Rating: - Sure, Sharon Gless was the third Cagney....
...but I posit that (A) since Gless is whom Avedon, Corday & Rosenzweig wanted for the role from the beginning (but couldn't get her, as she was under contract to another series at the time), and (B) since Gless' portrayal of Cagney is most widely associated with the series, this market-testing release of the episodes beginning with Gless as Cagney is appropriate-- and is probably the best success-insuring move for an initial DVD release, if we ever want to see the rest of the series in this form. (And we do, WE DO!)

I think Mr. Barney Rosenzweig knows what he's doing, here. Perhaps the pilot (with Loretta Swit) and the "first" season (with Meg Foster-- dubbed season zero by some) will be released together in some sort of pre-series package down the road, especially for collectors and hard-core fans. But for now, I dare say that the seasons most people want to see are the ones we came to love with Sharon Gless.

Somewhat grainy, yes they are, in this first package. I understand that it's pricey and tedious to clean 25-year-old negatives from a predigital era. I think they look fine, even on my HDTV, and even showing their age the way they do-- I'm just glad to have them at all, preserved in this format, at my fingertips. So hey, they're a great deal online-- you won't be sorry, and buying them will send a message that yes, in fact, we do want to see the rest of this series on DVD!

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