Editing Silk Stalkings

{{Short description|American crime drama television series (1991–1999)}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Silk Stalkings logo.svg
| caption              =
| genre                = [[Crime drama]]
| creator              = [[Stephen J. Cannell]]
| starring             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Mitzi Kapture]] <!-- Mitzi credited first in 1.1 and 1.2 -->
* [[Rob Estes]] 
* Nick Kokotakis <!-- Nick credited first after Mitzi in ep 5.13 -->
* [[Tyler Layton]] 
* [[Chris Potter (actor)|Chris Potter]] <!-- Chris is credited first in ep 6.1 -->
* [[Janet Gunn]]
* [[Charlie Brill]] <!-- Brill gets star billing starting from ep 6.1 -->
}}
| theme_music_composer = [[Mike Post]]
| narrated             = [[Fred Melamed]]
| composer             = [[Danny Lux]]
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 8
| num_episodes         = 176
| list_episodes        = List of Silk Stalkings episodes
| executive_producer   = {{Plain list|
* Stephen J. Cannell
* [[Stu Segall]]
* David E. Peckinpah
* Kim LeMasters
* Jack Bernstein
}}
| camera               = 
| runtime              = 48&nbsp;minutes
| company              = {{Plainlist|
* [[Stu Segall Productions]]
* Cannell Entertainment{{efn|Known as [[Stephen J. Cannell]] Productions Inc for (seasons 1–4)}}
* [[Columbia Pictures Television]] (season 5)<ref name="Columbia Silk">{{cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nhIu3XNUAvQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/nhIu3XNUAvQ| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Stu Seagall...Columbia Pictures Television (1995)|publisher=YouTube: Pepsi-9072|date=30 June 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* [[New World Pictures|New World Entertainment]] (seasons 5–6)
* [[20th Television|20th Century Fox Television]] (seasons 6–8)<ref name="Foxysilk">{{cite web|url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=lU4fA4TGf7s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/lU4fA4TGf7s| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Stu Seagall...Fox Television (1997) #1|via=[[YouTube]]|date=June 30, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
}}
| network              = [[CBS]]
| first_aired          = {{start date|1991|11|7}}
| last_aired           = {{end date|1993|6|10}}
| network2             = [[USA Network]]
| first_aired2         = {{start date|1993|9|26}}
| last_aired2          = {{end date|1999|4|18}}
}}

'''''Silk Stalkings''''' is an American [[crime drama]] television series that premiered on [[CBS]] on November 7, 1991, as part of the network's late-night ''[[Crimetime After Primetime]]'' programming package. Broadcast for two seasons until CBS ended the ''Crimetime'' experiment in June 1993, the remaining six seasons ran exclusively on [[USA Network]] until the series finale on April 18, 1999. The show was creator [[Stephen J. Cannell]]'s longest-running series. Its title is a [[wordplay]] on "[[silk]] [[stocking]]s".

The series portrays the daily lives of two detectives who solve sexually-based [[Crime of passion|crimes of passion]] ("silk stalkings") among the ultra-rich of [[Palm Beach, Florida]]. Most episodes were shot in [[San Diego]], [[California]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_R3h-k3sas | title=New 8 visits the set of 'Silk Stalkings' by Stu Segall Productions in San Diego in 1992 | website=[[YouTube]] | date=15 July 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Kaiser-Permanente-medical-facility-in-San-Diego-and-Silk-Stalkings-Palm-Beach-police_fig6_233008107|title=Kaiser Permanente medical facility in San Diego and Silk Stalkings ’... &#124; Download Scientific Diagram}}</ref> while some were filmed in [[Scottsdale, Arizona]].

