Title: The Psychic
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Tony Sheehan, Frank Dungan, and Jeff Stein
Air Date: February 5, 1981
Previous: Movie: Part 2
Next: Stormy Weather
Guest Starring: James Gregory, Kenneth Tigar, Larry Hankin, Fred Sadoff
"The Psychic" is the 11th episode of the seventh season of Barney Miller.
Wojo brings in Phillip Pollock (Kenneth Tigar), who assaulted one Earl Kelso (Larry Hankin). Asked why, Mr. Pollock says he's a psychic and he simply knew that Mr. Kelso was going to steal the purse of a woman who was walking ahead of him. Everyone thinks this is nonsense—but as it turns out, Mr. Kelso has a long arrest record that includes several incidents of purse snatching.
Wacky case #2 has Levitt and Dietrich bringing in Prof. Hanna, a linguistics professor at NYU. Prof. Hanna, an English scholar, tore apart a sign for Aunt Sally's Kosher Style Pickles because it was an offense to the language, with words like "crun-crun-crunchiest."
Meanwhile, ol' Inspector Luger drops by. Luger, who has grown weary of his duties with the Media Relations department, wants Barney to write his press releases for him. In other developments Harris has decided to diversify his investments, moving from stock trading to trading in commodities like eggs and orange juice.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: The NYPD is putting on a talent show. Harris says to Barney, "Barney, back in college, didn't you used to do a little singing?" Hal Linden was a song and dance man and a veteran of musical theater before being cast in Barney Miller.
- And Starring: James Gregory gets his usual "Special Guest Star" credit.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The horrors that Mr. Pollock predicts after he goes into a psychic reverie.Mr. Pollock: Wars, economic collapse, people rioting for food...oh my God, they canceled Lou Grant.
- Brick Joke: The episode opens with Barney telling the others about an NYPD talent show. They all express indifference and Barney throws the flier in the garbage. It ends with Wojo, who fished the flier out of the garbage, saying "How come nobody told me about the variety show?"
- Crunchtastic: Prof. Kelso vandalizes the ad agency because of how much he hates this trope. He sarcastically suggests calling the pickles "the ko-ko-kosherest" and is horrified when Mr. Joyce of Aunt Sally's Kosher-Style Pickles likes that slogan.
- Department of Redundancy Department: One of the signs that offended Prof. Hanna said "free gifts." He asks, "What other kind of gifts are there?"
- Grammar Nazi: Prof. Kelso, who wrecked a sign because of its poor English and yells at Barney for saying "Hopefully" to mean "I hope." Dietrich deliberately irritates the professor by starting a sentence with "Irregardless."
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Pollock the psychic says "I sense a gloomy, overbearing presence nearby." Enter Inspector Luger.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: A frequent gag on the show. Specifically, this is one of five different episodes where Kenneth Tigar appeared as a Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane character with a supernatural ability or problem. Everybody assumes that Mr. Pollock is crazy, but somehow he knew that Mr. Kelso was a purse snatcher, he sensed Barney's resentment of Luger, and he seemed to predict Harris's big loss in the commodities exchange.
- Prophecy Twist: Harris is about to go out on an armed robbery call when Mr. Pollock has a premonition of disaster, speaking of "falling" and "plummeting" and begging Harris not to go. Harris laughs derisively, leaves on the armed robbery call, and comes back just fine. However, while he was gone he missed a call from his commodities broker about the falling, plummeting price of eggs. Because Harris wasn't there to take the call, he missed his chance to cover his margin, which forced the broker to unload all the eggs at a big loss.
- Suddenly Shouting: Mr. Pollock's psychic powers have picked up on the "resentment" and "frustration" Barney is feeling over Luger strong-arming him into writing the press releases. Then Inspector Luger wanders over and Pollock hears his name.Mr. Pollock: Luger? Luger? DO YOUR OWN DAMN WORK!
