Cagney and Lacey, a U.S. police procedural with pervasive melodramatic overtones is, deservedly, one of the most widely discussed programs in television history. The series aired on the CBS television network from 1982-88 and presented a set of bold dramatic combinations, blending and bending genre, character, and narrative strategies. Though rated in the list of "top 25" programs only once during those years, the show drew critical acclaim--and controversy--and established a substantial audience of fiercely loyal viewers who, on at least one occasion, helped save the program from cancellation by the network. As demonstrated by television scholar Julie D'Acci's outstanding study Defining Women: Television and the Case of Cagney and Lacey, the history of Cagney and Lacey provides a textbook case illustrating many issues pervasive in the U.S. television industry as well as that industry's complicated relationship to social and cultural issues