Naked City (1958)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.
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Naked City
1958 / TV-MA
Seasons & Episode
Poet Duncan Kleist breaks out of a hospital alcholic ward to retrieve some verses he traded for drinks. But Stanley, the bartender who now has the poems, tells Duncan he will have to buy them back.
Pro football star shot by younger woman when he opens his hotel room door. The press assumes Elvin "Colossus of" Rhodes was cheating on his wife, but Rhodes insists he doesn't even know the quiet, plain waitress. The paper trail fits the woman's claim they were lovers - separate hotel rooms as the player was on the road, gift receipts etc. check out, as Rhodes' life unravels.
A teenage girl is teased and handled a little roughly by four prankish teenage boys at a movie theater. The girl's father downplays the incident when the NYPD investigates. The father, a WWII combat veteran, has a plan to "save his daughter from any public embarrassment". He will hunt the boys down and mete out justice.
A young man with a disfigured face lives in the shadows of the city committing petty crimes until a young woman and Detective Flint show him how his self-worth is tied to his actions, not his looks.
A recently-retired policewoman who is facing her own mortality discovers, with the help of Detective Arcaro, how she has missed so many opportunities for happiness.
Former contender Johnny Meigs, eking out a living after a brain injury, pleads to go back in the ring, to get money to send his unknowing wife Kathy to compete in a floral show in Baltimore. Crooked boxing manager Gus Slate lines up an elderly, alcoholic physician to give Meigs a passing physical.
A subway fare taker who tried to hide his drunken escapades by falsely reporting a crime, goes on a mini crime spree to try to make fools of the investigating detectives.
To remain straight, an ex-con informs on the would-be robbers of a bar where he works, instead of helping the stickup men, his former pals. But the hoods' connection to Link Toland, a seemingly respectable businessman with serious political juice, cranks the heat way up on the young informant, his family, the investigating detectives, and even the tavern owner.
An old, but vibrant, man is shuffled off to an "Elderly Citizen's" home by his wealthy son. Both to get his son's attention and amuse himself, the man begins to make threatening crank telephone calls. A fellow resident, a retired cop, overhears him doing this and begins to blackmail his "friend".
An almost-blind young man roams the streets of New York after separating from his class, while his teacher (Diahann Carroll) attempts to convince his parents that the boy can learn to ably use his limited sight and not become completely blind.
An acting class prank gone tragically awry leads the detectives to look closely at a talented but emotionally-tortured student.
Dishwasher carved to death, while Adam & Libby slurp wine in a French bistro.
Two longtime Polish friends in the meat business have some bad blood between them and fight to resolve their issues.
Construction workers unearth the skeleton of a 14-year old boy, dead and buried for about 25 years. The only clue to his identity -- and fate -- is a cigarette lighter with the monogram JLY. Learning of this from the morning paper, perpetual ne'er-do-well Sam Langan recognizes both the dead boy and a chance to advance himself.
Two Las Vegas showgirls travel to New York for the purpose of abducting a married psychiatrist with whom one of the women had an affair. The apparent motivation is to force the man to leave his wife for the Las Vegas dancer.
The detectives try to build a case against a womanizing con man who manipulates lonely maids in order to gain their confidence and burglarize the homes of their wealthy employers. Flint is bothered by having used one woman's private diary in order to locate the man, and she is more bitter with the police for this than she is with the suspect for using her.
After a string of liquor store robberies and murders, a liquor store owner plans for retribution when his store is robbed and his friend, the clerk, is killed.
A group of rich young men burglarize apartments in their own building, and to cover their tracks, escalate to violence.
An ex-con, hustling a living by being part fence, sports bettor and police informant among other things,has a contract out on his life. He scrambles to get enough money together to leave for Oklahoma and a reunion with his wife and son. Lt. Parker is sympathetic and tries to help his "stoolie" friend safely leave NYC.
A hot dog, newspaper headline-grabbing detective has himself assigned to the 65th Precinct to find the killer of his partner. Both Lt. Parker and Det. Flint soon find that this brash and rash detective gets under their skin. He challenges their bravery and considers them to be safety first "parade cops".
Flint is ordered to prison to witness the execution of a murderer he helped capture.
An immigrant from Puerto Rico finds that things are not better and in many ways worse since moving to NYC. The inability to speak English has lead to confusion, not being able to find a job, contempt for being an alien and misunderstanding by the police. Betrayal by one of his own people only makes it even worse.
A jury that seems hopelessly deadlocked debates the case of a man who murdered his wife in order to be with another woman, but there might not be enough physical evidence to sway all of the jurors.
A corporate man who accidentally killed a man in a fight over a parking space mentally and physically tortures himself while the detectives search for the killer.
The reporting of a car theft by a good looking blonde seems odd for some reason to Detectives Flint and Arcaro. Later they and Lt. Parker are told she actually lent the car after a casual pickup. As more is learned about this woman her mental state becomes a concern. Is she a possible suicide case or a danger to others?
A psychotic who leads a burglary ring has an unfortunate habit of bursting into a murderous rage when things go wrong. When Adam investigates the scene of of the bloody break-ins, the head of an advertising agency offers him a lucrative position.
American Indians employed in NYC as "high floor construction workers" are a close knit group that follow tribal customs. A loveless arranged marriage that has not worked out eventually leads to a fatal fight between a husband and the tribesman she really loves. Rather than telling the NYPD the truth, the tribe "honors" the dead man by saying nothing.
An immature man is the landlord of a house who is given to act irrationally because of the memory of his overbearing, deceased father. When his fiancée is visiting from Italy, he panics at the thought of marrying her, and stages stunts like trying to set the house on fire and refusing his tenants' rent money.
A man with no "point of view" is strongly attracted to an opinionated woman. After he witnesses the accidental death of a "client" of his brother and his business associates he is told to leave NYC. He resists due to his newly found love and is a danger to them. Will he tell the NYPD the true story or be killed first?
An emotional scrap dealer wants to purchase a ship bound for salvage, but he needs at least $3000. When his business partner refuses to help, the scrapper flies into a rage and murders him at a construction site. He then turns to an unscrupulous loan shark, but can only get some of the money and the deal runs out as his conscience bears down on him.
The tension between a stock worker and his boss in a cardboard packaging plant, over a co-worker they both are in love with, escalates into a major fight. The police are called, but then the boss refuses to press charges against the employee. But the situation only gets worse.
A pair of married couples from different social and economic backgrounds find they do have something in common. The couples both are involved in physically abusive relationships and must go through the same legal system. The realization that they have similar problems despite their different stations in life is quite an eye opener.
A man who failed to qualify for the NYPD takes to impersonating a uniformed patrolman.His motives have to do with wanting to serve the public and also wanting to attract more desirable women. When he becomes involved in stopping a robbery and uses his non-regulation firearm the real NYPD searches him out.
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.
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