Authors: Barney Rosenzweig
Cliff Gorman
Tony
(1)
Judith Ivey
Tony
(2)
John Karlen
Emmy
(1)
Dinah Manoff
Tony
(1)
Mercedes McCambridge
Oscar
(1),
Golden Globe
(1)
Peggy McCay
Emmy
(1)
Michael Moriarty
Emmy
(1)
Lois Nettleton
Emmy
(1)
Sandra Oh
Golden Globe
(1)
Doris Roberts
Emmy
(4)
Paul Sand
Tony
(1)
Forest Whitaker
Oscar
(1),
Golden Globe
(1)
Lynn Whitfield
Emmy
(1)
-
Series directors (# of episodes)
(in alphabetical order by last name)
Karen Arthur (7)
Reza Badiyi (11)
Allen Baron (1)
Gabrielle Beaumont (1)
Burt Brinkerhoff (1)
Charlotte Brown (1)
Georg Stanford Brown (5)
Michael Caffey (1)
Jackie Cooper (4)
Ray Danton (10)
Janet Davidson (1)
Charles S. Dubin (1)
Bill Duke (2)
Jan Eliasberg (1)
Jonathan Estrin (1)
James Frawley (12)
Harry Harris (1)
Jeffrey Hayden (1)
Helaine Head (3)
Nessa Hyams (1)
Stan Lathan (1)
Peter Levin (2)
Victor Lobl (2)
Stephen Macht (1)
Nancy Malone (1)
Sharron Miller (10)
Christian I. Nyby, II (1)
Joel Oliansky (1)
Francine Parker (1)
John Patterson (5)
Leo Penn (1)
Barbara Peters (1)
Ted Post (
pilot film
) (1)
Joel Rosenzweig (2)
Nicholas Sgarro (1)
James Sheldon (1)
Alexander Singer (17)
Ralph Singleton (2)
Michael Vejar (1)
Al Waxman (6)
Claudia Weill (1)
Don Weiss (1)
-
Series scriptwriters
(
in alphabetical order by last name
)
Frank Abatemarco
Staff
Chris Abbott-Fish
Staff
David Abromowitz
Freelance
Claudia Adams
Freelance
Josef Anderson
Freelance
Leo A. Arthur
Staff
Michelle Ashford
Freelance
Barbara Avedon & Barbara Corday
Co-Creators
Gloria Banta
Staff
Larry Barber & Paul Barber
Freelance
Michael Berlin & Eric Estrin
Freelance
Robert Bielak
Freelance
Eric Blakeney & Gene Miller
Freelance
Harvey Brenner
Freelance
Steve Brown
Staff
Les Carter & Susan Sisko
Freelance
Norm Chandler Fox
Freelance
Liz Coe
Staff
Robert Crais
Staff
Cynthia Darnell
Freelance
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle
Freelance
Paul Ehrmann
Freelance
Robert Eisele
Freelance
Kathryn Ford
Staff
Debra Frank & Scott Rubenstein
Freelance
Bud Freeman
Freelance
Fred Freiberger
Staff
Dan Freudenberger
Freelance
Marshall Goldberg
Freelance
Richard Gollance
Freelance
Patricia Green
Staff
Jack R. Guss
Staff
Allison Hock
Staff
Max Jack
Freelance
Georgia Jeffries
Staff
Steve Johnson
Freelance
E. Arthur Kean
Staff
PK Knelman
Staff
Larry Konner & Ronnie Wenker-Konner
Freelance
Jeffrey Lane
Staff
Peter Lefcourt
Staff
Shelley List & Jonathan Estrin
Staff
Terry Louise Fisher
Staff
Brian McKay
Freelance
Judy Merl & Paul Eric Myers
Freelance
Chelsea Nickerson
Staff
Michael Piller
Freelance
Wayne Powers & Donna Dottley Powers
Freelance
Frederick Rappaport
Freelance
Del Reisman
Freelance
Barney Rosenzweig
Staff
Lisa Seidman
Freelance
Hannah Louise Shearer
Freelance
Lee Sheldon
Freelance
April Smith
Staff
Aubrey Solomon & Steve Greenberg
Freelance
Frank South
Staff
Douglas Steinberg
Freelance
Kevin Sullivan
Freelance
Bill Taub
Freelance
Rogers Turrentine
Freelance
Joe Viola
Staff
Marcy Vosburgh & Sandy Sprung
Freelance
Samm-Art Williams
Freelance
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The 14th precinct and key law enforcement
Tyne Daly
Det. Mary Beth Lacey
Sharon Gless
Sgt. Christine Cagney
Harvey Atkin
Desk Sgt. Ronald Coleman
Carl Lumbly
Detective Marcus Petrie
Martin Kove
Detective Victor Isbecki
Albert S. Waxman
Lieutenant Samuels
Sidney Clute Det.
