Title: Christmas Story
Directed by: Bruce Bilson
Written by: Tony Sheehan and Reinhold Weege
Air Date: December 23, 1976
Previous: Power Failure
Next: Hash
Guest Starring: James Gregory, Nobu Mc Carthy, Jay Gerber
"Christmas Story" is the 10th episode of the third season of Barney Miller.
It's Christmas Eve at the 12th Precinct, and the detectives are working the swing shift. A mugger is targeting Salvation Army Santas, so Fish is sent out in a Santa suit to catch the mugger and bring him in. While they're doing that, Harris and Fish arrest a completely different criminal: one Mr. Craig, who threw a large box through the store's plate glass window. It seems Mr. Craig bought a "Zoom-a-go-round" from the department store, and was driven to the edge of madness by his inability to put the playground set together.
Meanwhile, a good-looking woman named Dorothy Murakami (Nobu McCarthy) was the victim of a purse-snatching and is in the squad room looking through a mug shot book. Yemana finds himself attracted to a Japanese woman and asks her out on a date. What he doesn't know is that Dorothy is a prostitute.
In personal news, everyone is appalled by the blue Christmas tree that Yemana brings into the squad room (maybe waiting until Christmas Eve was a bad idea?), Fish is his usual curmudgeonly self about Christmas, Luger the lifelong bachelor throws extremely unsubtle hints that he'd like to come over to Barney's for Christmas, and Wojo catches the other detectives by surprise by bringing in gifts.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Dorothy calls Yemana "John" (a joke about the standard term for a prostitute's male client), and he replies "It's Nick."
- The Big Rotten Apple: There's a joke about the snow being brown, and a comment from Luger about how his old 8th Avenue beat is filled with strip clubs and massage parlors.
- Broken Tears: Played for laughs. While Mr. Craig is in the cage, Wojo assembles the merry-go-round. Mr. Craig thanks them wholeheartedly, wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, then picks up his merry-go-round...and finds that it's too big to fit through the door and he'll haave to take it apart again. He breaks down sobbing.
- Christmas Episode: The first Barney Miller Christmas episode, with gift exchanges and Fish going out on a sting operation in a Santa suit. Barney exchanging presents and talking about celebrating the holiday does not fit well with the reveal in Season 6 that he's Jewish.note
- Continuity Nod: The mugger and Mr. Craig were both arrested outside of Siegel's Department store, which was previously mentioned in Season 2's "You Dirty Rat".
- A Day in the Limelight: A rare example of Yemana having the main storyline, as Nick gets a crush on an attractive Japanese woman who happens to be a hooker.
- A Dog Named "Dog": The first Christmas Episode of Barney Miller was titled "Christmas Story".
- The Grinch: Fish is cranky about Christmas like he's cranky about everything else. When Wojo sprinkles fake snow on him Fish barks "Get away from me!". When the detectives get a report about a mugger targeting Santa Clauses, Fish chuckles and says "Good."
- Racial Face Blindness: Dorothy, struggling with the mug shot book, says "It's hard to tell, everyone looks so much alike." Yemana says "I know what you mean. I'm Japanese too."
- Red Light District: Luger, getting maudlin as usual for the good old days, complains that his old 8th Avenue beat is now a red light district filled with "porno palaces" and massage parlors.Yemana: That stuff's hard to wrap.
- Streetwalker: What Dorothy was doing on the corner of 14th and Broadway on Christmas Eve. Wojo wrestles with his conscience for a while before telling Nick, who goes out with Dorothy anyway.Yemana: As of now, I'm officially off duty.
Dorothy: [smiles] As of now — Me too!
