the way that he is used. And I love that kind of the look at the end of the episode that just kind of gives the door and then he just you know, goes back to reading the news like I don't know, it's it's a different look for Luger, and I like where they go with and I think he's probably the best part of these two episodes for me in general. Yeah. You know, something else that kind of tells you where this episode is in history. Is that paper that he's reading.

I want to say it says something like growing danger for hostages. I think it's the whole Iran hostage situation. Yeah, yeah, right in the right it's beginning of Carter's Predator yep. And they had this was after the October surprise where they tried to rescue the hostages. Which was an unmitigated disaster.

And this is before this is probably before ben Affleck saves them all. All right, yeah I remember that. Yeah, that really happened. Ben Affleck was there. Yeah, I saw them all out, That's what they said.

Yeah, so yeah. I think the only other two part episode that really sticks with me apart from this one will probably stick with me was the one where they had to all sleep in the precinct because of the chance of was it smallpox or some other communicable disease. And I think that just struck us so much because of the time that we watched it, because it was like, oh, wow, you guys are talking about diseases, okay, and here we are stuck inside. And nice transition because in that two part episode, mister Driscol was there, and now in the Child Steelers he's here again. And boy, this is without a doubt the gayest episode of Barney Miler, a very special episode of Barney Miller.

Well, and it really does break up some good points, you know, again, this whole way that they treat these gig characters and they're not. I mean, of course, Marty is very stereotyped and everything, but he's got good things to say. And then yeah, with Driscoll and his son and that his wife is keeping him from seeing his son, and I do like some of those wry jokes of him saying that he's probably never going to have another sonning that's a pretty good one. Yeah, it was a good one. That was a good one.

And then I mean that whole story is great. And then of course we've got the whole thing with the Telly and just that whole will he won't he kind of thing. I thought that was pretty good. But I mean, you put Richard Libertini in an episode and I'm just going to be focused on Richard Libertini. I'm sorry, but he's fantastic and it's so funny because I was like, didn't he play this character already because he's been on the show before.

But am I mixing him up with was there another time traveler? Or was it just a Libertini that whole thing where he was trying to change his name? But no, I know what you're what you're confusing it with what tell me please? You're confusing it with that Twilight Zone eighty five episode where he's with uh, where he's time travel where he's like an alien, remember, and he goes and he's like, oh is Shelley Duvall. Yeah, I think, yeah, that's gotta be because that's what I thought of, because I was like, this is this is close in terms of like, oh, he has some special knowledge that only he has, but and he's trying to like impart it to other people, like okay, yeah, because he was mister one two two three back in season four, he was Richard Prito in uh the middle age episode in season five and then unfortunately this is his last time here, but he makes such an impression.

I just love that guy so much. Yeah, I'm I'm a huge fan. As someone who is a huge fan of Fletch, I'm a huge fan of Richard Libertini. His MDB photo is his role as Frank cleaning Fletch's shoes on the plantation in Fletch Lives. So I mean, I mean, I know you're a huge fan of the Popheim.

I am. Actually yes, I wasn't being ironic. I know that you are. Now you recently watched all of Me, correct, right, and he's in that as well, getting the ball Bekenbord but staying a little but you know, it's fine. It's so good.

Fine, and I want to see he's in the in laws as well, so we'll be talking about him on the Colombo Show when we get to that. Yeah, I was about to say, like, if he didn't show up in Columbo, I'm gonna be really disappointed. He doesn't show up in Colombo unfortunately, but yeah, pretty darn sure. He's in the Yes, General Garcia in the in laws, so that's that's a shame. Yeah, we'll definitely be talking about him there.

He's great here and y we again come back to yet another instance where one Arthur Dietrich is apparently some The episode wisely doesn't tell us what is going on, which is the switmartest. It's the Yeah, it's the smartest thing because you can't tell if this is for real or not. Is this guy just completely nuts? But the fact that he knows who Dietrick is and that Dietrich is somewhat important is a really funny gag. But I'm taking it literally.

I think you're okay to literally. You know, it's that whole thing that we're talking about. Uh, what was it? A nut with proof? PoID paranoids with proof?

Yeah, like he does he doesn't have the proof necessarily, but he sure talks a good game, and I love his whole like, you know, observing all of the things I'm and I guess I'm also thinking of the character that Matt Fuer plays in Star Trek the Next Generation, where he was an actual time traveler and so he would say things like, oh, oh, you're you're you're William Riker, oh wow, and we just like have these big reactions. But then you find out later on that he's actually from the past and not from the future, and he's there to basically steal all this stuff from the future and take it to the past with them. But just that whole you know, you're Arthur Ditrich at just the way that he uh overreacts to that, I actually I absolutely love that.

