The Commish
| The Commish | |
|---|---|
Intertitle
|
|
| Created by |
Stephen J. Cannell Stephen Kronish |
| Starring |
Michael Chiklis Theresa Saldana Kaj-Erik Eriksen John Cygan Melinda McGraw Geoffrey Nauffts Nicholas Lea Gina Belafonte David Paymer |
| Theme music composer | Mike Post |
| Composer(s) | Walter Murphy |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 94 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode |
| Production company(s) | Three-Putt Productions Stephen J. Cannell Productions ABC Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 28, 1991 – January 11, 1996 |
The Commish is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC in the United States from 1991 to 1996. The series focuses on the work and home life of a suburban police commissioner in upstate New York.
The series stars Michael Chiklis as Tony Scali, a former NYPD detective who is now the police commissioner in the small upstate New York town of Eastbridge, and tends to work through problems with humor and creativity more often than with violence or force. Theresa Saldana plays Rachel Scali, Tony's wife, and Kaj-Erik Eriksen plays their young son, David. Also living with the family in the first season was Rachel's freeloading brother, Arnie Metzger, played by David Paymer. A daughter, Sarah, played by twins Justine and Dayna Cornborough, was born to Tony and Rachel in the second season. The show focused as much on family situations as it did on police drama. The series often deals with a wide range of topical social issues such as police corruption, racism, homophobia, drug addiction, disabilities, child abuse, illegal immigration, and sexual harassment. The series ran for five seasons.
In addition to Commissioner Scali's family, the cast included police working for the town of Eastbridge.
Commissioner Scali went through three lieutenants at his headquarters during the run; Lt. Irving Wallerstein (Alex Bruhanski), his longtime buddy and second-in-command, was succeeded after only a few episodes by Lt. Paulie Pentangeli (John Cygan). At the start of the second season, Pentangeli shot an unarmed suspect who was reaching for a cigarette case. Although he was cleared of wrongdoing, Scali nonetheless fired him, suspecting that Pentangeli knowingly shot the suspect on whom they had insufficient evidence to prosecute. Pentageli was replaced by a female lieutenant, Cyd Madison (Melinda McGraw). She lasted two seasons until John Cygan returned to the series as Pentageli at the start of season four. Madison left the Eastbridge department to work as a commissioner in another city. Pentangeli returned despite his continuing disagreement with Scali regarding the nature of the shooting in season two. The star cops who also worked closely with the Commish included Stan Kelly (Geoffrey Nauffts), young, hot-headed Ricky Caruso (Nicholas Lea), and Carmela Pagan (Gina Belafonte). Series regular Kelly was killed off in season three, whereas other characters such as Pagan would simply disappear for longer stretches without explanation.
...
Wikipedia