LaGuardia
Robert Hegyes
Det. Manny Esposito
Merry Clayton
Det. Verna Dee Johnson
Paul Mantee
Det. Al Corassa
Michael Fairman
Dep. Inspector Knelman
Jason Bernard
Dep. Inspector Marquette
Dan Shor
Det. Jonah Newman
Beverley Faverty
Uniform officer
David Paymer
Todd Feldberg
Stanley Kamel
Mick Solomon
Jo Corday
Josie the bag lady
Edward Winter
Captain Jack Hennessy
Steward Coss
Squad room
Larry Da’Vol
Squad Room
Richard Minchenberg
Daniels
Vincent Schiavelli
Mongoose
Robert Costanzo
Monk
Michael Moriarty
Patrick Lowell
Richard Romanus
Det. Sal Caprio
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Family
Amanda Wyss
Bridget Cagney
David Ackroyd
Brian Cagney
Dick O’Neill
Charley Cagney
John Karlen
Harvey Lacey
Neva Patterson
Muriel Lacey (Harvey’s mother)
Richard Bradford
Martin Zzbiski (Lacey’s father)
Suzanne Stone
Claudia Petrie
Tony LaTorre
Harvey Lacey Jr.
Troy Slaten
Michael Lacey
Vonetta McGee
Claudia Petrie
Character and episode guide
Characters
Note from Barney Rosenzweig: The Cagney & Lacey “bible” was, for the most part, written by others. Contributing writers were from our various staffs, assistants and associate producers who could all claim some of its authorship. For the most part, it was used during the time of our being in production, as a tool for free lance writers … so as to familiarize these professionals with important background information with which they might not otherwise be familiar.
It is pretty straight forward material and there are no scores here for style points. A side note with respect to individual episodes herein synopsized, these are not necessarily listed in the order they were filmed or exhibited, but rather (in some cases) in the order the scripts were commissioned.
THE FOURTEENTH PRECINCT
is in lower Manhattan, where Little Italy butts up against Chinatown. The rest of the ethnic stew is peppered with old time Jews clinging to their former territory, Puerto Ricans, Greeks and all combinations of the above. It contains the diamond district, borders Wall Street, and is probably the most diverse area to police in the country. It is fictional so its boundaries are occasionally stretched to accommodate stories.
Cagney & Lacey
is a police show, but the crimes are a background to the people who commit them and the people who solve them. Sexism is not a weekly issue. Humanism is.
First and foremost, Chris Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey are good cops, professionals; not standard bearers. Their response to the continuing unconscious chauvinism in the precinct is one of the running themes. It is a show about two women who happen to be cops, rather than two cops who happen to be women.
Mary Beth and Christine have totally different responses, as two very different characters. This often puts them in conflict with each other.
Mary Beth, a married woman, is more used to accommodation and more sensitive to the struggle in men these days as they redefine their roles.
Chris has a shorter fuse, a little too much macho identification, and no tolerance for being patronized, hit on, or being told she doesn’t look like a cop. She is not, however, above using her attractiveness as a tool if it will make her job easier.
If it weren’t for Cagney, Lacey might still be working the desk. She makes Lacey work hard, take risks. But Lacey is also a very good cop because of her intuition and understanding of people. She is not as driven as Cagney. Cagney spends more time as a cop, therefore, she’s good at it. Lacey is a methodical cop, unlike Cagney who is a hot dog. Both of them, at different times, have had to kill someone on the job.
Lacey is sometimes envious of Cagney’s money, time, freedom and higher rank, but she also admires Cagney. Cagney, usually prefers male company as colleagues and potential role models.
But despite their differences, their deep abiding friendship, mutual respect and the classic cop/partner loyalty make them a dynamic unit.
CHRISTINE CAGNEY
(Sharon Gless) is a combination of Westchester money and New York Brooklyn Irish Catholic street-sense. Her father and mother separated when Cagney was very young. She went to live with her mother, grandmother and older brother in Westchester.
