Cagney & Lacey

Cagney and Lacey was one of the best acted, best written, best conceived police shows in TV history. Ranking alongside Hill Street Blues and Morse in terms of its quality, I would suggest it is one of the finest television series ever made, greatly surpassing most TV made today. Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless kept this series going so beautifully, with never a dull moment, and never anything less than perfect performances. So instinctive, so moving, so engaging and so charming - the two are among the great television partnerships. The gritty, honest dynamic those two wonderful actors generated is a beautiful achievement. It is actors like this that make television occasionally magnificent. What a shame we don't have anything to compare these days to this.

This show was unique in that it was the first time that two basically average looking women played the leads in a TV show that was not about the fact that they were just average looking women. The show was also ground-breaking in that both detectives in the partnership were women - smart, capable women. Women had gradually been integrated into TV police forces over the 15 years prior to this series, but they were usually part of a crime-solving team such as on "Ironside". The balance in this show was not through the well-known old cop/young cop formula. Instead, both detectives were 30-something women. The contrast came in the form of their marital status and their personal situations. Lacey was married and a mother, and Cagney was single.

There was a pilot and six episodes during the 1981-1982 season starring an actress other than Sharon Gless as Detective Christine Cagney. In the 1982-1983 season the show settled into the dynamic that made it so popular and which most people remember.

Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly redefined female relationships. No, they were never lovers and the thought had never occurred back in the 1980s. They were partners, allies, friends, and comrades in a man's profession. They were unlikely heroines. Mary Beth was married to Harvey with two sons and a daughter. Christine was the troubled single woman. Partnered together, they formed a dynamic duo with the likes of Starsky and Hutch and Miami Vice but with estrogen and a women's touch. As Cagney and Lacey, the audience realized that women can be more serious and intelligent than the other female duo of Laverne and Shirley. No, this show was serious, thought-provoking, and entertaining. We loved Cagney and Lacey and it was a show that it's audience fought to bring back to the airwaves with passion. Unfortunately, shows like Cagney and Lacey probably wouldn't come back. The idea of having mature, plain women like Daly and Gless is gone. Although the show garnered plenty of honors including Emmys for both Daly and Gless, it is hard to imagine that nowadays a show like Cagney and Lacey wouldn't be more Police Woman and less serious. On screen, Daly and Gless proved to be a dynamic duo. You knew you had two strong actresses giving the performance of their lives as female cops. Gone was the glamor and present was the seriousness that women should be taken more seriously. Unfortunately, actresses like Daly and Gless who are terrific American actresses of the highest caliber who can turn any guest appearance into an Emmy nomination should not be forgotten and discarded like yesterday's garbage. Daly and Gless proved that audiences didn't always go for glamorous, attractive, but a realistic portrayal of women in a man's department. It's still a man's world but Cagney and Lacey proved that they had what it took to make it there after all.

Tyne Daly (Christy) played Detective Mary Beth Lacey. Sharon Gless, (The trials of Rosie O"Neill) was Detective Christine Cagney. This was a show about two women who worked together and became good friends outside their job. Harvey Lacey,Tony LaTorre, was a nice and understanding husband.This show was really well done and we enjoyed watching it. It is always good to see women playing that type of role. There is one episode that stuck with me. It was about Hispanic illegal aliens in the United States living in horrible conditions, even in the attic of a building. They were chasing them and purposefully missed them, by saying: "there is nobody here." That was a nice episode where they showed a lot of compassion.

Cagney and Lacey was an amazing television series that addressed several tough issues through the eyes of two women protagonists. One of the only dramas on television to star two women, Cagney and Lacey was remarkable in portraying women as serious participants in a tough and dangerous profession. The series starred Tyne Daly (4 Emmys) and Sharon Gless (2 Emmys) - in my opinion the best acting team on television. The show featured two very different women bickering, laughing, crying together and backing each other up through a series of triumphs and crises. The women were not victims - they were ordinary women doing a rough job and doing it well. The characters and the story line developed over the run of the show. Mary Beth had a baby; almost lost a son and fought cancer. Chris struggled through a series of unsuccessful relationships; was promoted to sergeant and faced her alcoholism. This show wasn't just a cop show - it was a show about two women who happened to be cops. The series was canceled three times and has the distinction of being the first series to returned to the schedule because of massive fan protest at the original cancelation. Well worth watching if you get the chance. It is, however, rarely shown on television.