6.6 /10 1 Votes6.6
5.2/10 TV Original language(s) English Final episode date 7 July 1958 | 7.9/10 IMDb Also known as 'Decoy Police Woman' Country of origin United States First episode date 14 October 1957 Genre Police procedural | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Jerome CoopersmithDon EttlingerSteven GardnerAbram S. GinnesLeon Tokatyan Directed by David AlexanderMichael GordonStuart RosenbergTeddy SillsArthur H. Singer Similar Naked City, Eischied, Dragnet, Peter Gunn, Kojak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Decoy (also titled Decoy Police Woman) is a groundbreaking American crime drama television series created for syndication and initially broadcast from October 14, 1957 to July 7, 1958, with thirty-nine 30-minute black-and-white episodes. It was the first American police series with a female protagonist. Many Decoy episodes are in the public domain.
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Synopsis
The series starred Beverly Garland as Casey Jones, a female police officer who is often assigned to work undercover (hence becoming the "decoy" of the title). The cast changed each week with Garland the only main continuing character, although there were several recurring characters, mostly her commanding officer and immediate colleagues.
The series was inspired by Jack Webb's Dragnet, set in Los Angeles, California, and used a similar format to that series, with Jones portrayed as a serious, by-the-book, yet sympathetic cop with no personal life outside of her job. In the episode "The Sound of Tears", she reveals that the man she loved was a police officer who was shot and killed by the man he was sent to apprehend.
Decoy is of historical significance as the first American television series to focus on the work of a female police officer. The series also features early performances by such future stars as Larry Hagman and Peter Falk. Each episode is dedicated to the Bureau of Policewomen of the New York Police Department.
Many episodes focus on females being victims of crime, and most episodes ended with Garland breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience about the case just solved.
DVD releases
Now mostly in the public domain in the United States, about a dozen episodes of the series have so far seen limited release on DVD issues by several different companies.