Cagney Lacey

Get ready for another chapter in this collection of clever, entertaining mysteries as all 22 episodes of Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Sixth Season arrive on DVD! Rejoin Angela Lansbury in the season that won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress as writer/detective Jessica Fletcher, who's always uncovering crime whether she's nestled in the charming town of Cabot Cove or traveling the world. On the case with her is an impressive lineup of guest stars, including Megan Mullally, Erin Gray and Bill Maher. Featuring exclusive interviews with Angela Lansbury and members of the cast and crew, this 5-disc set includes the beloved sleuth's thrilling involvements with international espionage, high society crime, and low-life mercenaries. The sixth season of Murder, She Wrote earned 4 Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations and thrilled fans and critics alike. Return to the scene of the crime! Starring: Angela Lansbury

As Murder, She Wrote saunters through its sixth (of an eventual 12) season, star Angela Lansbury maintains her eternally buoyant and inquisitive air as Jessica Fletcher, professional writer and amateur sleuth. Though Jessica continued to investigate murders in her home town of Cabot Cove and elsewhere (in the worlds of high finance, opera, and voodoo, among other settings), this season began the practice of guest detective episodes, introduced by Jessica as either a story she wrote or a tale told by a friend, but starring a variety of quirky investigators: An ex-football player (Ken Howard, The White Shadow) paired with a clever poodle; a television crime-show producer who solved crime in real life (Diana Canova, Soap); a stout Irish detective (longtime character actor Pat Hingle); an abrasive homicide cop (Barry Newman, Vanishing Point); as well as recurring Murder, She Wrote characters like former jewel thief Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell) and British secret agent Michael Haggerty (Len Cariou). The producers were obviously hoping to use Murder, She Wrote's popularity to spin-off new series, but nothing from this season took off and viewer resistance soon brought the practice to an end. Executives must have been surprised to discover that, though murder mysteries are plot-driven, this show's success depends heavily on the undeniable charm of star Lansbury. Still, these one-off episodes are of a consistent quality with Lansbury's, and viewers open to variety will enjoy them just as much. The rest of the season features the usual astonishing array of guests, including movie stars old (Donald O'Connor, Singin' in the Rain) and recent (Elliott Gould, The Long Goodbye), television stalwarts (Shirley Jones, The Partridge Family; Jerry Stiller, The King of Queens; Doris Roberts, Everyone Loves Raymond; Kevin Tighe, Battlestar Galactica; and Gavin McLeod, The Love Boat), and D-list celebrities to die for (Dack Rambo, Morgan Brittany, Susan Anton, and more). --Bret Fetzer

CAGNEY & LACEY:SEASON ONE - DVD Movie

Twenty-two early episodes of the breakthrough television series, Cagney & Lacey, are gathered in this Season 1 pack, though these do not include those with early Cagneys Loretta Swit and Meg Foster. Directed by Karen Arthur, written by a female team, and starring two filmic heroes of the feminist movement--Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney and Tyne Daly as Mary-Beth Lacey--the show pioneered on-screen presentation of independent, working women. With Cagney as the career-minded single woman, and Lacey as the mother/wife juggling job with home time, the two detectives serve as foil characters, the way other cop shows such as ChiPs, Moonlighting, or Charlie's Angels starred police with opposing opinions. But where other shows cast the foxiest people possible, Cagney & Lacey relied on character development instead of sex. That is not to say that Gless and Daly aren't attractive, for indeed they are. Episodic narratives include Cagney & Lacey fighting female spousal abuse in "A Cry For Help"; date rape in "Date Rape"; racism in "Let Them Eat Pretzels," and many other issues targeted in the consciousness-raising feminist movement of the '70s and '80s. Many of the episodes, compared to the lightning fast-paced cop shows airing today, are slow and surprisingly non-humorous. But regardless of the show's occasional descent into tedium, Cagney & Lacey did much to promote the image of the self-made, multitasking woman. The two-part featurette, "Breaking the Laws of TV," starring heavyweights such as Gloria Steinem, critically places the show in TV history by contextualizing what was happening in the women's movement concurrent to the show's airing. Though the show may have its dull moments, it is fascinating to remember how television has changed over the decades. —Trinie Dalton

