Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Series / EZStreets

Go To

1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ez_streets.jpg]]
2
3This [[ScrewedByTheNetwork short-lived]] series lasted eight episodes on Creator/{{CBS}} (with a ninth that only aired years later on cable). It followed an undercover cop, Cameron Quinn (Creator/KenOlin) who was branded dirty after an assignment went bad. He was recruited by the mysterious Captain Geary of the Intelligence Unit to to take down a mobster named Jimmy Murtha (Creator/JoePantoliano), who's in a turf war with fellow gangster Michael "Fivers" Dugan (Creator/RDCall) who's got the city's drug addicted mayor Christian Davidson (Creator/CarlLumbly) in his pocket. Other main characters are Jimmy's friend Danny Rooney (Creator/JasonGedrick), who spent 3 years in prison rather than rat him out, his lawyer Theresa Conners (Creator/DebrahFarentino), and his enforcer Mickey Kinnear (Creator/MikeStarr), and Quinn's new partner Detective Frank Collero (Creator/RichardPortnow). Extremely critically acclaimed, it was created by future Oscar winner Paul Haggis. This series has been singled out as being ''way'' ahead of its time.
4
5----
6!!This show provides examples of:
7* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Theresa in spades.
8* ArchEnemy: Jimmy and Fivers are each others.
9* AmbulanceChaser: Leo's lawyer in the episode "On the Left Side of the Angel." He [[spoiler: refuses to let the police move Leo from the animal clinic so that if it dies he can sue for malpractice.]]
10* AndStarring: Debrah Farentino gets one of these credits.
11* AffablyEvil: Jimmy is funny, smart, charming, and a remorseless killer.
12* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Theresa for Jimmy.
13* AmoralAttorney: Theresa is this for Jimmy.
14* AntiHero: Quinn and Danny.
15* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Quinn's "What happened to you?" to Theresa.
16* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Mr. Kinnear.]]
17* BatmanGambit: Theresa pulls off one of these when Jimmy is arrested in "On the Left Side of the Angel."
18* BattleButler: Mickey for Jimmy.
19* BeingGoodSucks: Both Danny and Quinn learn this over and over.
20* BelligerentSexualTension: Theresa with both Jimmy AND Quinn.
21* BerserkButton: Violence against women and/or children is Danny's.
22* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:Mickey's father, Mr. Kinnear.]]
23* BewareTheNiceOnes: As nice as he is, Danny can get extremely violent.
24* TheBigGuy: Mickey played by Mike Starr, who specializes in these kinds of characters.
25* BlackAndGreyMorality: Everyone.
26* BondageIsBad: Jimmy and Theresa's relationship is genuinely abusive.
27* BoundandGagged: Jimmy does this to Barry to get him to sign over papers and Leo to get information.
28* BreakTheCutie: Danny. He went to prison for not testifying against Jimmy only to get out three years later to find his wife living with another man, his daughter doesn't even remember him, and as a convicted felon he finds it all but impossible to get an honest job.
29* TheCastShowoff: Mike Starr sings in "Neither Have I Wings to Fly."
30* CatchPhrase: "I got a thing" is said multiple times by different characters.
31* ChekhovsGun: All the time but rarely ever in the same episode. If there's some brief mention of something out of the main line in an episode then it will be used one or two episodes later.
32* ChekhovsLecture: Theresa warns Jimmy that Dugan is going to come after him in the episodes "Every Picture Tells a Story" and "A Terrible Beauty," but he refuses to listen. [[spoiler:Dugan does at the end of the latter episode.]]
33* ChildhoodFriends: Jimmy, Danny and Mickey have been friends since childhood.
34* CorruptTheCutie: Danny. Oh, Danny. He wants to make an honest living, but with his criminal record it's far easier to get involved with organized crime.
35* CrazyJealousGuy: Jimmy when Theresa flirts with Quinn.
36* DarkAndTroubledPast: All the main characters have one of these.
37* DealWithTheDevil: Mayor Davidson made one of these with Dugan.
38* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Danny's daughter Janie.
39* TheDeterminator: Quinn and Geary will stop at nothing to complete their respective missions.
40* DomesticAbuse: Jimmy with Theresa.
41* TheDon: Dugan
42* DrugsAreBad: Ellie overdoses in one episode. Jimmy mentions his brother dying of a drug overdose.
43* EvenEvilHasStandards: Jimmy hates drugs.
44* {{Fanservice}}: Theresa was shown in her underwear in multiple episodes. She flashes Quinn, and tries to seduce Jimmy while sitting naked in a church pew.
45* EvilRedhead: Jimmy
46* FilmNoir: A rare TV version.
47* FightingIrish: All the principal characters are Irish-American.
48* FlashbackEcho: When Quinn finds Theresa in the basement of her old apartment building wear a locket, he [[spoiler: flashes back to giving it to her when they were teens and then kissing her. Then the scene cuts to them kissing in the present.]]
49* HelloAttorney: Theresa
50* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jimmy and Mickey.
51* HiddenWire: Tim wears one of these in the first episode and Quinn plants one in Theresa bedroom in the last episode.
52* HighSchoolSweethearts: Quinn and Theresa.
53* HoneyTrap: At times Theresa seems to be one for Quinn.
54* IllKillYou: In their first meeting Quinn Tells Jimmy that if he had anything to do with his partner's death he'll kill him. In the episode "On the Left Side of the Angel" he tells Theresa the same thing. Jimmy also makes multiple death threats and sometimes he follows through on them.
55* ImprovisedWeapon: In the episode "A Terrible Beauty" Jimmy picks up a pan during a shootout when someone is coming after him with a gun, luckily [[spoiler: Danny shoots the person before they kill Jimmy.]]
56* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: A lot of this. Most noteably in the episode "A Terrible Beauty" where a shootout in inter cut with scenes of a couple making love at the same time.
57* IOwnThisTown: Dugan is said to "own" everything from the police force to the mayor.
58* MirroringFactions: A big theme of this show was that people on both sides of the law had a lot in common. Promotional stuff even described it as being about "two men living parallel lives on opposite sides of the law."
59* MoralityPet: Danny is one of these for Jimmy.
60* TheMovieBuff: Sammy Feathers makes multiple classic movie references.
61* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Set in "a decaying American city located near the Canadian border" which bears an uncanny resemblance to Detroit.
62* AnOddPlaceToSleep: Theresa is shown sleeping in the basement of her abandoned childhood home.
63* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: Jimmy when he's arrested.
64* TheOneThatGotAway: Quinn seems to be this for Theresa.
65* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Jimmy who's of half Irish descent and Half Italian uses offensive terms to describe Italians. The actor who plays Jimmy, Joe Pantoliano is actually an Italian American.
66* SexyCoatFlashing: Theresa shows up at a funeral clad only in a red coat.
67* TheSociopath: Jimmy
68* SoftSpokenSadist: Dugan. Averted with Murtha.
69* SoundtrackDissonance: This very dark show is filled with a lot of gorgeous Irish music by the likes of Loreena [=McKennitt=] and Caroline Lavelle.
70* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Theresa multiple times in multiple episodes.
71* TownWithADarkSecret: Almost everyone is town is seemingly corrupt.
72* TheVamp: Theresa
73* WrongSideOfTheTracks: Where the entire series takes place.

Top