Too many TV reunions wind up like a high school reunion: A good idea in theory, but in fact it's kind of depressing.
Fans of "Cagney & Lacey," the Emmy-winning series that ran from 1982-1988, will want "Cagney & Lacey: The Return" to mean but one thing: The two intrepid cops are back on the beat.
Alas, too much of this TV movie, which will air on CBS (Channel 11) Sunday at 9 p.m., is concerned with tweaking the plot so that the two do get back together. The teleplay by Terry Louise Fisher and Steve Brown offers more exposition than action, expending a lot of wasted energy reminding us that Cagney could be a loose cannon and that the partnership was, as Cagney repeatedly exults, "great."
Though watching Tyne Daly (Mary Beth Lacey) and Sharon Gless (Chris Cagney) play off one another is still engaging, all the narrative wheel-spinning gets in the way of the real pleasure -- seeing TV's first female-cop team get down to business.
Credible female cops have been used sparingly since "Cagney and Lacey" left the air; they've mainly labored in the background (or frolicked with David Caruso in "NYPD Blue"). Only this season, six years later, with "Under Suspicion," has a woman taken the lead in a crime series.
In that light, "Cagney and Lacey: The Return" can be considered the return of some heady feminist icons, called upon to advance the cause of middle-aged women. In an era in which Hollywood starlets demand retakes because their hair doesn't look glamorous, Ms. Gless and Ms. Daly are admirably fearless -- many of the most telling scenes come as they fret about their age and weight.
On the other hand, perhaps a little too much attention is paid in that direction -- a subplot in which Cagney is in denial about undergoing menopause comes off as a klutzy joke.
As the film opens, Cagney is married to a wealthy stiff with ties to the White House ("Bill" makes late-night calls to offer a prestigious cabinet position). Lacey's life away from the police force is fraught with problems -- her portly husband suffers a heart attack, and one of her sons can't find a job. She's resigned to a humiliating job search, which soon becomes a humiliating quest to get into shape.
So when Cagney, who has a cushy job in the D.A.'s office, is assigned to investigate an illegal arms heist, she naturally turns to Lacey. But getting Lacey to accept takes up the film's first hour.
Once things finally get clicking, there's an even balance between winning sequences and clumsy ones. The erratic nature of the story is vexing, and other regulars of the series are given lackluster cameos. But David Paymer ("Quiz Show") has some engaging moments as a functionary in the D.A.'s office.
Though the moral complexities depicted in current cop shows make "Cagney and Lacy: The Return" seem somewhat pedestrian, fans of the old show should enjoy the interplay between Ms. Gless and Ms. Daly and wish someone had concocted a case worthy of such a reunion.