So my question to you then, is, given all the information that we have, what is going on if we're too if we're to go a little for like, let us just sit here for a moment and play along, right, what is going on with Dietrich then as a character? Is he a time traveling alien? I don't know. I don't know about the time traveling part, but the alien part I'm starting to buy into. Your theory.

Have you asked Jonathan Frakes about it? Yeah, I don't know if he has an answer. You're buddy, Jonathan, my friend John, mister Franks as they call oh as they call him, I call him John, they call him mister Frank. I think the only interpretation is that Arthur Dietrich is either immortal or he's an alien, and being an alien gives him an inordinately long life and he is just on earth, like my favorite Martian, just to hang out and look, you know what, wouldn't it be funny? Wouldn't it be cheeky if a cop show said in the seventies and eighties just happened to have one of the characters be an alien?

Like to what end is my question? And why is this joke being reused so much? And why do they keep going back to this joke? Because this was what was it the Lie Detector the Light Detector episode where they did that as well? Yeah, yeah, and they were like, I forget what he asks him, and he's like, he's not lie.

It's like wait a seconds, He's like, he's not supposed to be able to answer these truthfully. But I guess he's an alien like that's again, Like, I'm sure there are plenty of people that are fans of Barney Miller that will listen to this and think that I'm fucking nuts. But watch the show that you love so much and actually give it a moment to tell you what it wants you to think. And I don't know what else it would want us to think if not Arthur Dietrich is not just a human being, right right? Yeah?

I mean it is the era of more commindy. So yeah, we did have aliens as main characters on TV, and he was represented by having what two little things coming out of the back of his head, like or does Mork even has antenna? I'm thinking of my favorite Martian, aren't I Yeah, I'm trying to think if he has anything when he's speaking to Orson, and I don't think so. I think he's just yeah, he can't remember if there's something when he does, like the whole Nanu thing. Now, it's been way too long and I remember liking that show.

But I was also like eight years old when I watched it. Wasn't he spun off from Happy Day? He was? Yeah, he showed up on Happy Days? So so why would it be hard to believe that they would have an alien in this show.

Yeah, no, it wouldn't be hard at all. Right, Like I don't know, Like maybe again because it's a cop show, Like, oh, they would never do that. But right, I'm kind of glad that I've always been really happy with the subject matter that the show tackles, and that the scenarios, you know, the situations as it were, that they put their characters into, because it's not just the usual bullshit. It tends to be rather creative. The other thing I like about the whole time travel thing is him getting Harris so involved in zinc.

And of course I just kept thinking of that educational cartoon that they showed on The Simpsons, all about a world without zinc. Right, Oh my god. He pulls out the gun and starts and he goes to kill himself, and it's like, oh, Jimmy, that firing pin is made out of zinc. That Kentucky Is that Kentucky Fryde movie as well? Is it?

Yeah? Where the woman is like and your leg is also made out of a loom? Oh my god, right, I forgot about that. Wow, So the Simpsons must have been a nod to that yeah, it has to be. I mean they come, come, the Simpsons takes it to the logical next step, which is trying to commit suicide in the gun.

But yeah, yeah, no that I mean that I thought of the same thing. I love that he's like all in on zinc. Oh yeah, yeah, how much can I buy for that? I was gonna say. They also had a stock joke in the previous episode when he's all dressed up in the homeless thing and I can't remember if die trick that says something like I told you not to go all in on Chrysler.

Yeah, it's a nice little jab where the auto industry was at the time. That was pre k car, I believe. Well. I also like that they also get a h Harris gets a jab on Richard Libertini during the Zinc conversation. He's like, it almost forgot You're crazy, right.

It's like at the end of the episode, though, Harris, you do end up buying zinc, So yeah, it was crazy. Who's really crazy? I mean, yeah, he bought all that gold, or at least he thought he was buying all that gold, and it's like, oh, yeah, here you go in the Handsome the one inget or like not even an ingot, just like a tiny little bar. Yeah. Yeah, that's all that for this.

Yeah, the guy who was selling his whole everything, liquidating everything. Yeah, the chagrin of his poor suffering wife. Yeah, I remember that one. That was a good one. I was just going to say, it's a shame that Otto couldn't join us on this one, because I think he really wanted to talk about the role of Zateelli, because this is the first time we've seen the Telly this season since he came out.

