"Ms. Cop" was the first of five appearances for 37 year old Linda Lavin as Det. Janice Wentworth, the only female that might have become a regular had the actress not been offered the title role in the sitcom ALICE, adapted from the 1974 movie "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." Wentworth is a recent transfer bored with doing nothing but paperwork, itching to be back out on the street. Accompanying Fish on a call to apprehend an armed robbery suspect (Wynn Irwin, first of two), she is successful in making her first collar, and doesn't mind handling the paperwork on this report. A frequent victim of an obscene phone caller persistently shows a greater interest in the investigator, Chano, rather than the investigation. Once the culprit Charles Hackman (Howard Platt, first of five) gets caught, Chano informs him of his rights: "with the record you got at the phone company, everything you say will probably be held against you!" (Barney, after being thanked for his concern: "Pleasure talking to you." Hackman: "I don't hear that very often!"). Barney's wife Liz pops by the precinct after attending group therapy sessions, which Fish's wife Bernice is also part of- he must reassure her over the phone: "of course I still love you, what else have I got to do?" This is one of Jack Soo's best remembered episodes, as Yemana gets a call about a stolen Studebaker: "black fenders, silver doors, green hood, polka dot seat covers, monkey fur dashboard. Maybe it wasn't stolen, maybe it ran away!" Both Wojo and Harris are absent, rather curious in Wojo's case, since he is the one that Wentworth eventually goes out with (her next appearance comes in "Heat Wave"). This was the only episode out of 171 that Max Gail ever missed.
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