Defining Women explores the social and cultural construction of gender and the meanings of woman, women, and femininity as they were negotiated in the pioneering television series Cagney and Lacey, starring two women as New York City police detectives. Julie D'Acci illuminates the tensions between the television industry, the series production team, the mainstream and feminist press, various interest groups, and television viewers over competing notions of what women could or could not be—not only on television but in society at large.Cagney and Lacey, which aired from 1981 to 1988, was widely recognized as an innovative treatment of working women and developed a large and loyal following. While researching this book, D'Acci had unprecedented access to the set, to production meetings, and to the complete production files, including correspondence from network executives, publicity firms, and thousands of viewers. She traces the often heated debates surrounding the development of women characters and the representation of feminism on prime-time television, shows how the series was reconfigured as a 'woman's program,' and investigates questions of female spectatorship and feminist readings. Although she focuses on Cagney and Lacey, D'Acci discusses many other examples from the history of American television.

“If they gave out Emmys for best book about an Emmy-award winning TV series, Executive Producer Barney Rosenzweig would have another to add to his huge collection. If you love Cagney & Lacey—as I do—this is a must read. Triple love it!” —Rosie O’Donnell, award-winning TV and motion picture icon“Cagney & Lacey ... and Me is terrific—a must-read for anyone interested in how the television business really works. From insecure stars with over-sized egos, to network executives blundering their way to success in spite of themselves, Barney Rosenzweig’s chronicle of the rise and fall of the hit series Cagney & Lacey has it all: tempers, tears, greed, deceit, duplicity and sex—in short, more juicy melodrama than a daytime soap opera.”—Steven Bochco, producer writer of award-winning series Hill Street Blues, LA Law, and NYPD Blue“One of Hollywood’s greatest producers is also a brilliant storyteller. Barney recounts tales from the front lines of network television battlefields—with candor, intelligence and inimitable wit. If you want to know how television really works, this is the book for you”—Linda Bloodworth and Harry Thomason, award-winning creators, writer, producers and director of Designing Women "It is the nuts-and-bolts story of creating the show, putting it on the air, then keeping it on the air. Fascinating and fun."—Liz Smith, America's most loved gossip columnist“Barney wrote a book?”—Peter Falk, Emmy-winning star of iconic television series, Columbo, and twice nominated Academy Award star of motion pictures too numerous to mention "Just as William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade is considered a bible for screenwriters, Rosenzweig’s new memoir offers a Master Class for television producers."—Kevin Howell, Publisher's Weekly Hardcover Collector's Edition also contains the official Cagney & Lacey "bible" of key credits and storylines for all 125 episodes, along with annotated index.

It's fashionable to assert that television is bad and is inherently doomed to be worse, even evil. However, every now and then, the rabbit ears capture spasms of glory -- and this book makes a reasonably convincing case that shows such as Hill St. Blues, Moonlighting, Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, and ER are not only good television, but possibly even works of high culture. The flip side of the story is also compellingly reported: that in many cases, these anomalous movements towards quality will be suppressed or even suffocated by the industry, regardless of public sentiment. A good book -- possibly excellent.

"Informative and insightful, this book takes the convincing stance that TV's good old days are really today". -- Publishers Weekly

Signed 8x10 by Tyne Daley and Sharon Gless comes with powers collectibles coa and matching holograms

Brand New Officially Licensed Sports Photo - Guaranteed to Arrive Safe - Size: 20 x 24 inches - Great for Autographs

Brand New Officially Licensed Sports Photo - Guaranteed to Arrive Safe - Size: 16 x 20 inches - Great for Autographs