Question: Did the show Barney Miller take place in an evil alternate universe? This chicken bucket may hold the clues.
In the 1982 2-part episode “Chinatown”, when detectives Dietrich and Harris were holding a murder witness in protective custody, they subsisted on deliveries from restaurants, delis, and fast food. One prop used in the episode was a chicken bucket with an intriguing face.
In our universe, Colonel Sanders is a friendly-looking, elderly gent in a white suit and matching goatee, browline eyeglasses, and a string tie in a bow. The iconic chicken bucket is mostly white with a couple of red bars.
The Colonel’s bucket counterpart is a sinister figure with a black western hat, darkly shadowed eyes, and a black gaucho mustache. The cheerful bow in the tie is obscured, leaving the black tails dangling below the shaven chin. The face projects out of a red frame and the broad red stripes are replaced with intimidating black bars, like a jail cell.
The overall effect transforms the chicken mascot into a classic western villain. In fact, he looks uncannily like Lee Van Cleef’s character Colonel Mortimer in the film For A Few Dollars More. Coincidence? Is this merely a designer’s effort to alter a trademarked mascot enough to avoid infringement? Or does it tell us something about the universe in which Barney Miller takes place?
My theory is that in the Millerverse, instead of Harlan Sanders dominating the ready-to-eat chicken market, actor Lee Van Cleef leveraged his Italian western film villain fame to launch Colonel Mortimer’s Spaghetti-Fried Chicken. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.