I think it was what in the first episode, I think correct. Yeah, so here he is back, and now we've got you know, Marty and mister Driscoll here and really showing a you know, a whole rights issue of you know, keeping the sun away from mister driscoll. And it's like, okay, yeah, that's a that's a big thing. And then when he's getting berated by his wife about stuff his ex wife, I should say, that is when to Telli is just like, well, I'm gay and I think it's supposed to be. It feels like it should be a bigger moment, but it just kind of landed with a thud to me.

How about for you, and as someone who is gay, it was glad that this was addressed in a way that didn't feel like the way they addressed the rape episode. Oh like a big laugh, Yeah, like he is a fruit. Like right, I'm glad they didn't do that. However, Yeah, the way that he does it just it is exactly what it needed to be for the time and nothing else. And I'm glad that it wasn't to Joe, but it's it's not the moment that I think they thought it was.

And like you said, I think they thought this was going to be some big moment. But here's the problem. So Telly has to come back more than twice a season for anybody to care, and you know what, he doesn't. I care more about the two other gay characters who I've seen a ton of times at this point. Oh yeah, you have a real relationship with these guys.

Whereas it tell it's like I saw him more in previous seasons than I have in this season, where he now has a story to him, an actual like actual motivations as a character, and it's like, oh, I'm gay, and it's like okay, but but but what does you telling them need? Yeah? I was waiting for a speech like Okay, I'm gay and like, now let's get a little bit more here, please, Yeah, and he just turns around and goes, I'm gay when this woman is berating you know them, they the them and they being the gay you know, the gays in the gay community, and yeah, Like it's just I don't know. That moment doesn't feel earned at all. No, it doesn't, and I was really hoping that it would.

I was like, oh, because you're sending this up. You know, you're setting us up with bringing back these two cares we haven't seen in a few seasons now, which is great, and I'm super excited to see them. And then you put them in this difficult situation and you know interesting that like Wojo has a pretty good conversation with Driscoll talking about stuff, and it's like, oh, okay, this is interesting. This is good, and it's like you're getting to see how far Wojo has come over the years. He can actually have a conversation with a gay person and not be super weird about it.

So yeah, I was like, Okay, this is great. You're setting us up. You've got Stelli in here to tell They're just like, hey, why don't you tell people got to get this out in the open, and then he comes out, but then there's nothing, no follow up to it. Yeah, that was strange. I wanted it to be better.

I wanted it to matter. I wanted I wanted Levitt and his interaction to not be weird, but it is. And it's weird because because Levitt is weirded out by the fact that he's gay. Yeah, and it feels like such a cheap time even for this show. Well, it's almost like Levitt is now taking up the mantle that Wojo is slowly leaving behind, Right, That's what I mean, Like, it's just like it at this point, Why is this show doing that joke?

You've already shown that you can introduce us to a gay character in your show, right right, I don't know. That was probably the one issue I have with the handling of the storyline is you have to make us care about the character that's coming out right enough for that coming out to matter, right, right, but exactly, But the a Dietrich stuff is funny, and the other stuff with mister Driscoll is funny, and then you know, and and and all of the kind of back and forth and yeah, the conversation that Wojo has with him is great, But I mean in terms of like actually having something to say about the topic being gay in the early eighties, late seventies, Like, yeah, you had to deal with people being assholes.

Okay, yeah, oh yeah, you still do still do now, like and nothing has changed. I mean, things have changed, but you know, well when things are about to get so much worse for the gay community. We are, yeah, nineteen eighty here. I mean, I'm sure some cases are starting to happen, but we're going to be in a real bad spot here over the next couple of years. Yeah.

And that's the other kind of hard thing to really wrap your head around, is like the show. I appreciate that the show is trying to do this in a respectful way, but like the shit is, like you said, about to hit the fan and get the gay community. Yeah, I mean, if you know nothing about the eighties, awesome, but you should educate yourself if you don't, especially about gay rights and the treatment of the gay community, especially by people like Reagan. So exactly. Yeah, refusing to acknowledge HIV by name is really cool.

No, it's not, and yeah, it's it's kind of it all feels of a piece of that, like you want to have the conversation, but you don't want to actually have anything to say. You just want to sit and kind of signal, And that's kind of what it feels like for once. I'm kind of disappoint pointed with this show because it really feels like a mishandling of something that they really think that they handled. Well. That's why I'm disappointed, not because they didn't do a good job, but they think they did a good job, and when you think you did a good job, you can't really be reason.