==Synopsis==
===Chris and Rita===
From [[1991 in television|1991]] to [[1995 in television|1995]], the lead characters were played by [[Rob Estes]] and [[Mitzi Kapture]], as detectives Christopher Lorenzo and Rita Lee Lance, respectively. The story lines were told in a partially first-person perspective focusing on Lance, who would speak in voiceovers throughout the episodes. Early in the series, [[Ben Vereen]] played Rita's boss, Captain Hutchinson ("Hutch"). Vereen was compelled to retire from the show during the second season due to an off-screen accident, but he returned for a few guest appearances. His successor was Lt. Hudson, played by [[Robert Gossett]], who stayed on until the third season. Chris and Rita's new boss, who would stay with the show for its duration, was [[Charlie Brill]] as Captain Harry Lipschitz. Brill went on to appear in the most episodes of any actor, 129, ahead of Kapture's 101 and Estes' 100. He was promoted to the opening credits starting with season six (none of the previous captains in the series had achieved this).

Brill's real-life wife [[Mitzi McCall]] played Lipschitz's free-spirited wife Frannie on the series, and the two provided some occasional comic relief amid the dramatic tension of the story lines. They also appeared in the second season playing completely different characters. Working prominently with Lorenzo and Lance was assistant district attorney George Donovan (William Anton). Various recurring characters came and went, notably Dennis Paladino as mob boss Donnie "Dogs" DiBarto (DiBelco in his first appearance); [[John Byner]] as Cotton Dunn, a cunning but likable [[con artist]]; Scott Atkins as Officer Perry, a rookie cop; [[Kim Morgan Greene]] as Melissa Cassidy, a late-night radio talk-show host, [[sex therapy|sex therapist]], and old flame of Chris's; [[Danny Gans]] as Roger, a coroner who frequently (and unsuccessfully) tried to get Rita to go out with him; Marie Marshall as Solange, a local photographer with a faux French accent who crossed paths with Chris and Rita in the second season; and Lucy Lin, who played [[forensic science|forensic]] expert Dr. Noriko Weinstein. Actress [[Freda Foh Shen]] took over Lin's role in later episodes. In the first season, Rita was shown to suffer from occasionally intense headaches, which were caused by a blood bubble in her brain. Rita opted not to have surgery to fix this because it was deemed too high-risk. However, as the series went on, this condition was gradually phased out of the plot and was never mentioned again. In the second episode of the first season, ''Going to Babylon'', it was revealed that Rita's real name is Rita Lee Fontana. Her father, Donald was a wealthy businessman who lost his fortune in a series of bad business dealings involving a corrupt fellow businessman when she was six years old. Donald fell into a state of severe depression and alcoholism which eventually culminated in him committing suicide. Rita was adopted by Don and Sue Lance and she took their name in gratitude for the kindness and love they showed her growing up. Rita and Chris would go on to arrest the man responsible for her father's bankruptcy in that same episode.

Estes and Kapture were equal co-stars. The opening credits  alternated, one week showing Estes first and then Kapture, the following week showing Kapture first and then Estes. The opening montage of quick cuts had "teasers" that suggested the sexy and violent subject matter of the show, but were not taken from any of the show's actual episodes. According to Stephen Cannell, in a [[DVD]] extra, they were developed initially as a promotion, filmed and assembled by Ralph Hemecker in a single day of filming, and featuring a leggy blonde actress/model whom Cannell said was named Avalon Jones. In the first two episodes of the series, Kapture was shown first, and then Estes;<ref>{{cite episode | title=Pilot | season=1 | number=1 | series=Silk Stalkings | via=[[FilmRise]] / YouTube | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL6NQG7jZro  }}</ref><ref>{{cite episode | title=Going to Babylon | season=1 | number=2 | series=Silk Stalkings | via=[[FilmRise]] / YouTube | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUyW80wIWOE }}</ref> they alternated after that, except for Kapture's final episode, in which she (and not Estes) appeared in the opening montage, followed by the two new co-stars.

Two off-screen events in the summer of 1995 were pivotal to the show and were worked into the story line. Both actors were ready to leave the series, Estes to pursue other acting opportunities and Kapture to take time off for her first child.

