Decoy

This show took me completely by surprise. When it showed up on my suggested list, on a whim I watched the 1st episode and was hooked.

It's been called the female Dragnet but in my opinion it is better. The topics are timely even for today and definitely ahead of it's time for 1958. Filmed entirely in NYC, it is a enlightening snapshot of the city in the 50's with many of the structures looking exactly the same to this day. Also of note are the many actors appearing in Decoy who would go on to become household names.

Don't let the name or age of the show dissuade you. I think American TV audiences were just not ready for an empowered female lead in a series and that's a shame because personally, I would have liked to have seen a few more seasons.

This past Christmas, I found a $3 discount DVD with four episodes of this obscure 1950s TV series. I was intrigued about a cop show featuring a female police officer dating back to the Father Knows Best and I Love Lucy era. Plus I admit I thought Beverly Garland looked cute in uniform.

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover - at least based upon the 4 episodes on the DVD - that Decoy was an excellent, ahead-of-its-time show. Yes, it was very much a forerunner of Police Woman, only without the cheesiness. In fact the show felt a lot more like Dragnet - complete with Garland providing a Jack Webb-style narration.

The 4 episodes all focused on women being victimized by crime, and Policewoman Casey Jones' efforts to right wrongs, often acting undercover (in one episode she becomes what is called a "honey trap" to attract a bad guy). Despite it being 1957-58, an era when women were not expected to be action heroes, Beverly Garland provides a surprising amount of action in an appealingly understated way, whether it be sneaking through a forest to snatch a hostage to freedom, or (in the DVD's most memorable moment) outdrawing a bad guy with a rifle!

Casey Jones is a character who takes her work very seriously. Perhaps too seriously -- but then Joe Friday was never a bundle of laughs, either. If I had to pick a modern-day equivalent to Casey, it would have to be Mariska Harigtay's policewoman in Law and Order Special Victims Unit. The two characters have much in common.

Sadly, Decoy only ran one season (and it looks as if some episodes were in cold storage for a couple of years before being aired), and while there are a few DVDs out there with episodes, the series looks set to fade into undeserved oblivion. Personally, with the popularity of such female action hero series as Alias and La Femme Nikita on TV and on DVD these days, I think a DVD release of the Decoy series would be a great move. Decoy is undeniably an historical document - but it stands up well more than 45 years later.

One would call "Decoy" for what it is... a female "Dragnet", with the beguiling Beverly Garland ("My Three Sons", "Scarecrow and Mrs. King") and the city of New York filling in for Jack Webb and sunny Los Angeles. But once you get caught in its premise, it's easy to overlook other aspects of the show. Such as the fact that Ms. Garland is required, in her role as undercover policewoman Patricia "Casey" Jones, to play a different role in each of the 39 episodes filmed. In one episode, she could play an exotic dancer in a carnival, in the next, she can play an addict, and so on and so on, all in the guise of a crime fighter. Whether Angie Dickinson, as Pepper Anderson - "Police Woman", took her cues from Beverly Garland is open to debate, but it's clear to say that Ms. Garland's Casey Jones is clearly a trailblazer for other lady lawmen to follow.

As for the other co-star, New York City... "Decoy" isn't the first series filmed on location in the Big Apple, nor was it the last, but it was certainly one of the most effective in terms of its film noir look and fully fleshed characters. This isn't "Naked City", but it's as close a similarity as you can get on a shoestring budget. And it does the city justice, as "Naked City" would do the next year. Check it out on DVD when you get the chance.

"Decoy" is a Pyramid Production in association with Official Films, Inc. with technical assistance from the Policewoman's Bureau, NYC Police Department. 39 episodes were filmed on location in 1957.

Stumbled across this on YouTube and ended up watching all 39 episodes - some better than others , most kept interest and some very good indeed - I remember having seen Beverly Garland in guest roles in many other tv shows back in the day - Westerns etc - she was very good - had great expressive eyes that did get the acting - The NYC locales were good and her voice overs added to the intimacy of the scripts - The Amazing thing was the number of later very familiar stars and character actors that appeared in this small syndicated show - if look up show on Wiki it lists them, over 35 listed - Peter Falk , Suzanne Pleshette , Simon Oakley and Barbara Barrie and on and on - almost a time capsule for fans actually . All from back in the day.

A couple of years ago, I was able to get a set of 5 DVDs that contained 20 of the 39 episodes of Decoy, and it was great to watch them again after so long. Back when Decoy aired in 1957-58, I was 12 and 13 years old and had something of a crush on Beverly Garland. Recently, I found an advertisement--for the first time--for a DVD set with all 39 episodes. And the price was hard to beat as well. Naturally, I ordered the set and have been enjoying watching them all over again.

The picture quality is excellent, but at times the sound is a little muffled; however, all in all, it is great viewing. For anyone who enjoys the genre of Dragnet, Police Woman, etc., this is a great series that ran, sadly, for only one season. Yet, I consider it to be a classic.