Police Story (1973)
Police Story is an anthology television crime drama. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Although it was an anthology, there were certain things that all episodes had in common; for instance, the main character in each episode was a police officer. The setting was always Los Angeles and the characters always worked for some branch of the LAPD. Notwithstanding the anthology format, there were recurring characters. Scott Brady appeared in more than a dozen episodes as "Vinnie," a former cop who, upon retirement, had opened a bar catering to police officers, and who acted as a sort of Greek chorus during the run of the series, commenting on the characters and plots.
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Episode 1 - A Dangerous Age
Release Date: 1974-09-10Arch Tatum is close to retirement and is teamed up with a head-strong young trainee who throws a curve for the long time vet.
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Episode 2 - Requiem for C.Z. Smith
Release Date: 1974-09-17Charlie Czonka resurrects his alter ego, pimp CZ Smith, to catch a murderer who mutilates prostitutes.
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Episode 3 - Robbery: 48 Hours
Release Date: 1974-09-24Lt. Bruckner leads the Robbery Squad through a two-day run of holdups, big and small.
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Episode 4 - Fathers and Sons
Release Date: 1974-10-01Members of the Serbian community are being gunned down and the police have few leads. Sgt. Wilson decides to use officer Joe Basic, an ethnic Slav, in an undercover situation. Joe learns his father Andrea is a possible target.
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Episode 5 - A World Full of Hurt
Release Date: 1974-10-08Juvenile officers Craig and Prescott deal with runaways, delinquents, and Prescott's own troubled home life.
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Episode 6 - Glamour Boy
Release Date: 1974-10-29Detectives Tony Calabrese and Bert Jameson try to hold onto a charming bank robber, which proves to be more difficult than actually catching him.
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Episode 7 - Across the Line
Release Date: 1974-11-12Joe Benton is taken off the surveillance squad after being involved in too many stakeouts that ended violently, so Sgt. Barrett drafts him for his narcotics squad investigating the "Mexican Connection."
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Episode 8 - Wolf
Release Date: 1974-11-19Sgt. Wolf Bozeman, a gung ho street cop who lives through his job, tries to cope with the prospect of losing that job due to his deteriorating health.
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Episode 9 - Love, Mabel
Release Date: 1974-11-26Detectives investigate a series of murders of homeless men along the piers.
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Episode 10 - Explosion
Release Date: 1974-12-03Detectives Bert Jameson and Tony Calabrese try to catch an extortionist who leaves remote-control bombs at his targets.
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Episode 11 - Capt. Hook
Release Date: 1974-12-17A police officer fights the brass to keep his spot as a beat cop after he loses his right hand to a package bomb.
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Episode 12 - Incident in the Kill Zone
Release Date: 1975-01-07Sergeant King Sherman endangers the public and the SWAT team he commands while preparing for his Lieutenant exams. His wife convinces him he'll pass his orals if he shows confidence in his leadership skills by projecting total authority.
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Episode 13 - Headhunter
Release Date: 1975-01-14IA Det. Sgt. Stiles investigates an indecent exposure charge against a veteran officer, resulting in the officer's dismissal. Months later, the exposure complainant confesses to a years-old murder, and subsequently raises doubt on his original testimony.
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Episode 14 - Year of the Dragon (1)
Release Date: 1975-01-21Det. John Darrin uses his experience in Chinatown to find the gang members who robbed a restaurant and killed one of the employees.
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Episode 15 - Year of the Dragon (2)
Release Date: 1975-01-28Det. John Darrin has to keep his primary witness to the restaurant shooting alive, while searching for his Chinese gang snitch, who has been snatched by a rival gang.
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Episode 16 - To Steal a Million
Release Date: 1975-02-04Detectives Grosser and Hyland know a big hotel heist is about to happen. They know who's involved, but they don't know which hotel or how to catch the thieves red-handed.
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Episode 17 - Sniper
Release Date: 1975-02-11Detectives Calabrese and Thorpe try to catch a sniper before he, or she, strikes again.
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Episode 18 - The Execution
Release Date: 1975-02-18Detectives attempt to solve a double execution-style shooting, which one victim manages to survive.
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Episode 19 - The Man in the Shadows
Release Date: 1975-02-25While breaking in new partner Ron Cruz, narcotics Det. Frank Dolan is drawn by a drug-related murder into pursuing a drug kingpin from out-of-town, who may be attempting to muscle his way into the local market.
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Episode 20 - War Games
Release Date: 1975-03-04Detectives Gordy and Ballard go undercover in a white-supremacist gun club to bust a paranoid gun collector who specializes in illegal military munitions.
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Episode 21 - The Witness
Release Date: 1975-03-11Det. Bert Jameson has a new partner, Lew Reeves, and Lew's vicious cold complicates their efforts to solve armed pharmacy robberies and to catch the chopper rider who holds up taverns.
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Episode 22 - The Return of Joe Forrester
Release Date: 1975-05-06Detective Joe Forrester must go back to the rough area that was his old beat to try and catch a serial rapist.