On the off-topic of "Barney Miller"... I watched this show with my parents when I was a kid. I hated, Hated, HATED Abe Vigoda's "Fish" character. I thought he was absolutely boring. NOW that I'm older, I get the jokes! Fish is hysterical!
You watched it with your parents?
What is it? Why do I always think you are so much older than me? It must be the Headache mystique....that you are thousands of years old, holding all the wisdom of the ages!!
Fish used to annoy me (and scare me!) a bit when I was younger too, but I just ran with it, because my father liked him so much.
There are a number of Columbo alumni from this show...most notablly James Gregory (The Most Crucial Game and Short Fuse) and Gregory Sierra (the phantom listing in the credits of Publish or Perish, in which he never appeared!!)
And there are also guest shots from.........Vic Tayback, William Windom, Bob Dishy, Bruce Kirby, Nehemiah Persoff, and A Martinez.