Barney Miller Connections

Researching this story took an interesting turn.  The whole time there was this tenuous connection to ABC's Barney Miller show.  At first, it seemed thinner than that, just something I found interesting, but hardly anybody else would.  One connection was a season five episode, "The Radical," where Wojo's arrestee turned out to be a radical that the US Marshals and the FBI just didn't have time to bother with.


Well, that turned out to be quite different than the real story.  In reality, the Time Bomber was of great interest to the FBI and he was arrested in short order after someone recognized him from a wanted poster.

Another episode that seemed to mesh with this story was from "Uniform Day" in season six.  Detective Dietrich set off to find an armed robber just days before the statute of limitations was set to expire.  It turned out that the robber lived the whole time as a recluse in a small rented room.


Well, that one does not quite fit either.  The Time Bomber did not live as a recluse at all, he was more like Jonathan Dodd in the season five episode, under a false ID but otherwise out in the open.  The difference, as far as I can tell from the research to this point, is that the Time Bomber didn't go around shoplifting or engaging in any other crimes.

So, just as I was about to drop this like of interest, I caught a rerun of season 1, episode 13, "The Hero" and glimpsed this:

The Time Bomber's FBI Wanted Flyer on the board behind Detective "Chano."

The wanted poster on the cork board is that of the Time Bomber, who at the time this episode was created in 1975, was working a 15 mile drive away from ABC's Television Center where the Barney Miller series was filmed.  He was supposed to be living in Los Angeles too, but I have not tracked down an address as of this writing.

Update: The same poster appears in season 1, episode 10 "The Guest"

Season 1, Episode 11 "Escape Artist"

Season 2, episode 7 "Grand Hotel"

Season 2, episode 8 "Discovery"

In other episodes, I've noticed some of the more famous "New Left" radicals wanted posters.  One was the wanted poster for Bernardine Rae Dohrn, in Captain Miller's office by the window.