Lieutenant Murtaugh (played by Barry Jenner from 1990 to 1992) is Carl's unreliable and obnoxious second boss at the Chicago Police Department. He has a crush on an unwilling Rachel and tries to date her in season two's "Skip to My Lieu". Murtaugh is seemingly tolerant of Steve Urkel when they bond over root beer floats about their love lives at the end of that episode but later impudently takes Steve's money over a poker game in season three's "A Pair of Ladies". Despite being known as buffoonish, Murtaugh had at one point in his career thwarted a bomb threat and had the terrorist responsible convicted, causing the bomber to swear revenge against him. The bomber had stalked Murtaugh and realized his workout habits and wired a treadmill to detonate when it got below a certain speed, which would kill Murtaugh. However, this was the same time Carl was ordered to get serious about exercise in order to pass his physical test and he used the rigged machine instead! When Murtaugh realizes Carl fell to a trap intended for him, he summons the bomb squad to defuse the bomb while Carl must keep running frantically.
Episode appearance[]
Season 2[]
- Boxcar Blues (first appearance)
- Dog Day Halloween
- High Hopes
- Taking Credit
- Skip to My Lieu
Season 3[]
- Boom!
- Making the Team
- The Show Must Go On
- Born to Be Mild
- The Love God
- A Pair of Ladies
- A Test of Friendship
- Jailhouse Blues
- Stop! In the Name of Love
- The Urkel Who Came to Dinner
- Robo-Nerd II
- Farewell, My Laura
Season 4[]
- Number One With a Bullet (last appearance)
Trivia[]
- In the Season 2 Episode "Taking Credit" Lt. Murtaugh claims that he changed his first name to Lieutenant when he was promoted to the rank, when ask his name prior to the change he claims it was Sergeant, indicating that Mr. Murtaugh's name change is part of his personal promotion ritual.
Barry Jenner was approached by producers to make more appearances in the fourth season, as well as the following seasons. However, he elected to not sign on as he wanted to pursue more full-time roles. He would actually become well known for his recurring role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, playing Admiral William Ross.