Wiseguy ran for three seasons from 1987 to 1990, and the crime drama still gets talked about as a show that saw the future. The series embraced serialized storytelling years before binge-watching was even a concept, and a 2024 cast revisit put Stanley Tucci among the names being discussed again.
At the center was Vinnie Terranova, the undercover OCB agent played by Ken Wahl. Wahl, who had already appeared in The Wanderers and opposite Paul Newman in Fort Apache, The Bronx, said his first reaction to hearing the project was that his heart sank because he thought it meant more of Stephen Cannell’s familiar formula. He said he asked if this was really what people thought of him, nearly fired his agent, and dismissed The A-Team as a cartoon while calling Hunter a direct ripoff of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry. Then he read the script, and everything changed. He said he was floored, and thrilled that Cannell took Wiseguy in a completely different direction.
That gamble turned the series into a magnet for unusual talent. Ray Sharkey and Kevin Spacey turned up as unforgettable villains. Jerry Lewis appeared in a dramatic role. Glenn Frey of the Eagles and Debbie Harry of Blondie both stepped into acting on the show. Jonathan Banks and Jim Byrnes, meanwhile, gave Wiseguy its emotional backbone, helping the series feel less like a procedural and more like a continuing story with consequences that carried over from one episode to the next.
Wahl said the show lasted three and a half years, and he remembered himself as the captain of the team. He said his sports background taught him that if everyone does well, the whole group benefits, and that he never felt the need to outdo his teammates. On Wiseguy, he said, he wanted everyone on the team to have their moment in the spotlight. They did. That is why the show still lands decades later, and why a retrospective that brings up Stanley Tucci can still start a fresh round of conversation about just how far ahead of its time Wiseguy really was.
