Decoy (TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Decoy
Beverly Garland as Officer Casey Jones in Decoy (1958)
Genre	Crime drama
Written by	Jerome Coopersmith Don Ettlinger Steven Gardner Abram S. Ginnes Leon Tokatyan
Directed by	David Alexander Michael Gordon Donald Medford Stuart Rosenberg Teddy Sills Arthur H. Singer
Starring	Beverly Garland
Music by	Wladimir Selinsky
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	39
Production
Executive producer(s)	Everett Rosenthal
Producer(s)	David Alexander Stuart Rosenberg Arthur H. Singer
Cinematography	Maurice Hartzband
Release
Original network	Syndication
Original release	October 14, 1957 (1957-10-14) – July 7, 1958 (1958-07-07)

Decoy (also titled Policewoman Decoy) is an American crime drama television series created for syndication and initially broadcast from October 14, 1957, to July 7, 1958, with 39 black-and-white 30-minute episodes. The series was groundbreaking, as the first American police series with a female protagonist. Many Decoy episodes are in the public domain.

Synopsis

The series starred Beverly Garland as Patricia "Casey" Jones, a female police officer in New York City. The undercover nature of Jones's work had her appearing as women in a variety of roles, including gun molls, hookers, nurses, and singers. Jones had no partner in her police work, and episodes revealed little about her personal life, with occasional exceptions of references to a love affair with a police officer who died on duty.

Popularity

Decoy was ranked among the top-10 syndicated programs, not only during its initial release, but also "long after production closed down".

Production

Stuart Rosenberg and Don Medford were directors of Decoy, and Steve Gardner was a writer. The show was filmed by Pyramid Productions, partially on location in New York City. Locations included Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, Randalls Island, and the South Bronx. Studio scenes were filmed in the former Biograph Studios in the Bronx.

Production of the show's pilot began on March 28, 1957, taking seven days for completion. In August 1957, trade publication Billboard reported, "the first-run series is off to one of the fastest sales starts in years, particularly with major station purchases." That sales success included a $600,000 prerelease order from five Westinghouse-owned TV stations and four independent stations.

Production of the series ended on May 29, 1958, because producers lacked the funds to continue. Reruns were broadcast for seven years using the title Police Woman.

Guest stars

DVD releases

In 2017, Film Chest Media Group released a DVD set containing all 39 episodes.