"Fish and Roots" was obviously inspired by the recent broadcast of the Alex Haley miniseries, already touched upon by Harris in BARNEY MILLER's "Group Home." Loomis is sporting the word 'ROOTS' on his jacket, and balks at Bernice's suggestion of fried chicken ("I ain't eating nothing put out by no honky Southern colonel!"). In order to put him in touch with his heritage, Charlie invites over an African exchange student, Roger Kutumba (Herb Jefferson Jr.), who startles Fish by appearing at the door with spear and shield. Fish's annual checkup has him believing he's got very little time left, and the noisy living room ceremony making Loomis a chief naturally inspires an angry outburst for quiet, driving Loomis out of the house. When Bernice phones the 12th Precinct to get help in searching for Loomis, we get a surprise cameo from Hal Linden's Barney Miller, left speechless. Regular cast member Sarah Natoli, who looks and sounds Italian, plays Diane Polanski, who here discusses Polish ancestors like Bobby Vinton, and looks better in Jilly's clothes than Jilly does. Of course, Todd Bridges himself had appeared in ROOTS, playing Bud Harvey, son of Tom the blacksmith (Georg Stanford Brown).
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