Cagney & Lacey — Two female cops, Christine Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey,
fight crime in
New York City. It was groundbreaking in its time (
The Eighties); for that matter, you don't see many series like it today, either.
Cagney & Lacey provides example of the following tropes:
- The Big Rotten Apple: This was a New York that was still mired in the various troubles and squalor that defined it for most of the late 20thC. A lot of the crimes in the series related to the gang turf wars, social divisions, and the poverty inherent in the city.
- Buddy Cop Show
- Cop Show
- Chase Scene
- Dirty Harriet
- The Eighties
- '80s Hair: Especially obvious in the first season opening, when they go undercover as hookers.
- Hide Your Lesbians: A constant worry of CBS was that the two female characters would be perceived as lesbians — as a result Mary Beth Lacey was married, and actress Meg Foster (playing Cagney) was replaced by Sharon Gless because she was "too aggressive and likely to be perceived as a lesbian by viewers". CBS hoped Sharon would be a more "high-class" and "feminine" Cagney, but fortunately the producers resisted this Executive Meddling and kept Cagney's tough working-class character.
- Lovely Angels
- Made-for-TV Movie: The pilot and four sequels (aired in the mid-1990s).
- Name and Name
- Pretty in Mink: Cagney wears a fox fur coat in the second opening.
- Shirtless Scene: Given this show was for the ladies, Fanservice for them was only fair. Plus it was the best kind that TV standards at the time would allow.
0 reviews