In the fifth season, the format of "Police Story" changed. Instead of one-hour episodes telling one story, they all became two-parters....sort of like little movies. Most of these are actually BETTER than the older episodes because they had a lot of time to tell the story and tell it completely. A few, like this one, were not.
In addition to these changes, NBC obviously lost confidence in the show and the time slot for the shows changed a lot. Sometimes it would not be aired for a month or more...so it's no wonder its audience declined. A couple of these they didn't even bother showing during season five and they just released a couple of them as stand-alone movies in what would be season six. A sad ending for a fantastic series.
This is the final "Police Story"...which is sad because it was very weak. The acting could have been better and the writing really could have been better. It's especially sad, as the episode addresses important topics--police burnout and depression. But it's mostly lost due to the writing.
Karen Black plays a police woman who is having a VERY bad recent run. One police lady friend, a mentor, blew the top of her head off...and Black's character found her! She also had a couple friends murdered by a gang...leaving their two nice kids ophans. And, the job itself is getting her down...as she sees a lot of horrible things and deals with horrible people. As a result, she's depresses, suicidal and a real mess. Can she manage to pull herself out of it?
The ideas brought about in the above paragraph make for what COULD have been a great episode. Instead, everything just solves itself as if by magic! She doesn't need therapy, a day after a suicide attempt she's at her best and when she is offered a very good career change, she declines...which really makes little sense. All in all, a real disappointment and a show that could have been so much more. Could this be a case where they simply rushed through the episode in order to finish off the series? Or, because it was last, did they resurrect a previously rejected episode just to fulfill their obligations? All I know is that it often wasn't especially logical or coherent.
By the way, as I mentioned in the summary, as of this date, there is NO cast list on IMDB for this one...none.
In addition to these changes, NBC obviously lost confidence in the show and the time slot for the shows changed a lot. Sometimes it would not be aired for a month or more...so it's no wonder its audience declined. A couple of these they didn't even bother showing during season five and they just released a couple of them as stand-alone movies in what would be season six. A sad ending for a fantastic series.
This is the final "Police Story"...which is sad because it was very weak. The acting could have been better and the writing really could have been better. It's especially sad, as the episode addresses important topics--police burnout and depression. But it's mostly lost due to the writing.
Karen Black plays a police woman who is having a VERY bad recent run. One police lady friend, a mentor, blew the top of her head off...and Black's character found her! She also had a couple friends murdered by a gang...leaving their two nice kids ophans. And, the job itself is getting her down...as she sees a lot of horrible things and deals with horrible people. As a result, she's depresses, suicidal and a real mess. Can she manage to pull herself out of it?
The ideas brought about in the above paragraph make for what COULD have been a great episode. Instead, everything just solves itself as if by magic! She doesn't need therapy, a day after a suicide attempt she's at her best and when she is offered a very good career change, she declines...which really makes little sense. All in all, a real disappointment and a show that could have been so much more. Could this be a case where they simply rushed through the episode in order to finish off the series? Or, because it was last, did they resurrect a previously rejected episode just to fulfill their obligations? All I know is that it often wasn't especially logical or coherent.
By the way, as I mentioned in the summary, as of this date, there is NO cast list on IMDB for this one...none.
