Dangerous Women (American TV series)

*Dangerous Women*
Dangerous Women
Genre	Soap opera
Created by	Reg Watson
Written by	Scott K. Anderson; Lois Booton; Roccin Chatfield; AJ Nathan; Cindy Prial; Thom Racina; Betsy Snyder; Reg Watson
Directed by	Joseph Behar; Anthony Morina; Dennis Steinmetz
Starring	Valerie Wildman; Katherine Justice; Lynn Hamilton; Melanie Vincz; Maria Rangel; Kelli Vanlondersele
Composers	Marc Ellis; Ray Ellis
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	52
Production
Executive producers	Peter Pinnie; Reg Watson
Producers	Fran Calderone; Bob Crystal
Editor	Leigh Anne Branch
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production company	Central Independent Television
Original release
Network	Syndicated
Release	August 1, 1991 –; January 1, 1992

Dangerous Women is a syndicated nighttime American soap opera about a group of women who served time in prison together. It was created and written by Reg Watson and produced by Reg Grundy Productions.

Synopsis

Dangerous Women was loosely based on the 1979 Australian series Prisoner which had enjoyed success in syndication on many networks around the US from late 1979 to around mid 1982. With both series created by Reg Watson, Dangerous Women initially shared many similarities with its Australian counterpart, although this became far less apparent as the series continued.

The characters in Dangerous Women were based on the original characters of Prisoner: The characters of Karen Travers and Lynne Warner from the latter became Maria Trent and Holly Warner in Dangerous Women and both of their opening storylines were based on those originally shown in Prisoner. Similarly, Rita Jones's personality was based on Bea Smith, Crystal Fox shared the characteristics of nymphomaniac Marilyn Mason, and Cissie Johnson was based on the character 'Mum' Brooks - Cissie's daughter rejected her just as Mum's daughter disowned her when she was released in Prisoner.

Although many characters and storylines were clearly borrowed from Prisoner, the main character who tied the show together was Faith Cronin (Valerie Wildman), a mobster's wife. This character and storyline was unique and created especially for the new version of the series. Faith had been seriously disfigured by her mobster husband, and on leaving prison, she framed her ex-husband for murder after she staged her own death. Faith then had plastic surgery and created a new identity, becoming the confident and glamorous Patricia Meadows. She bought a lakefront inn, The Cedar Lake Inn, a destination she'd loved as a child and somewhere she'd always dreamed of living once she was released from prison - only to find her past catching up with her when one by one, her fellow former convicts converge on the Cedar Lake area as they are released from prison.

As the series progressed, the prison angle was gradually phased out as all of the characters had been released. They eventually took refuge at the Inn and attempted to rebuild their lives together.

Cast

Valerie Wildman as Patricia Meadows/Faith Cronin
Lynn Hamilton as Cissie Johnson
Katherine Justice as Rita Jones/Roxy Lawrence
Kelli Van Londersele as Holly Warner
Maria Rangel as Maria Trent
Melanie Vincz as Crystal Fox
Anthony Addabbo as Michael Torres
Mark McCoy as Joe Holland
Ed Monaghan as Jerry Vernon
Fred Mancuso as Randy Carter
Casper Van Dien as Brad Morris
Kelly Read as Debbie Jones
Stephen Liska as Jack Fisher
Louise Fitch as Minnie Wells
Susan Powell as Warden Grayson
Mary Barbara Alexander as Karen Holland
Kat Sawyer as Kath Morris
Paul Carr as Ben Cronin

Airings and cancelation

Dangerous Women premiered August 7, 1991 and aired only one season. The show was syndicated on a limited basis – WWOR-TV in New York City, WPWR-TV in Chicago and KCOP in Los Angeles were known to have carried the program. WDCA in Washington, D.C. carried the program but soon relegated it to a 2 AM time slot. In some markets, two one-hour episodes aired back to back every Wednesday night with encores on Saturday nights. It had reasonable ratings in New York, but it wasn't enough to keep the show going. It was pulled from syndication on January 1, 1992 after 52 episodes.

Several weeks before the show was officially canceled, all six lead actresses appeared on The Richard Bey Show, a talk show that originated from WWOR. The cast also appeared on two episodes of NY At Night, a primetime talk show on WWOR starring entertainer Clint Holmes. These appearances were their last attempt to keep the show on the air.

UK transmission

Shortly after its American cancellation, the show was broadcast on Central Television – the ITV franchise for the United Kingdom's English Midlands. It aired on Sunday and Monday nights from March 1992 replacing Prisoner in the schedule (which had finished December the previous year). All 52 episodes aired. No other ITV regions broadcast the series. The show was also later aired twice by cable TV station Living, in a late-night time-slot and repeated weekdays.

External links

Dangerous Women at IMDb