''Leg Work'' is an American

police drama The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eithe ...

television series created by Frank Abatemarco that premiered on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

on October 3, 1987. Ten episodes of the series were produced, of which six were aired prior to the show's cancellation. The final episode aired on November 7, 1987. The cable network

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

later aired the remaining four episodes.

Synopsis

Set in

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 ...

, the show's main character was Claire McCarron (played by Margaret Colin), a former Assistant D.A. turned private investigator. A policeman's daughter (Colin was a policeman's daughter in real life), she drove around town in a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and origin ...

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but lived beyond her means and often struggled to make a living from her fledgling detective agency. The show also starred Patrick James Clarke as her brother and NYPD lieutenant Fred McCarron, and

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Em ...

as Willie Pipal, her friend who still worked for the DA's office.

Cast

* Margaret Colin as Claire McCarron * Patrick James Clarke as Fred McCarron *

as Willie Pipal * Robert Dorfman as Jeffrey

Episodes

Reaction and ratings

Critical opinion was mixed. It was described as having a "somewhat leering tone", but also the "best and brightest of CBS' new series" as well as being a seeming extension of Colin's 1985 lawyer sitcom, the equally short-lived ''Foley Square'' (in which Colin had played an assistant district attorney). However even before its premiere, critics anticipated a quick demise due to its difficult programming slot, on Saturday nights opposite NBC's ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White ...

'' and ''

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...

''. Ratings were indeed dismal, as in its five weeks on the air, ''Leg Work'' was always rated within the bottom five network shows every single week. In its final airing it was ranked dead last, 71st out of 71 ranked shows that week.Baker, Kathryn (11 November 1987)
Miniseries draws Nielsen points
''Kentucky New Era'' (

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

) Despite its brief run, ''Leg Work'' was shown in other countries outside of the US. It premiered in the UK on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network (usually in a late Friday night slot) in Spring 1988.

References

External links

* *
Thrilling Detective: Claire McCarron
1980s American crime drama television series 1987 American television series debuts 1987 American television series endings CBS original programming Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in New York City English-language television shows American detective television series {{US-drama-tv-prog-stub