Police Story

Police Story

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.

Action & AdventureCrimeDrama

Seasons

1. Slow Boy (1)

Air Date: 1973-03-20

A special surveillance detail set up to catch criminals in the act finally nabs Slow Boy while he is robbing a supermarket. Complications arise when the robber takes a hostage before the police can detain him.

2. Slow Boy (2)

Air Date: 1973-03-20

A special surveillance detail set up to catch criminals in the act finally nabs Slow Boy while he is robbing a supermarket. Complications arise when the robber takes a hostage before the police can detain him.

3. Dangerous Games

Air Date: 1973-10-02

Undercover cop Charlie Czonka tries to catch the big man behind a ring of prostitution, dope and extortion

4. Requiem for an Informer

Air Date: 1973-10-09

A down-and-out addict becomes an informer for the bank robbery detail and wins the friendship of a cop.

5. The Ten Year Honeymoon

Air Date: 1973-10-23

Two partners on the police force start getting on each other's nerves after ten years together when one begins acting strange.

6. The Violent Homecoming

Air Date: 1973-10-30

A Mexican-American police sergeant who's been assigned to his original neighborhood leads the Juvenile Division in an attempt to head off a gang war.

7. The Ho Chi Minh Trail

Air Date: 1973-11-06

An undercover cop nearly loses his life trying to crack a big-time drug-selling operation.

8. Collision Course

Air Date: 1973-11-20

The question of whether or not policewomen should be assigned to ride in patrol cars is brought to the head in a gun battle with two killers.

9. Death on Credit

Air Date: 1973-11-27

Sergeant Rick Calvelli works undercover in order to crack a phony credit card ring that plays dangerously.

10. The Big Walk

Air Date: 1973-12-04

A beat cop has his newly established authority challenged when a wealthy girl he arrests avoids retribution in court.

11. Man on the Rack

Air Date: 1973-12-11

An unauthodox cop accidentally kills a fellow officer and is put under investigation by Internal Affairs.

12. Line of Fire

Air Date: 1973-12-18

A young police officer joins a special unit and must learn to cope with killing.

13. Chain of Command

Air Date: 1974-01-08

The possibility of a conspiracy to murder cops creates a war between a black community and the police.

14. Countdown (1)

Air Date: 1974-01-15

When policeman Joe LaFrieda kills a member of an underworld family during a robbery attempt; a contract is put out on his life.

15. Countdown (2)

Air Date: 1974-01-22

The police clash head-on with the Mob when a contract is taken out on Officer Joe LaFrieda's life.

16. Cop in the Middle

Air Date: 1974-01-29

A cop on the take devises a plan to save himself from disgrace.

17. The Ripper

Air Date: 1974-02-12

Two officers from Robbery-Homicide attempt to track down a killer of homosexuals who mutilates the bodies of his victims.

18. Country Boy

Air Date: 1974-02-19

A young recruit from a rural community attempts to defy his background by completing the tough Police Academy training to become a cop.

19. Big John Morrison

Air Date: 1974-02-26

Two detectives become emotionally involved in a case when a friend is the victim of a robber/rapist/murderer.

20. Wyatt Earp Syndrome

Air Date: 1974-03-05

As an officer tracks down a rapist, his marriage dissolves in favor of his badge.

21. Fingerprint

Air Date: 1974-03-12

A police veteran in the Latent Prints Division is discouraged with his job until some unexpected combat gives him a new perspective.

22. Chief

Air Date: 1974-03-19

A police chief must overcome an assissination plot and political games in order to speak at a local meeting of police-haters.

23. The Gamble

Air Date: 1974-03-26

The transfer of desk officer Lisa Beaumont to the vice squad leads to a series of explosive developments.

1. A Dangerous Age

Air Date: 1974-09-10

Arch Tatum is close to retirement and is teamed up with a head-strong young trainee who throws a curve for the long time vet.

2. Requiem for C.Z. Smith

Air Date: 1974-09-17

3. Robbery: 48 Hours

Air Date: 1974-09-24

4. Fathers and Sons

Air Date: 1974-10-01

5. A World Full of Hurt

Air Date: 1974-10-08

6. Glamour Boy

Air Date: 1974-10-29

7. Across the Line

Air Date: 1974-11-12

8. Wolf

Air Date: 1974-11-19

9. Love, Mabel

Air Date: 1974-11-26

10. Explosion

Air Date: 1974-12-03

11. Capt. Hook

Air Date: 1974-12-17

12. Incident in the Kill Zone

Air Date: 1975-01-07

13. Headhunter

Air Date: 1975-01-14

14. Year of the Dragon (1)

Air Date: 1975-01-21

15. Year of the Dragon (2)

Air Date: 1975-01-28

16. To Steal a Million

Air Date: 1975-02-04

17. Sniper

Air Date: 1975-02-11

18. The Execution

Air Date: 1975-02-18

19. The Man in the Shadows

Air Date: 1975-02-25

20. War Games

Air Date: 1975-03-04

21. The Witness

Air Date: 1975-03-11

22. The Return of Joe Forrester

Air Date: 1975-05-06

1. Officer Needs Help

Air Date: 1975-09-09

2. The Cutting Edge

Air Date: 1975-09-16

3. A Community of Victims

Air Date: 1975-09-23

4. The Losing Game

Air Date: 1975-09-30

5. The Cut Man Caper

Air Date: 1975-10-28

On the trail of loan-company robbers, Tillis is forced to rely upon shifty informer Freddy. But the ""snitch"" is playing both ends down the middle and he's also stolen the expensive miniature voice transmitter entrusted to his care.

