Cagney & Lacey
Season 1
6 listed hours · 1982–1988 · CBS
From the desk
How this season is filed
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.
TV Flash files Season 1 of Cagney & Lacey (1982–1988) on CBS as the first listed season of 7 — 6 listed hours, 1982-03-25–1982-04-29 from “You Call This Plain Clothes?” (S01E01) to “Better Than Equal” (S01E06). Titles, dates, and synopses on file — no invented recaps.
Desk essentials in this season
- S01E01 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.
- S01E06 Better Than Equal
Better Than Equal uses the title as argument: feminist crime drama still clearing Standards & Practices, chemistry already the case.
- S01E01
You Call This Plain Clothes?
The policewomen go undercover to nail a maniac who preys on prostitutes.
- S01E02
Pop Used to Work Chinatown
Cagney's father, a retired cop, sets out to prove his mettle by helping his daughter crack a case on his former turf.
- S01E03
Beyond the Golden Door
The disappearance of a teenager leads to a ring of smugglers that preys upon illegal aliens.
- S01E04
Street Scene
Chris and Mary Beth question an elderly man in the shooting of a Puerto Rican gang member, while trying to protect the victim's brother from a rival gang.
- S01E05
Suffer the Children
A call to rescue an abused child from a rooftop leads to clues to a murder.
- S01E06
Better Than Equal
Cagney and Lacey are assigned to protect an antifeminist leader who's the target of threats.
More from the 1980s.