Estes had first flirted with departure at the end of the third season (spring of 1994). The season ended in a cliffhanger episode, "Dark Heart", with Chris being shot by an obsessed woman, played by [[Crystal Chappell]]. Chris was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance as the closing credits rolled. After negotiations, Estes decided to renew his contract, and the fourth season (fall 1994) began with Chris' recovery from his near-fatal wounds in a two-part episode, "Natural Selection", that was later released on [[VHS]] as a two-hour film.

In the fifth season (fall 1995), Chris and Rita's mutual attraction finally moved from friendship to love in a two-part episode in November, called "Partners". Nick Kokotakis, as detective Michael Price, was introduced during that episode. Rita, who was promoted to lieutenant, was soon confirmed to be pregnant (as was Kapture in real life), and Chris and Rita were married in an early December episode titled "Till Death Do Us Part". The next week's episode, "The Last Kiss Goodnight", ended with Chris being shot and killed in the line of duty.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1996/01/26/silk-stalkings/|title=Silk Stalkings|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|first=Ken | last=Tucker | date=January 26, 1996}}</ref>

Kapture appeared in one more episode, "Dead Asleep". This episode's credits featured Kapture but not Estes (for the only time in the series), as well as Kokotakis and [[Tyler Layton]], who was introduced in the previous episode as Chris's new partner, detective Holly Rawlins. Most of the episode, which began with Rita, Harry and Frannie Lipschitz, Price, Rawlins, and Donovan at Chris' burial, was spent focusing on Michael and Holly's first case. At the end of the show, the grief-stricken Rita spends one final scene talking to Chris at his gravesite and saying goodbye to Lipschitz, and leaves the force for parts unknown.

===Tom and Cassy===
With Estes and Kapture gone from the show, Kokotakis and Layton took over the lead roles. Fans of the show did not embrace the new characters, and they were replaced after that half-season by [[Chris Potter (actor)|Chris Potter]] and [[Janet Gunn]]. Gunn, who starred in the [[Crimetime After Primetime]] series ''[[Dark Justice]]'' as Kelly Cochrane in 1992 and '93, previously played a secretary arrested for murder in season 3.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

Unlike the transition that was played out between Chris and Rita and Michael and Holly, no on-screen explanation was given for Michael and Holly's departure, and fans of the series sometimes refer to them as the "lost cast".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present |publisher=Ballantine Books |year=2003 |page=1071 |isbn=0-345-45542-8}}</ref> ADA George Donovan was also written out of the series at the end of season five, leaving Harry and Frannie Lipschitz as the lone holdovers from the Lance and Lorenzo episodes.

The detectives moved into an upgraded precinct in season seven.

The romantic chemistry between Potter and Gunn's characters, Tom Ryan and Cassandra St. John, respectively (who, according to the story line, had been married to and divorced from one another before their arrival on the series), revived interest in the show and it rebounded in the ratings. After three additional seasons, USA cancelled the series in 1999.<ref name="sun sentinel cancel">{{cite news | url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1999/02/28/long-run-over-for-silk-stalkings/ | title=Long Run over for Silk Stalkings | date=February 28, 1999 | work=[[Sun Sentinel]] | url-access=subscription }}</ref> The final episode of the final season, in spring 1999, placing Tom's career and relationship with Cassy on the rocks, was a cliffhanger with no resolution.

== Cast ==
===Main===
<!-- opening title cards billing -->
In the opening title cards, the two stars (Kapture/Estes, Kokotakis/Layton, and Potter/Gunn) alternate star billing on each episode:
* [[Mitzi Kapture]] as Sgt.{{efn|Lance is promoted to Lt. in season 5}} Rita Lee Lance (seasons 1–5)
* [[Rob Estes]] as Sgt. Chris Lorenzo (seasons 1–5)
* [[Charlie Brill]] as Capt. Harry Lipschitz (seasons 3–5 recurring, seasons 6–8 starring)
* [[Nick Kokotakis]] as Det. Michael Price (season 5) <!-- 5.13 -->
* [[Tyler Layton]] as Det. Holly Rawlins (season 5) <!-- 5.13 -->
* [[Chris Potter (actor)|Chris Potter]] as Det. Sgt. Tom Ryan (seasons 6–8) <!-- 6.1 -->
* [[Janet Gunn]] as Det. Sgt. Cassandra "Cassy" St. John (seasons 6–8) <!-- 6.1 -->