Christine felt lonely and isolated in Westchester and doesn’t miss that lifestyle at all. Cagney was brought up by her mother to be among the upper crust. When she was nineteen and on Junior Year Abroad from Barnard in Paris, her mother died. Christine DID NOT return for the funeral, and her relationship with her brother, Brian (David Ackroyd), had been strained since.
At her mother’s death, Christine received a substantial amount of money in trust. Brian, 43, now lives in California with his wife, Ann, and their two children.
Chris’ relationship with her father, Charles Fitzgerald Cagney (Dick O’Neill), a retired police officer whom she calls Charlie, was a close one. Before his untimely death last year, she was determined to make him proud of her, even though their relationship suffered a set-back when Christine learned of some minor bribe-accepting he was engaged in during his time on the force. Charlie Cagney had a stormy relationship with Donna La Marr (Carole Cook), a retired Rockette. Chris only grudgingly approved.
When Charlie became ill in December of 1985, Christine faced the fact that he was growing older. Charlie’s drinking brought on the crisis; he was told that if he kept drinking, he’d die. After repeated attempts by Christine to get him to control his drinking, her own drinking escalated. Later she found him dead in his apartment from an alcohol—related accident.
This triggered a binge which brought Christine to a recognition of her own alcoholism and ultimately, to Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A).
Chris began to repair her relationship with her brother, Brian, during a visit to California and when Brian came to New York to see Charlie in the hospital. Their relationship was further strengthened when Brian came for Charlie’s funeral.
There is an implied fresh rift, the result of Cagney’s drinking when she visited Brian post-funeral.
Cagney has also developed a relationship with her 21 year old niece, Bridget (Amanda Wyss).
Christine loves the city. She loves the pace. She loves her job. She wants to be the first woman Police Commissioner (she became a Detective in October 1981, a Sergeant in April, 1985). Her ambition is not without conflict.
If love comes, it will sneak up on her. She’s not looking for Mr. Right, although a Mr. Possible intrigues her. She had renewed interest in Dory McKenna (Barry Primus), a fellow detective who had earlier abuse problems with cocaine. But that ended. She makes light of her social matchmaking attempts. The truth is, however, that she knows the intimacy marriage would require and she’s not willing to make the commitment until she knows absolutely for sure that she can make it wholeheartedly. And who can know anything absolutely for sure?
Cagney had been seeing an ACLU lawyer, David Keeler (Stephen Macht) on a non-exclusive basis for two years. However, this relationship hit some rocks when he defended a perp who had attempted to murder her. The relationship continued in an on-again off-again manner until he proposed marriage. This triggered a declaration of independence in which she decided on a life without matrimony.
At an A.A. meeting later in the season, she met Nick Amatucci (Carl Weintraub), a muscular, charming plumber. They dated regularly through the rest of the season. She is a romantic conservative. She had never gone out with a blue collar guy before.
She has an easy, bantering manner, yet wouldn’t stop at anything to get what she wants. She is comfortable in almost any situation … except showing her vulnerability. Access to tender emotions is hard; however, since she has been in A.A., she is making progress in these areas. She can be tough, all-cop when the need arises. Cagney still wants to be one of the boys, even though she’s a sergeant.
Christine lives in a loft in Soho purchased with the money her mother left her. Cagney’s address: 743 Broome Street N.Y. N.Y. 10013
MARY BETH LACEY
(Tyne Daly) became a cop nineteen years ago because it was one of the few good—paying jobs open to women at that time. One night on the subway, she saw a recruitment poster for the police force and decided to take the entrance exam. Successful at that, she enrolled in the academy and, much to her pleasure, graduated third in her class. She takes pride in her profession, works hard at it, and does it well.
Mary Beth was raised in Boston as an only child. Her father deserted the family when she was eight. Her mother worked hard and long in a factory raising her daughter alone. Mary Beth has a strong sense of family and a clear memory of being a latch-key kid and missing her mother. She doesn’t want her sons and daughter to be deprived in the same way.
She attended Queens College for nearly two years,and now lives in Queens with husband, Harvey (John Karlen),the two boys, Harvey Jr.(Tony La Torre), Michael (Troy W. Slaten), and Alice Christine (Dana Bardolph, Paige Bardolph twins who portrayed the infant Alice,later played by Michelle Sepe).
She and Harvey have a solid marriage with all its ups and downs. They had a serious crisis when an inner ear infection cost Harvey his job as a high steel worker. But he pulled out of his depression, switched careers and is now contracting out for remodeling jobs around the city. It allows him a flexibility of schedule that Mary Beth doesn’t have and gives him a chance to be his own boss and share the parental and household responsibilities.
