Title: Dog Days
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Reinhold Weege
Air Date: September 28, 1978
Previous: The Search
Next: The Baby Broker
Guest Starring: Rosalind Cash, Joseph Perry, John Lawlor
"Dog Days" was the third episode of the fifth season of Barney Miller.
An extremely attractive black woman, Mrs. Slade, comes into the squad room. Harris is very interested in her but disappointed to find that she has a husband. In fact the husband is missing, and Mrs. Slade is there to file a missing persons report, although from the sound of things he's taken off.
The second wacky case involves a dogfighting ring. Yemana busts one of the fighting dog owners, a Joseph Lasorda. Mr. Lasorda takes exception to being arrested and asks why dogfighting isn't allowed when sports like boxing are. Somehow, Mr. Lasorda's vicious fighting dog finds its way to the 12th Precinct's squad room, and terrorizes the detectives.
While all that's going down, the audience learns some personal news about Barney. A phone call from Liz reveals that she and Barney are separated.
Tropes:
- Appeal to Familial Wisdom: One of Yemana's all-time best lines comes at the end when he tries to cheer Barney up about being separated.Yemana: Hey Barney, my grandfather had something to say about marriage.
Barney: I don't doubt that.
Yemana: Marriage is like a horse with a broken leg. You can shoot it, but that don't fix the leg. - Beastly Bloodsports: A member of a dogfighting ring gets arrested. Mr. Lasorda complains that it makes no sense to ban dogfighting when boxing is OK.
- Beware of Vicious Dog: Mr. Lasorda's fighting dog somehow followed its owner to the 12th Precinct. Yemana locks himself in the cage with Mr. Lasorda to hide. Later, when an unknowing Levitt casually walks the dog back into the squad room, all the detectives are held hostage. Barney pulls his gun and nearly shoots the dog before Mr. Lasorda finally calls him off.
- Continuity Nod:
- In fourth season episode "Quo Vadis?" it was implied that Liz, who had had enough of her husband's difficult, dangerous career as an NYPD officer, was ready to end their marriage. This episode reveals that the Millers are separated.
- One episode after Harris had to shave his mustache to go Disguised in Drag in "The Search", he is wearing a fake mustache, to Barney's amusement.
- A Friend in Need: When the detectives find out that Barney has split up with his wife, they offer support. Yemana invites him over for dinner, Wojo suggests they all go out for beers, and all four come into Barney's office to cheer him up.
- Going to the Store: Mrs. Slade says that her husband told her he was going out to the store, and has been gone for three days. The cops suspect that Mr. Slade skipped out on his wife, and that turns out to be the case, as Harris finds him in a hotel with another woman.
- Insistent Terminology: Wojo calls Morris the dog catcher a "dog catcher", and an offended Morris says his title is "Humane Technician."
- Newhart Phone Call: A sad one when Barney talks to Liz, who is on vacation somewhere with the kids, on the phone. But before that a funny one, when Barney is talking to some desk clerk at Liz's hotel. He asks about his wife, then says "Yes, the slim little blonde with an interesting figure", then, annoyed, tells the desk clerk that he's "her husband" from "the New York Police Department."
- Take a Third Option: When Mr. Lasorda's killer dog comes into the squad room, Nick is the only one there to deal with it. He doesn't want to shoot it, and he certainly doesn't want to be attacked, and the owner is demanding to be set free in exchange for calling it off. So Nick picks up the keys, very slowly walks over to the cage... and locks himself in there next to the owner.
