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Season DVD Release Schedule
Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years (Box Set)
(Sep. 29, 2009)
In my house, John Leonard began in his New York magazine review, of December 1994, Cagney & Lacey was to prime time what The Golden Notebook had been to modern novels and modern marriage: street-smart feminism: politics and friendship; therapy on the barricades; brains on a rampage. Before Doris Lessing, we had never heard women talk like that in fiction. Before Cagney & Lacey, we d never seen them act like that on television. Without Chris and Mary Beth, Thelma and Louise would not have been imaginable. And so it s a joy to have them back... Mr. Leonard concluded his review with the cogent observation, older, thicker, smarter, wrinkled and not the least bit apologetic about it.
As the producer of the original series and these reunion films, there is not much I care to add ... except perhaps this: most professional analysts of these films invariably make some reference to the fact that during the series six years on the air, no other actress...NOT ONE... only Tyne Daly or Sharon Gless... would win the EMMY for Best Dramatic Actress in a television series. These movies seemed to serve as a reminder to those commentators as to why that was.
Inside this package you will also find some history excerpted from my memoir "Cagney & Lacey... and Me". along with some other observations about the four reunion films made in the mid-1990s each here on separate discs.. The films herein, individually labeled Cagney & Lacey: The Return, Cagney & Lacey: Together Again, Cagney & Lacey: The View From The Glass Ceiling and Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions. Collectively they were all lovingly known as Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years.
(Sep. 29, 2009)
In my house, John Leonard began in his New York magazine review, of December 1994, Cagney & Lacey was to prime time what The Golden Notebook had been to modern novels and modern marriage: street-smart feminism: politics and friendship; therapy on the barricades; brains on a rampage. Before Doris Lessing, we had never heard women talk like that in fiction. Before Cagney & Lacey, we d never seen them act like that on television. Without Chris and Mary Beth, Thelma and Louise would not have been imaginable. And so it s a joy to have them back... Mr. Leonard concluded his review with the cogent observation, older, thicker, smarter, wrinkled and not the least bit apologetic about it.
As the producer of the original series and these reunion films, there is not much I care to add ... except perhaps this: most professional analysts of these films invariably make some reference to the fact that during the series six years on the air, no other actress...NOT ONE... only Tyne Daly or Sharon Gless... would win the EMMY for Best Dramatic Actress in a television series. These movies seemed to serve as a reminder to those commentators as to why that was.
Inside this package you will also find some history excerpted from my memoir "Cagney & Lacey... and Me". along with some other observations about the four reunion films made in the mid-1990s each here on separate discs.. The films herein, individually labeled Cagney & Lacey: The Return, Cagney & Lacey: Together Again, Cagney & Lacey: The View From The Glass Ceiling and Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions. Collectively they were all lovingly known as Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years.
Cagney & Lacey: The Return
(Sep. 29, 2009)
In the mid-1990s, Jeff Sagansky was the CBS programming chief, when he asked that we revisit our successful television series via the reunion movie format. In the intervening years since the series had ended, Sharon and I had married, Tyne had been to Broadway, winning a TONY in Gypsy for best performance by an actress in a musical, and followed that by working for me and getting yet another EMMY for her work in our CBS series, Christy. . The three of us were (and remain) great pals, but coming together again to revisit our past success was something I had not wanted to do.
I wasn t at all sure that we should compromise the memories people had of our original show. We would, I theorized, revisit this terrain at our peril, for we would not only be compared with other movies then currently on TV, but with memory and a memory that had probably received enough enhancement that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to match with any new incarnation.
Secondly, making movies for television, while an OK business, was not my specialty. My forte was series television. Movies have a different structure and form. After all, movies have a beginning, middle, and end; series, the creators hope, will never end. The former are usually plot driven, while the best of the latter are motivated by character. There was also the fact that one could make a whole lot more money in the TV series arena than in the TV movie field. CBS and Sagansky prevailed and you will just have to read that book of mine (Cagney & Lacey... and Me) to find out how and why. Am I shameless, or what?
In the Spring of 1994, we prepared to make two reunion films back-to-back. Steve Brown & Terry Louise Fisher, from the original series were set to write both scripts and (also from the series days) James Frawley would direct the first while Reza Badiyi would helm the second.
Six years had passed since we had been on the air. I told Steve and Terry we should treat those six intervening years as if our fictional characters had continued to have lives during that time. Both Sharon and Tyne had aged and put on some weight and we would make no attempt to mask that, but would, instead, hang a lantern on it. It was quickly decided that, consistent with her character s oft-stated desire, Lacey would by then have taken her retirement while, in those intervening years, Cagney would garner a major promotion and (much to Sharon s dismay), gotten married. Even casting her old pal, TONY award winner James Naughton as the husband, could not get Sharon to be happy about this decision... which we defended as a device we felt would help sell the passage of time to our audience.
