Decoy (also titled Policewoman Decoy)[1] 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 the first American police series with a female protagonist.[2] Many Decoy episodes are in the public domain.[3]
The series featured Beverly Garland as Patricia "Casey" Jones, a female undercover police officer in New York City.[4] The undercover nature of Jones's work had her impersonating women in a variety of roles, including gangster's molls, prostitutes, nurses, and singers.[1] Jones did not have a partner for 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.[5]
Decoy was ranked among the top-10 syndicated programs, not only during its initial release, but also "long after production closed down".[1]
Stuart Rosenberg[6] and Don Medford were directors of Decoy,[7] and Steve Gardner was a writer.[8] The show was filmed by Pyramid Productions,[7] partially on location in New York City. Locations included Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, Randalls Island, and the South Bronx.[5] Studio scenes were filmed in the former Biograph Studios in the Bronx.[9]
Production of the show's pilot began on March 28, 1957, taking seven days for completion.[10]: 57 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."[8] That sales success included a $600,000 prerelease order from five Westinghouse-owned TV stations and four independent stations.[11]
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.[10]
In 2017, Film Chest Media Group released a DVD set containing all 39 episodes.[5]
