East Side/West Side

The comparison has been made between this show and "Naked City", which was canceled the spring before this one appeared. Both were grimily serious shows filmed on the streets on New York using new York City Stage actors, (many of whom became famous movie and TV actors). Both shows were well done but there is more than a few months difference in thinking between them . Naked City tended to show stories with neat, (if often tragic) endings. ESWS didn't show ending at all. Everything it depicted was an ongoing problem, with no clear solution. The heroes could not simply arrest someone to end the problem at the conclusion of the hour. Often, they are nothing more than powerless observers, which is not very dramatically pleasing. The "Who do you kill" episode is somewhat disappointing to me because of the complete inefficacy of the heroes- it seems to rub your face in the problem but supplies no solutions. At least that's "real".

The second difference is that ESWS was the first TV program to come to terms directly with the problem of race, to show white audiences what it was like for a black man or woman in America. Black faces are almost totally absent from Naked City. Imagine a "realistic" story about big-city policeman who investigate nothing but crimes involving Caucasians. ESWS showed New York the way it really was- and is.

Beautiful series-- a one-season long experiment that tried to reflect a tumultuous time-period (its single season encompassed JFK's death, the Civil Rights Bill, killings of Civil Rights workers in Alabama, escalation of fighting in Vietnam). George C. Scott played a social worker in Manhattan, Cicely Tyson his secretary, and before they softened the series toward the end toward whimsey, they produced at least three episodes that have stuck in my head for nearly 40 years: 1. social services take-away the child of a prostitute, who was portrayed as a devoted mother-- her grief was seismic; 2. a young black father who loses a baby to a rat's attack gets a weapon and wanders through Harlem looking for someone to kill; 3. a middle-class black couple moving to the suburbs sets off a calculated real-estate stampede, and even the liberal whites who sponsored them finally rebukes them. The second of these episodes was blocked-out in Georgia-- am surprised we got to see the other two; criticism at the time inevitably used the killing word "grim". Actors were drawn from the NY casting-pool, and shooting was done in the streets of the city.

Great series with George C Scott at his usual best! Gritty black and white, ahead of its time. On location on streets of the Big Apple just made it that much more realistic, like Naked City was! Can not believe it lasted only one season. Just goes to show you how stupid the bean counters on the networks are!

Superb drama series showcasing the young George c. Scott and a Hall of Fame list of guest stars. One characteristic of the series is that the episodes don't conclude with the conflicts neatly resolved. When the episodes conclude we are not told if the little girl went back to school or if the neighborhood was successfully integrated. The feature of unresolved conflict was unique in dramatic tv at the time, and may have contributed to the series low ratings and regrettable cancelation.

This was one of the best shows on TV. I recall watching it back when, well i guess i was 12 or 13 judging by the date. it was riveting and unlike so many dramas today, featured a dedicated social worker, George C. Scott with his face of reality and character. Thirty years later, Judging Amy, another fine show, featured Tyne Daly in a similar role, but a shared one within a family including the judge daughter, writer son, etc. Ido not recall individual episodes and came upon this looking for something else, but if i recall, the stories would be as relevant and fresh as good tales representing true life dramas often are. I suspect that the sociological wave of movies and TV shows of the early to mid 60's helped influence those of us at that vulnerable and suggestive age(teenage-young adult) the ideals and aspirations of humans as good, fixable and misunderstood, but with potential with a little dedication and hard work. Over the following decades, the entertainment industry's refocused its emphasis, and maybe coincidentally, so did the nation's ideals. Anyway, they were good shows with top notch acting-don' remember ever being bored with that one.