6. Face for a Shadow

Air Date: 1975-11-07

7. The Test of Brotherhood

Air Date: 1975-11-14

8. Empty Weapon

Air Date: 1975-11-21

9. Little Boy Lost

Air Date: 1975-11-28

10. Vice: Twenty-Four Hours

Air Date: 1975-12-05

11. Breaking Point

Air Date: 1975-12-12

12. Company Man

Air Date: 1975-12-19

13. Spanish Class

Air Date: 1976-01-02

14. Odyssey of Death (1)

Air Date: 1976-01-09

15. Odyssey of Death (2)

Air Date: 1976-01-16

16. The Other Side of the Fence

Air Date: 1976-01-23

17. Fifty Cents, First Half Hour -- One Dollar and Seventy-Five Cents All Day

Air Date: 1976-01-30

18. Firebird

Air Date: 1976-02-06

19. The Long Ball

Air Date: 1976-02-13

20. Eamon Kinsella Royce

Air Date: 1976-02-20

21. Officer Dooly

Air Date: 1976-03-05

22. Open City

Air Date: 1976-03-12

1. Payment Deferred

Air Date: 1976-09-21

2. Bought and Paid For

Air Date: 1976-10-05

3. Two Frogs on a Mongoose

Air Date: 1976-10-12

4. The Other Side of the Badge

Air Date: 1976-10-26

5. Three Days to Thirty

Air Date: 1976-11-09

6. Trash Detail, Front and Center

Air Date: 1976-11-16

7. Thanksgiving

Air Date: 1976-11-23

8. Monster Manor

Air Date: 1976-11-30

9. Oxford Gray

Air Date: 1976-12-07

10. The Jar (1)

Air Date: 1976-12-14

11. The Jar (2)

Air Date: 1976-12-21

12. Trial Board

Air Date: 1977-01-04

13. Spitfire

Air Date: 1977-01-11

14. Nightmare on a Sunday Morning

Air Date: 1977-01-18

Holly Green, a 19-year-old waitress is brutally beaten and raped by a pair of creeps, she then reluctantly helps bring her assailants to trial.

15. The Malflores

Air Date: 1977-01-25

16. The Blue Fog

Air Date: 1977-02-01

17. Hard Rock Brown

Air Date: 1977-02-15

18. End of the Line

Air Date: 1977-02-22

19. One of Our Cops Is Crazy

Air Date: 1977-03-01

20. Ice Time

Air Date: 1977-03-08

21. The Six Foot Stretch

Air Date: 1977-03-22

22. Prime Rib

Air Date: 1977-04-05

1. Pressure Point

Air Date: 1977-09-27

2. Stigma

Air Date: 1977-11-09

3. River of Promises

Air Date: 1978-01-14

4. Day of Terror, Night of Fear

Air Date: 1978-03-04

5. The Broken Badge

Air Date: 1978-03-19

6. No Margin for Error

Air Date: 1978-04-30

A cop is consumed by guilt after innocent bystanders are killed in police shoot-outs.

A Chance to Live

7. A Chance to Live

Air Date: 1978-05-28

The head of an undercover narcotics division assigns a young policeman to infiltrate a high-school drug ring.

8. A Cry for Justice

Air Date: 1979-05-23

9. Confessions of a Lady Cop

Air Date: 1980-04-02

Career and personal pressures bring a vice investigator to the brink of a nervous breakdown.

10. The Freeway Killings

Air Date: 1987-05-03

Police officers deal with personal and professional dilemmas as they search Los Angeles for a highway killer.

1. The Cop Killers

Air Date: 1988-10-29

A patrolman's guilt over the death of his partner leads him into a relationship with the dead man's widow.

2. Gladiator School

Air Date: 1988-11-05

A cop becomes the object of inmate vengeance after a trumped-up murder charge puts him behind prison walls.

3. The Watch Commander

Air Date: 1988-11-12

The wife of a veteran cop becomes increasingly concerned over her husband's intense devotion to his men and duty.

4. Burnout

Air Date: 1988-11-26

Self-doubts about a failed romance and a friend's suicide begin to take their toll on an emotionally distraught vice cop.

5. Monster Manor (remake)

Air Date: 1988-12-03

A scheme to turn an old mansion into a haven for party animals snares misfit cops in a prostitution and drug sting.

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Rating

7.1/10

Release Date

1973-03-20

Episodes

104 (6 seasons)

Status

Ended

Cast

Videos