Title: Power Failure
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Tony Sheehan, Danny Arnold, and Reinhold Weege (story), Tony Sheehan and Danny Arnold (teleplay)
Air Date: December 9, 1976
Previous: Noninvolvement
Next: Christmas Story
Guest Starring: Stefan Gierasch, Paul Lichtman, Susan Brown
"Power Failure" is the ninth episode of the third season of Barney Miller.
Wojo brings in one Charles Keller, arrested for beating up a bookie in broad daylight. Keller insists that it wasn't him, which just makes Wojo laugh, until Keller says that it was his split personality, "Lenny". Keller is in fact being treated for split personality disorder, and his psychiatrist, Dr. Fitzgerald (Susan Brown) shows up in the squad room trying to get Keller released. Dr. Fitzgerald zeroes in on Captain Miller, whom she apparently finds attractive, and starts hitting on him.
A second involves a jewelry store owner, Mr. Rosten, who mistook the detectives of the 12th as thieves and fired a shot which narrowly missed killing Nick.
All this takes place as New York City is suffering from a blackout. A major power failure caused by three turbines going offline has blacked out a goodly chunk of the city, leaving the detectives scrambling for candles and matches while calls start coming in about bad guys taking advantage of the blackout to commit crimes.
Ironically, this episode aired seven months before New York City actually did have a major blackout in July 1977. The Kellers (Lenny, Charlie and latecomer Neil) might be presumed to be Ripped from the Headlines about the William Stanley Milligan
case, but Milligan wasn't arrested until October 1977. His attorneys entered an insanity plea stating that two of Billy's selves had committed the crimes without his knowledge, and he was put in a psychiatric hospital instead of prison.
Tropes:
- Bad to the Last Drop: When Nick tells Barney that the legendarily bad coffee is "perfect", Barney answers "I'm not looking for perfect, I'll settle for safe!".
- Big Blackout: The 12th Precinct and a lot of the rest of New York is blacked out.
- Captain Obvious: When the building is blacked out, Beckman the maintenance man says "Something's wrong with the lights!"
- The Gambling Addict: When Yemana finds out that Mr. Keller's split personality "Lenny" apparently made a huge score gambling on horse races, he gets very interested. Unfortunately for Nick by the time he finally gets a chance to ask Mr. Keller about horse tips, Keller has changed back into Charles.
- Insufferable Genius: A hallmark of the character of Dietrich from the very beginning, this being only his third appearance. Dietrich goes on a long-winded spiel about how split personality disorder is a real thing, but he has to keep lighting matches as he talks because the power's out. When he realizes he doesn't have anymore he stops talking, saying "Forget it, I'm out of matches."
- Sarcasm Mode: Beckman's Captain Obvious observation "Something's wrong with the lights!" is followed by Barney rolling his eyes and saying "our association has not been in vain."
- Shout-Out: Barney's comment to the aggressively horny Dr. Fitzgerald about how "So far I have only lusted in my heart" is an allusion to the Real Life interview by presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in Playboy magazine, where he used that exact phrase.
- Split Personality: Mr. Keller. While his main personality is mild-mannered, "Lenny" is loud and aggressive and violent, and apparently a compulsive gambler. Neil, who is seen later, is a cultured gentleman. Dr. Fitzgerald emphasizes that Charlie and Lenny really are two entirely different people (she doesn't know about Neil yet); Barney replies that one of them committed a crime and must endure the consequences.
- TV Telephone Etiquette: Particularly noticeable when Barney's call to Con Edison is followed by Keller's call to his shrink. Both of them hang up their phones without saying goodbye.