Yeah, I'm kind of curious to see where else they go with this, because of course I know that Driscoll and Marty come back at least in the very last episode. I'm hoping that they come back more often, coming up here now that they're back from California, I guess, because that's where the last time we saw them, they were just about to move. And I hope we see mores to Telli. I think you told me that we don't see that much of him over this season. One more time in the entire show, the entire show, so he doesn't come back in seven and the ninth episode of the seventh season, and that is it.

Oh wow, so one in. I love the picture of Dino Natali aka z Telli on his IMDb. I don't know how old he is in this picture, but he just is an older gentleman. Looks like he's having a great time. He's got almost the same amount of hair as he has in this and he hasn't acted on anything in anything film or TD wise since eighty six.

But I can't even it doesn't look like he's the kind of guy that is going to quit. So I wonder if he does like theater or something. Yeah, I'm he's been in five episodes and this is the fourth of five episode. I know, it's it's weird. It's it's a very weird handling of the character for I think a show that again has done such a good job up until this point, Like even with the first episode that they were talking about him being gay Inquisition at the beginning of the season was Scanlan.

That's a better episode in terms of having a conversation about a characters on television and being gay in you know, in the world of the late seventies early eighties, right right, Yeah, So that's a little bit of a bummer, but at least we've got Libertini to keep us in stitches. I think this is still a good episode. I think that this is one of the better episodes of the show, but I just don't think that it nails that moment the way that. If it had nailed the moment the way it thought it did, I think we'd be talking about this as one of the best episodes of the show. Yeah, yeah, because yeah, it almost.

It's like, I just want to remember it for the B plot, because the A plot, as good as it is in moments, it does have one moment where Tino Natali just it doesn't it doesn't hit, but they think it does, and it's just I don't know. Maybe it hit in eighty maybe we're missing the context of time. But I just can't imagine. I don't know, I can't imagine what the response was. I guess clutching, like, did you know that the guy that plays Marty was He's done a ton of voice work and he was at least three of the dwarves in the rank and a bass hobbit.

Really yeah, wow, Look, I almost want to go back and rewatch that now and be like I hear his voice. I really like those two characters a lot. I'm glad that they've shown up as many times as they have. I like that, you know, Marty showed up first and then he got a pal to show up with. Yeah, I don't know, they're probably for me.

They're probably the best characters, the best like side characters on the show. Yeah. Well, and because when they show up, it's not usually if they're in trouble. It's for something like this, you know. I mean he technically he was kidnapping.

He was in the wrong, but at the same time, his wife was in the wrong, and as we know, two wrongs still make it right. But it really points out something. And for the most part, it's like they'll come in and like, oh, we need help Barney with this thing, or like hey, we're moving to California. Just they're more part of the group, which I really like. But unfortunately this is the last time we will be seeing them until the final episode of the show.

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's like it's bizarre. I mean again, like we're taking this show and looking at it through the lens of like current television, where you would never have a character not show up for a season and a half like this, But yeah, this is the last time we see Jack dal Leone, and I'm assuming the last time we see Ray Stewart until the final episode of the show. Yeah, and that's the Yeah, that's totally the case. They don't show up again until Landmark Part three.

So wow. Yeah, I don't know, like it feels like this is the last episode they want to have this conversation and this is the last time that they ever want to broach the gay top. And look, this is halfway through season six, so maybe they'll have more topical issues to talk about, but I'm pretty sure that the gay Top was pretty topical seventy nine eighty definitely definitely. Well, yeah, when we come back next time, we'll hear more about Trick, So maybe we'll we'll hear some a little bit more background on him, but yeah, he's going to be arrested TRIX's Arrest Part one and two. Well, so talk about Uniform Days, which I think is that's the episode that I see pictures of all of them in uniforms.

Okay, that is the episode that I'm thinking of and that I was talking about earlier, Because now that you mentioned the uniform thing. It's like, oh, yeah, that's the episode. Yeah, and then guns. So nothing topical with guns, I'm sure, because luckily we took care of that problem. We had that one mass shooting back in the eighties, and we've just outlawed all assault rifles and have really you know, clamped down on gun laws and just have made America very safe.

