Title: The Layoff
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Chris Hayward, Danny Arnold, and Arne Sultan
Air Date: September 25, 1975
Previous: The Social Worker
Next: Ambush
Guest Starring: Bob Dishy, Candace Azzara, Oliver Clark
"The Layoff" is the third episode of the second season of Barney Miller.
Fish brings in a thief who had two stolen fur coats that together are worth $12,000 (in 1975 money!). Also arrested is one Miss Lamota, a manicurist who stabbed her client when said client got the idea that she was a prostitute. The third bad guy brought into the 12th is a Mr. Shine (Bob Dishy), a former stockbroker who is now a penniless bum living in the Bowery after he was ruined in the market. Mr. Shine has turned to crime, and stole a woman's purse.
All this is taking place against a huge round of layoffs at the police department. New York City is broke, so the NYPD is laying off cops. No one's happy about it, least of all Barney, who has to tell Harris, Wojo, and Chano that they are laid off.
Tropes:
- And Starring: Bob Dishy gets "Special Guest Star" credit.
- The Big Rotten Apple: New York City is ridden by crime even more than usual due to cops being laid off. Chano complains that one used to hear birds singing in Washington Square, but now the only sound is the sound of muggings.
- Continuity Nod: Detective Wilson is one of the victims of the layoffs. Det. Wilson (Rod Perry) was in the original Barney Miller pilot and appeared in the second episode, but was never seen afterwards.
- Doomed Appointment: Well, maybe it wasn't doomed! But Miss Lamota and the guy who stole the coats hit it off, and agree to meet in the squad room on Christmas Eve.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: Miss Lamota. While she's doing the fur thief's nails she muses how she wouldn't be in this fix if her last customer had been in a cage.
- Pulled from Your Day Off: Just as Harris, Wojo, and Chano are leaving the squad room with their stuff in boxes, the squad room gets a call of an armed robbery in progress at a grocery store. The three detectives decide they all feel like buying groceries.
- Ripped from the Headlines: In July of 1975 the NYPD laid off 5,000 cops, out of a force of 30,000.
- Turn in Your Badge: The "turn in your badge and gun" ritual happens not because Da Chief is suspending a Cowboy Cop, but because Harris, Wojo, and Chano are being laid off due to budget cuts.
