Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta is an unorthodox plainclothespolice detective with the 53rd Precinct in an unnamed, fictional city. He resides in Apartment 2C of the run-down King Edward Hotel with Fred, his Triton sulphur-crested cockatoo. A master of disguise, Baretta wears many while performing his duties. When not working he usually wears a short-sleeve sweatshirt, casual slacks, a brown suede jacket and a newsboy cap. Baretta is often seen with an unlit cigarette in his lips or behind his ear. His catchphrases include "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time", "You can take dat to da bank" and "And dat's the name of dat tune." When exasperated he, occasionally speaks in asides to his late father, Louie Baretta. He drives a rusted-out Mist Blue 1966 Chevrolet Impala four-door sport sedan nicknamed "The Blue Ghost". He frequents Ross's Billiard Academy and refers to his numerous girlfriends as his "cousins".
Cast
Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta, a police detective.
Billy Truman, retired cop who used to work with Baretta's father Louie at the 53rd Precinct.
Rooster, a streetwise pimp and Baretta's favorite informant.
Inspector Shiller and Lieutenant Hal Brubaker, Baretta's supervisors.
Detective Foley, police detective.
Fats, a gravelly-voiced, older detective.
Detective Nopke, a rookie detective.
Little Moe, a shoeshine man and informant.
Mr. Nicholas, a mob boss.
Mr. Muncie, the owner of a liquor store at 52nd and Main.
Episodes
Production notes
Upon watching Blake in the 1973 film Electra Glide in Blue, then ABC executive Michael Eisner contacted the star about doing a police series, which culminated in Baretta. Blake was given creative control in most aspects of production. The theme song, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow", was written by Dave Grusin and Morgan Ames; initially an instrumental, lyrics were added in later seasons that were sung by African American performer of stage and screen, Sammy Davis, Jr. Every episode of Baretta began with the song, which contained the motto, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." According to Blake, studio executives did not want Davis's vocals for the theme song for fear that audiences would confuse Baretta for being a black series. Blake threatened to leave production if Davis's recording was rejected. His bosses relented. The song was released as a single in Europe in 1976, reaching number one in the Dutch Top 40 as "Baretta's Theme". The music for the theme song was performed by Los Angeles-based Latin influenced Rock band El Chicano from Los Angeles, California. El Chicano also released the song as a 45 and also as a track on one of their albums. The "Baretta" theme song by El Chicano was a huge hit in many countries including Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore, France and The Philippines. The song was released as a single in the US, but only charted as high as #42 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, while it "bubbled under the Hot 100" at #101.
Syndication
After its initial run in syndication beginning in 1979, the series later re-appeared on TV Land in 1999 as part of a package of series licensed from Universal. Me-TV aired reruns of Baretta on Saturday afternoons in 2007.
magazine spoofed the series as "Barfetta". In Taskmaster Live, a 2016 show at the Edinburgh Festival contested by five television executives, Jeff Ford, the UKManaging Director of Fox Networks Group and SVP and Content Development Manager for Europe and Africa, described Baretta as a "lesser known 1960s vehicle". In the Barney Miller episode 'Copycat', Detective Arthur Dietrich tells a copycat criminal that cops and committing a crime are not like they are depicted on television, and ends by saying, "And dat's the name of dat tune."
