CBS, 1982
** EMMY NOMINATION
Executive Producer Barney Rosenzweig
Producer April Smith
Executive Story Consultants Robert Crais and Frank Abatemarco
Story Editor Jeffrey Lane
Cast: Tyne Daly, Sharon Gless, Meg Foster, Al Waxman, Martin Kove, Carl Lumbly, Sidney Clute, John Karlen, Harvey Atkin
Filmed by Orion Television

     When April was hired to produce the show, it was in complete disarray. There were no sets, scripts, computers or writers, and nobody had any idea what to do with the ground-breaking concept of "two women cops." (It was the first TV series starring two females.) One of the lead actresses, Meg Foster, had just been unfairly fired by the network and a very nervous Sharon Gless hired to play the role of Detective Christine Cagney. April re-tooled the series into a hard-hitting reality-based drama. She hired talented writers -- Frank Abatemarco, Jeffrey Lane and Robert Crais (who went on to write the national best-selling Elvis Cole detective novels.) - and did background research with police officers in New York. The series ran for six years. 
     After she had established the show, April left to write and produce long-form television and to raise a family. Many other producers followed in her footsteps on Cagney and Lacey, but she was the first.