Cagney & Lacey
You Call This Plain Clothes?
TV Flash files “You Call This Plain Clothes?” as a desk essential hour — Cagney & Lacey (1982–1988) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1982-03-25, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 125 in the Cagney & Lacey guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1982-03-25 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Pop Used to Work Chinatown” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “You Call This Plain Clothes?”. You Call This Plain Clothes? is the partnership contract: two women detectives, a badge culture that had to make room, adult and precise.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The policewomen go undercover to nail a maniac who preys on prostitutes.
Viewer FAQ
Where does You Call This Plain Clothes? sit in the Cagney & Lacey guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 125 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Cagney & Lacey S01E01 air?
You Call This Plain Clothes? aired 1982-03-25 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Did it almost get canceled?
Yes. Early ratings struggles, a cast change (Meg Foster to Sharon Gless), and a letter-writing campaign are part of the survival story — feminist TV legend as much as trivia.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Daly and Gless are a once-in-a-generation TV partnership — adult, tough, and emotionally precise. Two women detectives, a badge culture that had to make room, Emmys stacked after a near-cancellation and letter-writing campaign. Foundational women-in-crime-drama viewing. Feminist television that still had to clear Standards & Practices.
Near-cancellation is a chart event, not a vibe. CBS's Cagney & Lacey (1982–1988) survived early jitters and a fan letter-writing campaign to become a landmark female-buddy police drama: Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey, Sharon Gless as Chris Cagney after an early cast change from Meg Foster. Two women detectives — one single and driven, one married with kids — partner through NYPD cases that refuse to treat them as decorations. **Seven seasons, 125 hours, Emmys stacked after the save.** Rex can romanticize the…
Filed against
- Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey
Tyne Daly’s Mary Beth Lacey partnered Cagney & Lacey into a once-in-a-generation TV badge — adult, tough, emotionally precise, two women detectives in a culture that had to make room. Emmys stacked after a near-cancellation and a…
- Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney
Sharon Gless’s Christine Cagney made Cagney & Lacey a once-in-a-generation partnership — two women detectives, badge culture that had to make room, Emmys after a near-cancellation letter campaign — then played Burn Notice’s Miami grudge…
- Al Waxman as Lt. Bert Samuels
Al Waxman’s Lt. Bert Samuels ran the precinct that had to make room for Cagney & Lacey — Daly and Gless as a once-in-a-generation partnership, adult and emotionally precise, Emmys after a near-cancellation letter-writing campaign.…