Title: The Ghost
Directed by: Lee Bernhardi
Written by: Reinhold Weege
Air Date: January 12, 1978
Previous: The Bank
Next: Appendicitis
Guest Starring: Kenneth Tigar, Titos Vandis, Caroline Mc Williams, Nehemiah Persoff
"The Ghost" is the 13th episode of the fourth season of Barney Miller.
Instead of the usual two wacky cases, there are three wacky cases. Yemana takes a call about an "erotic bakery" that is selling X-rated cakes and pastries, displayed right in the shop window. As Barney wonders whether or not erotic rye bread breaks any laws, all the detectives can't stop peeking at the desserts. The second case is a public disturbance involving Mr. and Mrs. Stefanos, a Greek immigrant and an American wife. It turns out that Mr. Stefanos paid Mrs. Stefanos to marry him in order to get a green card, but has since fallen in love with her. Mrs. Stefanos, who happens to work as a prostitute under the name Tricia Morgan, is not at all interested in making their marriage real and keeps telling her husband to get lost.
The third wacky case case involves one Elliot Porter (Kenneth Tigar), who has been arrested after a report of a disturbance led to the detectives finding Mr. Porter trashing his apartment. Mr. Tigar insists that it wasn't him wrecking his apartment, it was Julian. Julian, of course, being the poltergeist who lives in Mr. Porter's apartment.
In personal news, Harris is now living in Dietrich's spare room, and hates it as much as he thought he would.
Tropes:
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Mr. Sims of Immigration, called in to take the report of a fake marriage. He talks about the pressure of having to deal with 290,000 souls and how depressing it is to have to tell people they have to go home. Eventually he shrugs and says that barring a confession from either Mr. or Mrs. Stefanos there's nothing he can do.
- Blowing a Raspberry: Wojo's scorn at the idea of a poltergeist in Mr. Porter's apartment is met with one of Dietrich's pompous lectures, as Dietrich asserts that there is verified, reliable evidence of the existence of poltergeists. Wojo just stares at him for a beat and then blows a raspberry.
- Citizenship Marriage: A simple arrangement in which Ms. Morgan agreed to marry Mr. Stefanos for a fee, so he could get a green card. He's fallen in love with her, which complicates things.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Yemana stops paying attention to Mr. Stefanos's happy memory of seeing the Statue of Liberty, because he is too busy staring at Ms. Morgan's backside.
- Head-Tiltingly Kinky: When Nick brings back a box of evidence from an erotic bakery, the detectives stare into it as Barney tilts his head incredulously.Harris: [giggling] What the hell is up with them poppy seeds?
- Mathematician's Answer: Dietrich does it again.Simms: Your mother is French!
Dietrich: Yes.
Simms: And your father?
Dietrich: Is dead.
Simms: But before that...
Dietrich: He was alive. - Maybe Ever After: Ms. Morgan is obviously moved by her husband's gallantry in defending her from Wojo's insults. As she leaves she tells him to give her a call if he ever needs help. He then leaves with an air of hopefulness.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Kenneth Tigar appeared on eight episodes of Barney Miller and in most of them he was playing a character with some sort of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane theme—in one he was possessed by a demon, in another he was a werewolf. In this one he reports having a poltergeist in his apartment. The detectives other than Dietrich dismiss Mr. Porter as a nut...until a file drawer falls out of a filing cabinet, the coat hanger falls over, and a strange banging noise is heard in Barney's office.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut: Wojo as usual is unable to conceal his disdain for prostitutes, calling Ms. Morgan a "cheap hooker". Mr. Stefanos gets very angry, getting all up in Wojo's face and screaming that Wojo can't talk to a lady that way.
- Streetwalker: Ms. Morgan's profession, one which she isn't inclined to give up to live with Mr. Stefanos. When Wojo asks "are you an actress?", she says "You have to be."
- Unreveal Angle: Naturally, the audience never gets to see what sort of erotic imagery one can get out of doughnuts and rye bread.
