''D.E.A.'' is an American drama series which was aired on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

as part of its 1990-91 lineup. ''D.E.A.'' was based on true stories of the

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...

. Shot in ''cinéma vérité'' style, the program combined recreated scenes using actors with actual surveillance footage and film of actual newscasts covering the stories depicted. Fox apparently had considerable confidence in this concept. When the initial version garnered low ratings and was put on hiatus, before its return the program was retooled into ''DEA—Special Task Force'', which placed more emphasis on the agents' personal lives and showed less graphic violence. The revamped show premiered in April 1991, but also failed to achieve significant ratings and the program was canceled for good in June 1991.

Cast

*Jenna Gago as Teresa Robles *Tom Mason as Bill Stadler *

Miguel Sandoval Miguel Sandoval (born November 16, 1951) is an American actor of film and television. Biography Sandoval was born in Washington, D.C. He began working as a professional actor in 1975 when he joined a mime school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. H ...

as Rafael Cordera *

Alan Scarfe Alan John Scarfe (born 8 June 1946) is a British–Canadian actor, stage director and author. He is a former Associate Director of the Stratford Festival (1976–77) and the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool (1967–68). He won the 1985 Genie Aw ...

as Schliemann *Byron Keith Minns as Jimmy Sanders *

Christopher Stanley Christopher Stanley (born December 1965) is an American film and television actor. He appeared in the Ben Affleck-directed film ''Argo'' and in ''Zero Dark Thirty''. His most notable TV role was as politician Henry Francis, the second hus ...

as Nick Biaggi *David Wohl as Phil Jacobs

Episodes

Production

The original concept of the show came from showrunner/creator Richard DiLello, who claimed that he'll create a hybrid format for the show that will combine elements of documentary (including newsreel footage and interviews) with drama. The project was soon pitched to

Lorimar Television Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisio ...

, which was in turn pitched to the fast-growing

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

. On May 14, 1990, the Fox Broadcasting Company announced that they would pick up the series for the new Friday night schedule, alongside reality program ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

'', which was shown at 8:00-9:00pm.

Reception

The show received mostly positive reviews by critics.

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

called the show "the biggest breakthrough of the new season."

References

* Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present'' is a trade paperback reference work by the American television researchers Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, first published by Ballantine Books in 1979. History Tha ...

External links