Title: Inquisition
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Jim Tisale and Calvin Kelly (story), Tony Sheehan (teleplay)
Air Date: September 13, 1979
Previous: Jack Soo: A Retrospective
Next: The Photographer
Guest Starring: George Murdock, Dino Natali, Peter Jurasik, Norman Bartold
"Inquisition" is the first episode of the sixth season of Barney Miller.
A man is arrested for robbing an adult bookstore, but that plot goes nowhere after a couple of jokes. The second wacky crime gets more attention: a man named George Alsop is arrested for breaking and entering into Siegel's department store. It turns out that Mr. Alsop, driven to madness by the syrupy melodies playing on Siegel's Muzak system, broke in to destroy the store's Muzak machine. Jack Corwin from "Automated Moods Inc." comes in to press charges.
Meanwhile, the 12th Precinct's main antagonist, Lt. Scanlon of Internal Affairs, has returned. It seems that a member of the NYPD wrote an anonymous letter describing his life as a closeted homosexual—and the letter said the man worked in the 12th precinct. Being gay isn't a firing offense like it was in the military, but Scanlon is determined to find out who it is. Eventually the letter writer reveals himself to Barney: Officer Zatelli, a uniform and one of Levitt's coworkers from downstairs.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Scanlon possibly reveals a little too much about himself. His self-justification about his investigation leads him into a tangent, where he babbles to Barney about cops being on stakeout together and seeing each other in the shower room, before he says that after a policeman spends all day with hookers and "the dregs of femininity...a fresh clean cop all in blue might not look so bad!"
- Bland-Name Product: Muzak is actually mentioned by name, but, no doubt because the storyline eventually leads to an accusation of subliminal advertising, the company mentioned in the episode is a competitor called "Automated Moods Inc.".
- Call-Back: When Mr. Alsop rants about the evil of Muzak, one of the melodies he cites as playing in Siegel's is the theme to The Sound of Music. When Corwin of Automated Moods shows up, he's humming that same theme.
- Clumsy Copyright Censorship: In syndication and home video, whenever a character says "Muzak"—that being the name of a specific company, not a generic term—it's muted.
- Comically Missing the Point: When booking the thief who robbed the porn shop, Dietrich says of dirty books that "they may have some redeeming value." The thief shoots back with "What are you talking about? You can't hock them!"
- Coming-Out Story: Officer Zatelli comes out to Capt. Miller. This mini-arc would be revisited 14 episodes later in "The Child Stealers".
- Continuity Nod: Another reference to Siegel's department store, evidently a major shopping destination in the 12th Precinct.
- Internal Affairs: Scanlon of IA makes another unwelcome visit, this time hunting for a homosexual somewhere in the 12th Precinct.
- Subliminal Advertising: Alsop accuses Corwin and Automated Moods of sneaking subliminal messages like "Don't steal" into the easy listening music. It turns out that this is true, and, to avoid it becoming public knowledge, Automated Moods refuses to press charges and Alsop is released.
