The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very different lives: Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless) is a career-minded single woman, while Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly) is a married working mother.

Producer Barney Rosenzweig was influenced by the feminist movement through his then-girlfriend Barbara Corday, who recommended to him Molly Haskell's book From Reverence to Rape which analyses depictions of women in film.

[2] CBS executives hoped Gless would portray Cagney as more feminine and attempted to pressure the producers to remake Christine into a more "high-class", snobbish woman from wealthy parents.

Barney Rosenzweig and Barbara Corday initially refused to change Cagney from a tough, witty, working-class woman.

Cagney was a bit quieter and more reserved than her vivacious, talkative, loud partner Mary Beth Lacey, but could still relate to the world with attitudes that could be shared by people across the social spectrum.

Their partnership met a sad end in May 1986, when Newman was killed by a random gunshot outside of the local district court, just after receiving his promotion to Second Grade.

The beginning of the sixth season saw the arrival of Manny Esposito (Robert Hegyes), a young, street-savvy detective who became Corassa's new partner.

There was quite a clash between the two, as Esposito's freewheeling lifestyle (represented by his casual dress on the job, the desire to make a quick buck, and three ex-wives) put him in contrast with Corassa, the older, more conservative family man with a heightened sense of professionalism.

In his place, singer Merry Clayton joined the cast as Verna Dee Jordan, the first new female detective at the precinct since the additions of Cagney and Lacey.

Alice Lacey was played by alternating twins Dana & Paige Bardolph from 1985 to 1987, with toddler Michelle Sepe taking over for the seventh season.

The cancellation of House Calls was announced among insider circles just before upfronts, and Rosenzweig pressured CBS executives to relaunch Cagney & Lacey in the fall with Gless replacing Foster.

Gless met with Cagney & Lacey producers again to consider the role, but while always having taken to the character, had doubts about joining for the fall of 1982 because, after House Calls, she "didn't want to make a career of replacing actresses".

Cagney & Lacey was canceled by CBS a second time in May 1983, but after almost a year of decreased buzz about the show, an ever-larger public outcry exploded upon the series's axing.

The viewer protest, coupled with the post-cancellation improvement in the Nielsens and the Emmy nomination that year (which Tyne Daly won in September), resulted in success for the public.

When nearly all of the Cagney & Lacey cast received new contracts in late 1983, La Torre returned as well after 9 to 5 was canceled by ABC just weeks into the 1983–84 season.

Midway through its seventh season, Cagney & Lacey was moved to Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST/9:00 p.m. CST, where it began to compete against Thirtysomething (ABC) and Crime Story (NBC).

Cagney & Lacey lost viewers to the first-year critical success of thirtysomething, which, despite being the time slot winner, only ranked No.

CBS' reason for relocating Cagney & Lacey was because it was believed that its Monday slot would further build an audience for Wiseguy, another new critical hit of the season that had average ratings at best.

With the final episode of the seventh season ending on a cliffhanger, CBS was considering bringing the show back, but when May 1988 upfronts were released, Cagney & Lacey's cancellation was confirmed.

The main titles for the first season are accompanied by the theme song "Ain't That the Way" by Michael Stull, sung by Marie Cain, and shows the two lead characters being promoted to plainclothes detectives and later disguised as prostitutes.

This was replaced the following season by an instrumental theme composed by Bill Conti set to a collage of action and comical scenes featuring the characters from the series.

In the television show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Lieutenant Terry Jeffords' twin daughters are named Cagney and Lacey.

[9] A separate collection only available to purchase online, entitled Cagney & Lacey – 30th Anniversary Limited Edition was released on November 27, 2012.

Since October 2009, all 125 episodes of Cagney & Lacey have been available as a digital download on iTunes in the UK and North America and were also licensed to Netflix for American viewers via the streaming option, which expired in April 2012, and is no longer available.

[10] In March, Sarah Drew and Michelle Hurd were cast as Cagney and Lacey, respectively, with Bridget Carpenter writing the pilot and Rosemary Rodriguez directing.