Title: Copycat
Directed by: Jeremiah Morris
Written by: Douglas Wyman and Tony Sheehan
Air Date: October 27, 1977
Previous: Burial
Next: Blizzard
Guest Starring: Don Calfa, John Dullaghan, Don Sherman, Norman Bartold
"Copycat" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of Barney Miller.
Two different detectives have personal issues going. Wojo, who has failed the sergeant's exam four times, is on tenterhooks as he waits for his fifth test result. He's thrilled to find out that the fifth time was the charm, and he's passed the exam and made sergeant. But after he still has to do the scut work of the precinct as the junior man, he feels let down. Meanwhile, Harris is struggling to find a new place to live. His increasingly frantic hunt for an apartment is distracting him from his work, which in turn is irritating Barney.
As far as crime in the 12th Precinct goes: a Mr. Boston tells Yemana that his coffee shop was robbed by a man who claimed to have a bomb in his pants. Mr. Boston says that the whole experience seemed familiar, and then he realized why: it was on TV as the TV movie-of-the-week. Yemana starts scouring TV Guide to get a lead on what kinds of crimes the cops might expect. The other criminal in the squad room that week is one Harold Durrell, who tried to hold up a liquor store with a Finger Gun, but was so drunk that he forgot to hide his hand in his pocket.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Harold Durrell admits as soon as he's taken into the squad room that he's an alcoholic. Wojo's frustration at being the junior detective boils over when he has to take Mr. Durrell into the restroom to vomit.
- Continuity Nod: Wojo's struggles to pass the sergeant's exam was previously mentioned in "Bus Stop", when he failed for the fourth time, as well as in "The RAND Report" and "Sex Surrogate".
- Discriminate and Switch: Harris is turned down for a lease...because he's a cop and the landlord "won't rent to anyone who doesn't have a steady job."
- Finger Gun: Mr. Durrell tried to hold up a store with a finger gun that he didn't hide in his pocket. After the store owner was done laughing, he called the police.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: There's a lot of this, as the detectives talk to Mr. Boston and later to Angelo Dodi (the criminal) about how Real Life police work isn't like TV. Yemana explains that the difference is why he doesn't like cop shows:Yemana: No, I don't watch shows like that. I can't enjoy them because, being a cop myself, I spot the mistakes and inaccuracies and the fantastic things that in real life never happen.
Mr. Boston: On the show they caught him!
Yemana: Good example! - Shout-Out
- Yemana thumbs through the TV Guide for possible crimes, and reports to Barney that Lucy is pregnant.
- At the end, as Dietrich is locking up Mr. Dodi the copycat, he explains that Mr. Dodi was wrong to think that cops are supermen. Dietrich says that cops are just ordinary people like everyone else. Then after he locks the cage Dietrich says "And dat's the name of dat tune!", which was the Catchphrase of Robert Blake on 70s cop show Baretta.
- This Is Reality: Mr. Dodi's career as a copycat of TV show crimes ends when he can't pull off a subway robbery. The guy on TV used suction cups to crawl over the roof of the subway train until he got to the cash car. Mr. Dodi found that his suction cups were too powerful and he couldn't move them well, and then he discovered that the cash car had been moved.
- Tropaholics Anonymous: After hearing of Mr. Durrell's arrest, his AA sponsor Mr. Jenkins comes in to the squad room. After Mr. Jenkins drones on for a while about how his life is so great after he quit drinking, Mr. Durrell tells the real reason why AA isn't working for him.Mr. Durrell: You're boring!
