Cagney & Lacey Back on the Beat

I was out of town last week when fans of the 1982-1988 TV series Cagney & Lacey were told that release of that show’s first season would be delayed indefinitely from its original May 8 date. The reason: a hitch over music rights, which sent C&L producer Barney Rosenzweig into a froth. But TV Shows on DVD now reports that “the package is back on, and on the original schedule as well!”--a fact confirmed by Rosenzweig on his own blog.

By the way, questions surrounding the contents of this C&L set--especially whether it would contain the initial six, spring 1982 episodes in which actress Meg Foster, rather than Sharon Gless, portrayed New York cop Chris Cagney--appear resolved by a recent MGM Home Entertainment release, which lists only the Gless and Tyne Daly episodes (beginning with “Witness to an Accident”), as well as by the DVD cover lines, which label this “The True Beginning: Cagney & Lacey.” There’s no telling yet whether those previous eps will be packaged separately, or maybe offered as bonuses on a future C&L DVD release.