Dangerous Women (American TV series)

Did You Know?

• Shortly after its American cancellation, the show was broadcast on Central Television in the UK, airing on Sunday and Monday nights from March 1992.
• All 52 episodes aired on Central Television, replacing Prisoner in the schedule.
• The series was later aired twice by cable TV station Living, in a late-night time-slot and repeated weekdays.

Synopsis

Dangerous Women took loose inspiration from the 1979 Australian series Prisoner, a show that had found a wide audience in US syndication from late 1979 through roughly mid 1982. Both programs were the work of creator Reg Watson, and while the American version began with many clear parallels to its predecessor, those similarities faded as the show went on. Several characters were directly adapted from Prisoner: Karen Travers and Lynne Warner became Maria Trent and Holly Warner, with their introductory plots lifted from the original. Rita Jones took on the personality of Bea Smith, Crystal Fox was modeled after the nymphomaniac Marilyn Mason, and Cissie Johnson was based on 'Mum' Brooks, including a storyline where her daughter rejects her upon release. The series’ central figure, however, was Faith Cronin, a mobster’s wife—a character and plot invented specifically for this version. After her husband disfigured her, Faith staged her own death, framed him for murder, and underwent plastic surgery to emerge as the glamorous Patricia Meadows. She purchased The Cedar Lake Inn, a lakeside retreat she had loved as a child, hoping to start fresh. But her past caught up with her as fellow former inmates, one by one, were released and converged on the area. Over time, the prison setting was dropped entirely; once all characters were free, they gathered at the inn to try and rebuild their lives together.

Airings and cancelation

Dangerous Women premiered August 7, 1991 and aired only one season. The show was syndicated on a limited basis, mainly among the stations of United Television, including WWOR-TV in New York City, KMSP-TV in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, WPWR-TV in Chicago, and KCOP in Los Angeles. WDCA in Washington, D.C. carried the program but soon relegated it to a 2 AM time slot. It had reasonable ratings in New York, but it was pulled from syndication on January 1, 1992, after 52 episodes. Several weeks before cancellation, all six lead actresses appeared on The Richard Bey Show and on two episodes of NY At Night in an attempt to keep the show on the air.