A strange new TV network popped up called Circle. And there it is - Wise Guy. I loved that series, Ray Sharkey, Joan Severance, Kevin Spacey and look, Johnathan Banks doing an early Mike Ehrmantraut.
While I was looking for the correct spelling of Severance, I came across this - “This show is responsible for introducing the “story arc” to television. It was for precisely that reason that every network turned this show down multiple times. Network executives did not believe that audiences would invest in a single story being drawn out over seven or eight weeks. Then Creator Stephen J. Cannell sat down with new CBS President Kim LeMasters. LeMasters declared the story arc concept, “the coolest idea I ever heard.” It has since become a staple of television drama.”
I need to look up this Circle network, awful commmercials and the very worst closed captions ever. In the Roger LaCoca segment, hit habit of calling everyone “Buckwheat” is captioned “Buckweed.”
Ken Wahl does a great job playing the titular Wiseguy, and even the occasional campy ‘Eighties aspect and cliched dialogue doesn’t crimp the style of the show. The best arc of the show was Jerry Lewis playing a corrupt clothing magnate being squeezed by Stanley Tucci (who for some reason is obsessed with fresh-squeezed orange juice). There is as much nascent New York-based acting talent in this show as the later Law & Order, and it essentially presages shows like the short-lived Profit and the later Sopranos in being long form story arcs about morally ambiguous protagonists. Unfortunately, Wahl suffered several on-set injuries (including one that was actually on-camera) and got addicted to painkillers that essentially ended his acting career.
Stranger
I absolutely remember Wiseguy, but then, I’m old. 
I remember watching the “Dead Dog Records” story arc in season 2, while I was finishing my Master’s degree. Tim Curry, Paul Winfield, and Debbie Harry were in that arc, and I remember feeling like I’d never seen anything like it on network TV before.
Oh oh, and Glenn Frey!!
True, but I had a much bigger crush on Debbie Harry than on Glenn Frey. 
I remember Wiseguy. The Story lines with Kevin Spacey and Tim Curry are the ones I remember the best. We used to talk about the show at work.
I really enjoyed this series. Tim Curry’s “Soul Man” performance was awesome. There was also another character who was a villain but helped out the hero by posing as a sheriff once. I don’t remember the details, but in one scene he threw a marble so it ricocheted off multiple objects in a sheriff’s office in a very cool way.
I’ve never seen the show – I was probably a little young for it when it first aired. But I know about it mainly because Jonathan Banks received an Emmy nomination for his role on it. IIRC that makes Banks the only actor ever to receive Emmy nominations for three different shows – Wiseguy, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul.
Roger was deadly with them marbles.
I remember really liking the series, but recall few of the specifics.
One of my favorites. It was a huge career boost for Ray Sharkey. There were a lot of good performances but his really stood out. Unfortunately he followed up that role with playing the Puerto Rican angel who spoke with a dead John Belushi.
I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. I don’t remember many specifics either except that Ray Sharkey and Jerry Lewis were very impressive.
For those interested in (re)watching it, it’s apparently available to stream for free with ads on Freevee (Formerly IMDB TV). Actually it looks like they only have season 1, but that’s something.
As I recall, the title of this show caused Scorsese to rename his mob movie, which was based on Nick Pileggi’s excellent book WISEGUYS, into “Goodfellas” which I will maintain to my grave is the lamest, clunkiest, dumbest title for a movie ever, inventing a slang expression that was never actually used. Oh, maybe some goomba said of another goomba, “he’s a good fella” but 1) probably not, and 2) no one recorded or repeated it, so so what? Colossal fuckup of a title, my candidate for “Worst Title Ever.” And all because they got aced out by this TV show.
But you’re not bitter, right?
Stranger
Oh man, I loooooooved this show when it first aired. I thought it was the height of television. The finale of season one just tore my guts out.
I bet if I watched it again now, my reaction would be… less positive.
Peacock, Roku Channel, Vudu, Tubi, Pluto, and Freevee all have all of seasons 1-3. The Dead Dog Records storyline of season 2 (the music arc with Debbie Harry and Tim Curry) is missing on all except Roku, but that only has the first three episodes.
Interesting; I wonder if that’s due to issues over music rights – I don’t remember if those episodes featured rock songs in them, but if they did, reruns might be running into the same issue that WKRP in Cincinnati did, for many years.
Possibly. The three available episodes feature Debbie’s song “Brite Side” and this reddit post claims it was the reason it took years for anyone to get the rights to the story arc.
I mean, there’s also the fact that he was a mass murderer.