Despite virtually the entire series cast making an appearance in this first of the quartet of films, we make it clear in the early going that both Cagney and Lacey have moved on and that the familiar actors that are seen in those early moments will not be part of the shows going forward. The device to get Lacey back to work and, once again, in alliance with Christine Cagney not only worked well for us, but provided residual emotional material for all four films.
The Return premiered on the CBS Network in November of 1994. The overall reaction to the reunification of Sharon and Tyne and to the film itself was excellent from all quarters with outstanding reviews from the press and a rating that made our film the highest rated movie for television of the week and the top-rated show of any kind on the CBS network.
Barney Rosenzweig
(Sep. 29, 2009)
In the mid-1990s, Jeff Sagansky was the CBS programming chief, when he asked that we revisit our successful television series via the reunion movie format. In the intervening years since the series had ended, Sharon and I had married, Tyne had been to Broadway, winning a TONY in Gypsy for best performance by an actress in a musical, and followed that by working for me and getting yet another EMMY for her work in our CBS series, Christy. . The three of us were (and remain) great pals, but coming together again to revisit our past success was something I had not wanted to do.
I wasn t at all sure that we should compromise the memories people had of our original show. We would, I theorized, revisit this terrain at our peril, for we would not only be compared with other movies then currently on TV, but with memory and a memory that had probably received enough enhancement that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to match with any new incarnation.
Secondly, making movies for television, while an OK business, was not my specialty. My forte was series television. Movies have a different structure and form. After all, movies have a beginning, middle, and end; series, the creators hope, will never end. The former are usually plot driven, while the best of the latter are motivated by character. There was also the fact that one could make a whole lot more money in the TV series arena than in the TV movie field. CBS and Sagansky prevailed and you will just have to read that book of mine (Cagney & Lacey... and Me) to find out how and why. Am I shameless, or what?
In the Spring of 1994, we prepared to make two reunion films back-to-back. Steve Brown & Terry Louise Fisher, from the original series were set to write both scripts and (also from the series days) James Frawley would direct the first while Reza Badiyi would helm the second.
Six years had passed since we had been on the air. I told Steve and Terry we should treat those six intervening years as if our fictional characters had continued to have lives during that time. Both Sharon and Tyne had aged and put on some weight and we would make no attempt to mask that, but would, instead, hang a lantern on it. It was quickly decided that, consistent with her character s oft-stated desire, Lacey would by then have taken her retirement while, in those intervening years, Cagney would garner a major promotion and (much to Sharon s dismay), gotten married. Even casting her old pal, TONY award winner James Naughton as the husband, could not get Sharon to be happy about this decision... which we defended as a device we felt would help sell the passage of time to our audience.
Despite virtually the entire series cast making an appearance in this first of the quartet of films, we make it clear in the early going that both Cagney and Lacey have moved on and that the familiar actors that are seen in those early moments will not be part of the shows going forward. The device to get Lacey back to work and, once again, in alliance with Christine Cagney not only worked well for us, but provided residual emotional material for all four films.
The Return premiered on the CBS Network in November of 1994. The overall reaction to the reunification of Sharon and Tyne and to the film itself was excellent from all quarters with outstanding reviews from the press and a rating that made our film the highest rated movie for television of the week and the top-rated show of any kind on the CBS network.
Barney Rosenzweig
Cagney & Lacey - Season 1(The Complete First Season)
(May. 08, 2007)
A ground-breaking show that re-defined its genre, Cagney and Lacey was something entirely new: a cop show featuring two strong and intelligent female detectives, with real lives and real problems--ordinary women doing extraordinary jobs. Now recognized as a true classic, this remarkable show tackles poignant social issues and explores the human side of hard-boiled detective work. Starring Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless as one of the most compelling detective duos of all time, this Emmy Award-winning drama is landmark television at its finest.
(May. 08, 2007)
A ground-breaking show that re-defined its genre, Cagney and Lacey was something entirely new: a cop show featuring two strong and intelligent female detectives, with real lives and real problems--ordinary women doing extraordinary jobs. Now recognized as a true classic, this remarkable show tackles poignant social issues and explores the human side of hard-boiled detective work. Starring Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless as one of the most compelling detective duos of all time, this Emmy Award-winning drama is landmark television at its finest.
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