Harvey and Mary Beth are blue collar with a lot of the traditional belief systems. However, they are first and foremost individuals who take their commitments and relationships very seriously and are capable of surprising themselves and others with a new way of looking at problems. Because Mary Beth was a cop when she and Harvey met, that “adjustment” was made a long time ago.
Mary Beth has now returned to Queens College as a night class student. She has always dreamed of finishing school and is in love with Shakespeare. However, work, family and school is a lot to juggle, so this semester, she’s put her education on hold.
Mary Beth doesn’t always understand her partner, Christine Cagney, but she is fiercely loyal to her. There are times when she admits to herself that she would like some of the “advantages” Cagney has: the freedom from responsibility and the money to do some things. But at the cost of her family? No.
Mary Beth is no John Wayne. She likes to “think” a way out of a problem rather than shoot a way out. She doesn’t mind that Christine is a hot dog and therefore gets more attention and accolades than she does; but once in a while she’d like Cagney to give her more credit. As often as not, their cases are solved as much by Lacey’s dogged determination and attention to detail as by Cagney’s flashy style.
Mary Beth is open to examining the effects the job has on her and enjoys the fantasy of packing it all up and heading out with her family to a place where it’s quiet and safe for her children. When Lacey is upset, she does one of two things. She either talks obsessively about unrelated subjects or doesn’t talk at all. Instead, she bakes bread, she cleans the refrigerator, moves furniture. She keeps busy.
She is 40, about to be 41. Harve is approximately the same age. Harve Jr. is 18, Michael is 14 and Alice is two.
An incident of breast cancer brought the conflict of job versus family into sharp focus for Mary Beth. She came through it with a clear sense of how much she loves her life and being a cop. Her feeling is that Alice is a precious gift.
Harvey occasionally resents Cagney for getting Lacey into trouble or exposing her to unnecessary danger. Harvey has quite a few conspiracy theories and is a self-educated liberal; sometimes his sophisticated views can surprise us.
Lacey has been promoted to Detective Second Grade and is making more money. Harvey’s contracting business is also doing well. Their success means less time at home, less time together and day care for Alice. Muriel, Harvey’s mother (Neva Patterson), sometimes helps out with the kids. Lacey’s father, Martin Zzbiske (Richard Bradford), from whom she has been estranged for most of her life, is making an effort to reinsert himself into the family picture.
Harve’s success as a contractor plus Lacey’s sustaining income has allowed the Laceys to realize one of their dreams: they have bought a house of their own. A home with a rec room in the basement and a room for each of the kids. The house is in Fresh Meadows, Queens.
Harve Jr., against his parents’ wishes, joined the Marines. There was a family scare when he was missing during a training accident, but it turned out to be a false report. Also, the new house has been nothing but trouble. They’ve been burglarized, and their neighbors include a wife beater who brought Police Brutality charges against Lacey and whose son introduced Michael to marijuana. Another neighbor’s child in Alice’s day care is carrying the AIDS virus. Lacey is starting to look at their new life and home like it’s the Amityville Horror. She yearns for the city.
New Lacey address: 18945 Jewel Avenue (at Utopia Parkway) Fresh Meadows (house) Old Lacey address: 333 86th Street Jackson Heights, NY 11370.
LIEUTENANT ALBERT SAMUELS
(Al Waxman). Commander of the Detective Squad, has seen it all. He’s not without ambition, but has seen too many younger men promoted over him to realistically expect to progress beyond his current rank. He’s a fossil, an old-time cop with “blue coming out of his ears,” who worked his way up through the ranks without Affirmative Action or graduate degrees.
He cares deeply about the Fourteenth and the people he commands. He’s solid and hard-nosed, with a memory like a Rolodex file. Gruff and hard-driving, he drives no one harder than himself. When Cagney and Lacey were promoted to the Fourteenth, he had to admit that he’d rather they weren’t in his squad. Not because he felt they couldn’t handle the job, but because he didn’t want to have to deal with all the side effects of having two women in the squad room. He changed his mind.
He has a lot of respect and admiration for Christine Cagney. She’s good and she’s all cop. But it’s a helluva lot easier talking to Mary Beth. And, past Cagney’s flash, he can see Lacey’s steady, hard work. Divorced from Thelma, he worked his way through a mid-life crises. He now wants very much to figure out how to go on from there. How to rebuild a life and make it work this time.