Wiseguy

1 9 8 7 - 1 9 9 0 (USA)

This show was never a ratings success but it developed a cult following among viewers and TV writers alike when it debuted on CBS in the fall of 1987. 

Via an innovative story structure, Wiseguy followed the adventures of Organised Crime Bureau cop Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl), who worked undercover and infiltrated various mob organisations to take them down from the inside.

Under the watchful eye of superior Frank McPike (Jonathan Banks) and with the covert assistance of "Lifeguard" (Jim Byrnes), Vinnie first went after Atlantic City kingpin Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey) before moving on to tackle the wacky brother and sister team of evil, utterly unstable crime-king Mel Profitt (Kevin Spacey) and his sister Susan (the pneumatic Joan Severance). 

Mel and Susan enjoyed a "very close relationship" and spent a good deal of their time aboard their huge yacht, dubbed Hotel. Mel and Susan used the boat mainly as a floating drugs-and-sex crash pad when they weren't gallivanting about the world cutting various narcotics and arms deals.

From there, everything got messy, both on and off camera. Mel ended up killing himself, Susan wound up in a mental hospital, Vinnie uncovered a near-incomprehensible arrangement involving rogue CIA operatives, a Senate investigation, murder, more suicide and subsequent plots revolving around the music business and mobsters big and small.

Meanwhile, after what most in the know termed a "disagreement" with series creator and all-around TV legend Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero), the show returned to the airwaves with no Wahl, and Steven Bauer as Vinny replacement Michael Santana. 

What happened? Only the players themselves know for sure. Cannell said Wahl quit. Wahl said he was pushed out. Either way, they managed to sort it out to shoot a TV-movie revival for ABC in 1996.