So this will be interesting as an anachronistic type of thing. Make America Safe again did happen and it worked? Yeah? What a campaign that was. Yeah, I remember it.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I really am expecting them to hammer home the Dietrich is an alien thing and arrest because he's at an anti nuclear rally and he probably knows the dangerous and nuclear power. Yeah. Hey man, the Day the Earth Stood Still was all about like, don't destroy your environment and you know, don't destroy yourselves weapons. If that's what they're drawing, if that's what I'm assuming they're going to draw from, which is my hope, then yeah, I mean, how could it not be that Well, and there's that whole weird thing too.

He was protesting, he's protesting the Vietnam war, right. He definitely is a protester, which is great, but I want to say, like he was super young when the Vietnam War, or would have been super young when the Vietnam War was going on. So it's like, hmmm, I don't know. I could be totally wrong about that. Dietrich is not an alien.

The final shot of the show is him being beamed up. Oh that was really weird, or or or the final shot this is what I want to find shot of the episode be The final shot of the final episode is Dietrich waking up in it bed on a spaceship and I just had the craziest dream. Wow fu fuck everybody who cares anymore. Nobody would like this show if that was the ending of this show. By the way, Harry, no one would want to have anything to do with this show if he woke up on a spaceship at the end of the episode.

I mean, yeah, the only thing I can think of. And it's weird that we're talking about this. Yeah, we still have a season and a half to go, but still, yeah, it's looming. I definitely just see everyone out of the precinct except for Barney, and he walks to the door, looks around one last time, puts his puts a little check by his name that is going out all out of the office, turns off the lights, closes the door, and you just see the backwards writing of police station. That's the final shot.

Oh Chills is thinking about it. I'm not even joking. I think when we get to like, I didn't really we have an emotional reaction with Colechak at the end of that show. But this, I'm probably gonna have an emotional reaction when we get to the end of the show because this, I mean this, I don't know, because you know a little behind the scenes, we're starting a new show, you and I at the start of twenty twenty four, and it's going to take us longer than this. But it's only an episode a month, and so if we had done an episode a month with this show, it would have taken us forever.

So we we wanted to do a show this long, and to do a show this long, we had to break it up into three episodes. An episode but like, I don't know, like this is the first show. I feel like we're watching the whole thing, Like and yeah, Colchak only lasted one season, so you know that's it always that's always feels a little bittersweet because Colechak is always kind of a big what if. But yeah, I don't know, Like it feels like it feels like now we're in this weird spot where like part of the old time of the show seems to be ending and the show seems to be transitioning into something else. So I'm excited to see where we go from here.

But yeah, no more of some of the really reoccurring characters and actors that we've seen. So yeah, it feels like Season seven will be different, Yes, sure how but different right? And I'm wondering if the end of this season will feel even more like a soft ending to the show. So well, until we talk next month, Chris, what are you up to? Weirdingwaymedia dot com is what I'm up to, which is a place where you can hear all the things that I work on, which are weekly, monthly, and everything in between.

Culture cast, scary stories, we tell Bollywood, send them a club, colchac tapes, chronicles from the Crypt. The list could go on and I could continue, but I won't. Just go look them up yourself at weirdingwaymedia dot com. What about you Mike almost the same, but just not as many shows really, So just got the one that I work on all the time, the Projection Booth, and then some of these shows that I do with you and with Father Malone and you, and they are great. I'm looking forward.

We are about to wrap up the Night Gallery. We are Midnight Viewing podcast and uh yeah, we're going to go into some reve new worlds with that, which sound pretty exciting. Yeah, we're it's it's a it's a season of change here weirding Way Media, where we're working on new things and old things that we've been working on are coming to a close. Yeah, it's uh, it's I think we're ending two shows this year, so Rankin which has been Rankin, which I think we started ranking around the same time we started this, I feel like or no, I guess Rankin Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, because we had we we knew Richard for a while before we did rank Yeah. Yeah, so back in the cold Check days, even though Colechak was one season and two movies, we definitely stretched it out for a while.

This is Barney Miller has been has been definitely a joy to watch together. But yeah, I'm I'm curious to see where this like the seventh season. I'm so curious now because like I'm just I kind of want the season to be over so we can get to that seventh season because it does feel like there's gonna be a weird seat change. So we will find out when we come back next month. Until then, please rate and review the show where we get it from, probably iTunes, and it would be nice gave us five stars.

Let other people know about the show. I don't think there's too many Barney Miller podcasts out there. I think we might be the only show in town. So I hope you like it. That's all I got over four dyst