===Recurring===
<!-- guest star billing in episode -->
* [[Ben Vereen]] as Capt. Ben  "Hutch" Hutchinson (seasons 1–3)<ref name="looper">{{Cite news|url=https://www.looper.com/274213/what-happened-to-the-cast-of-silk-stalkings/|title=What Happened To The Cast Of Silk Stalkings?|first=Jordan|last=Baranowski|date=November 6, 2020|work=[[Looper (website)|Looper]]}}</ref>
* [[William Anton]] as Assistant D.A. George Donovan (seasons 1–5)
* [[Robert Gossett]] as Lt. Hudson (seasons 2–3)<ref name="looper"/>
* [[Mitzi McCall]] as Frannie Lipschitz (season 4–8)<ref name="looper"/>
<!-- TBD whether they are starring/major recurring 
* [[Dennis Paladino]] as Donnie "Dogs" DiBarto (seasons 2–3)
* [[John Byner]] as Cotton Dunn (seasons 2–3)
* [[Raye Birk]] as Atticus Dunn (season 4)
-->

==Episodes==
{{Main|List of Silk Stalkings episodes}}
{{:List of Silk Stalkings episodes}}

==Home media==
[[Anchor Bay Entertainment]] released the first five seasons of ''Silk Stalkings'' on DVD in Region 1 between 2004 and 2006. {{As of|2010}}, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.

On October 14, 2009, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to several Stephen J. Cannell series including ''Silk Stalkings''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-Cannell-Mill-Creek-Distro-Deal/12817|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123091128/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-Cannell-Mill-Creek-Distro-Deal/12817|url-status=dead|title=Mill Creek Gets DVD Rights to 14 More Classic Stephen J. Cannell TV Programs!|archivedate=November 23, 2011 | work=[[TVShowsOnDVD.com]] }}</ref> Season 1 was re-released on DVD on March 9, 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Silk-Stalkings-Season-1/13211|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914105743/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Silk-Stalkings-Season-1/13211|url-status=dead |title=Silk Stalkings DVD news: Early Box Art for Silk Stalkings - Season 1 | work=[[TVShowsOnDVD.com]]  |archivedate=September 14, 2011}}</ref>

On October 22, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment released seasons six, seven, and eight together in one collection entitled: ''Silk Stalkings - Seasons 6, 7 and 8: The Ryan and St. John Cases''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Silk-Stalkings-Seasons-6-7-8/18848 |title=Silk Stalkings - Package Art Arrives for 'Seasons 6, 7 and 8: The Ryan and St. John Cases' |last=Lambert |first=David |date=14 August 2013 |website=[[TVShowsOnDVD.com]] |access-date=2014-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705171144/http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Silk-Stalkings-Seasons-6-7-8/18848 |archive-date=5 July 2014 }}</ref>

On January 13, 2023, [[Visual Entertainment]] released ''Silk Stalkings - The Complete Collection'', which contains all 8 seasons of the series together in one collection for the very first time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.visualentertainment.tv/products/silk-stalkings-the-complete-collection-dvd|title=Silk Stalkings- The Complete Collection [DVD] #7050|website=Visual Entertainment Inc}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0101198}}

{{Stephen J Cannell shows}}
{{USANetwork Shows}}
{{Crimetime After Primetime}}

[[Category:1990s American crime drama television series]]
[[Category:1991 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:1999 American television series endings]]
[[Category:American detective television series]]
[[Category:CBS crime dramas]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]
[[Category:Television series by 20th Century Fox Television]]
[[Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television]]
[[Category:Television series by Stephen J. Cannell Productions]]
[[Category:Television series created by Stephen J. Cannell]]
[[Category:Television shows filmed in California]]
[[Category:Television shows set in Florida]]
[[Category:Television shows set in Miami]]
[[Category:USA Network television dramas]]