Baretta
Playin' Police
TV Flash files “Playin' Police” as the last listed hour of season 3 — Baretta (1975–1978) on ABC, season 3, episode 24, aired 1976-05-04, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E24: listed hour 58 of 82 in the Baretta guide, last listed hour of season 3. It aired 1976-05-04 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Guns and Brothers” (S03E23). Next is “New Girl in Town” (S04E01).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Two shakedown artists posing as plainclothes cops are making a bundle ripping off other crooks — victims who aren't likely to go to the police.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Playin' Police sit in the Baretta guide?
S03E24 is listed hour 58 of 82 — last listed hour of season 3, season 3 episode 24.
When did Baretta S03E24 air?
Playin' Police aired 1976-05-04 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need Toma first?
No. Baretta replaced Toma as a Cannell vehicle for Blake. This undercover hour stands on its own street.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Robert Blake's undercover cop keeps a cockatoo named Fred and a theme America sang in parking lots. Street-level Spelling/Thomas toughness with disguises, informants, and a catchphrase about doing the time. Intensity on camera first; the later legal saga is extra-textual weather you already know.
The first image is a cockatoo named Fred and a cop who would not play pretty: Robert Blake's Tony Baretta in street-level disguises, informants, and a theme America sang in parking lots. ABC's Baretta (1975–1978), created by Stephen J. Cannell as a vehicle for Blake after Toma, ran four seasons, 82 episodes, in the Spelling/Thomas crime wave. Tom Ewell's Billy Truman and Michael D. Roberts's Rooster filled the orbit. Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow was a charting hit for Sammy Davis Jr. Don't do the crime if you…
Filed against
- Robert Blake as Det. Tony Baretta
Robert Blake's Det. Tony Baretta kept a cockatoo named Fred and a theme America sang in parking lots — street-level Spelling/Thomas toughness, disguises, informants, a catchphrase about doing the time. Intensity on camera first. TV Flash…
- Tom Ewell as Billy Truman
Tom Ewell occupied Baretta’s street-level orbit as Billy Truman — the civilian weather around Robert Blake’s undercover cop, a 1970s Spelling/Thomas hour with a cockatoo named Fred and a theme America sang in parking lots. Intensity…
- Michael D. Roberts as Rooster
Michael D. Roberts’s Rooster walked Baretta’s street-level toughness like an informant who had already heard the theme song — 1970s Spelling/Thomas cop hour, Robert Blake, a cockatoo named Fred, disguises, a catchphrase about doing the…