''Civil Wars'' is an American

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from November 20, 1991, to March 2, 1993. The series was created and executive produced by

William M. Finkelstein William M. Finkelstein is an American screenwriter, television producer, actor and television director. He has worked as a writer and producer on ''Law & Order'', ''Brooklyn South'', '' Murder One'', '' L.A. Law'', '' Cop Rock'', ''NYPD Blue'', a ...

and produced by

Steven Bochco Steven Ronald Bochco Masterson (December 16, 1943 – April 1, 2018) was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, including ''Hill Street Blues'', ''L.A. Law'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', ''Cop Rock'' ...

Synopsis

The series focused on the lives and cases of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

divorce attorneys. In the series, two of New York City's top divorce lawyers, Charlie Howell (Peter Onorati) and Sydney Guilford (Mariel Hemingway), form a partnership despite barely knowing each other, following the mental breakdown of Guilford's stressed-out partner, Eli Levinson (Alan Rosenberg). The show had a famously

misanthropic Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσ ...

opening credits sequence; in it, romantic photo albums were shown as the voice track played couples ripping into each other in court, as each of the show's principal attorneys interrogated them, one by one, on the stand.

Cast

Mariel Hemingway Mariel Hadley Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in ''Lipstick'' (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in ...

as Sydney Guilford *

Peter Onorati Peter Onorati (born May 16, 1953) is an American actor. He is known for his TV roles as Charlie Howell on ''Civil Wars'' (1991–1993), Mr. Scotto on '' Murder One'' (1995–1997), Stanley Pearson on ''This Is Us'' (2017–2022), and Jeff Mumford ...

as Charlie Howell *

Debi Mazar Deborah Anne Mazar Corcos (; born August 13, 1964) is an American actress and television personality, known for playing sharp-tongued women. She began her career with supporting roles in ''Goodfellas'' (1990), ''Little Man Tate'' (1991) and ''Si ...

as Denise Iannello *

Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor. Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his character Eli Levinson which appeared in both the series '' Civil Wars'' and the popular '' L.A. Law''. From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the ...

as Eli Levinson *

David Marciano David Marciano (born January 7, 1960, in Newark, New Jersey) is an American actor best known for his roles as Jeffery in ''Civil Wars'' (1991-1993), Detective Raymond Vecchio in the television series '' Due South'', Detective Steve Billings in th ...

as Jeffrey Lassick Two of the characters lived on longer than the show itself. After ''Civil Wars'' was canceled, Eli Levinson (Rosenberg) and Denise Iannello (Mazar) were transplanted to the final season of ''

L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series that ran for eight seasons on NBC, from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it centers on the partners, associates and staff of a Los ...

'', despite the fact that ''L.A. Law'' aired on NBC and ''Civil Wars'' aired on ABC.

Episodes

Season 1 (1991–92)

Season 2 (1992–93)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Civil Wars 1990s American drama television series 1991 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming 1990s American legal television series English-language television shows Television shows set in New York City Television series by 20th Century Fox Television