Cagney & Lacey Forums

I was just wondering if anyone who watched Cagney & Lacey when it was on currently watch Law & Order: SVU. If you have, have you been able to draw any comparisons between the two?

I happened to notice the living arrangements are similar. Cagney was single and lived in an apartment in Manhattan. On SVU, Benson is single and lives in an apartment in Manhattan. Lacey was married and lived in an apartment in Queens and later moves into a house in Queens. Stabler is married, at least for now, and lives in a house in Queens.

I see a similarity to Roseanne to the Harris sisters. In many ways, re-watching Cagney and Lacey (oh, the memories it brings back), Mary Beth reminds me of Jackie in a lot of way, esp. in personality and resourcefulness and sensitivity whereas Christine is a lot like Roseanne Conner...very loud, mouthy and brash, yet caring at the same time. Christine reminds me of an older sister who looks out for Mary Beth, who is like the younger sister, although the two are not related. It is an almost exact parallel to Roseanne looking out for Jackie.

As for their lives, the reverse initially appears to be true...Roseanne, like Mary Beth is very happily married to a husband as wonderful as Dan and she, like Mary Beth, has three active, sometimes wild kids. It's even almost a gender reverse of their kids with Mary Beth having two sons, then a daughter while Roseanne first has two daughters, then a younger son.

Jackie, for a long time, is single likeChristine andhas drinking and boyfriend issues like Chris; both have survived dating violence. They also both went through brief, but heartbreaking marriages. Only Jackie has a son while Chris never had kids.

Even Christine and Mary Beth's close bond is akin to Roseanne and Jackie's; they look out for one another. Wouldn't it be neat and wild for all four of them to meet; a good crossover idea. Maybe Roseanne and Jackie make a trip to NYC for their loose meat business and meet Chris and Mary Beth.

I can see Roseanne and Jackie kind of paying Chris and Mary Beth a low-keyed deference since the latter pair opened the doors for women and went through the hardest hurdles of all. In turn, Chris and Mary Beth would act as their elders and pay them a subtle support net and aspire to be even more feminist since they see how much Roseanne and Jackie look up to them.

Harvey reminds me of Dan Conner in many ways...very loving, gentle and both of them love their wives as they are. Both of them even have heart attacks.

So, that's where I see a lot of parallels. I am not a big TV watcher, but these two shows are the ones I watch on a regular basis and now have the DVD's for.