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  • ABC
  • Sep 28, 1991
  • ABC
  • Sep 28, 1991
The Commish

Summary Tony Scali is the police commissioner in a small town, where solutions to difficult situations often require considerable creativity. Tony's easygoing manner and clever intellect are much more useful to him than weapons or brute force in his fight against crime.

Created By: Stephen J. Cannell, Stephen Kronish

  • ABC
  • Sep 28, 1991
  • ABC
  • Sep 28, 1991
The Commish
Season 1
6 Seasons
Season Premiere: Sep 28, 1991
Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 11 Critic Reviews
50
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Tony Scali is the police commissioner in a small town, where solutions to difficult situations often require considerable creativity. Tony's easygoing manner and clever intellect are much more useful to him than weapons or brute force in his fight against crime.

Created By: Stephen J. Cannell, Stephen Kronish

Season Episodes

View All Seasons
Episode 1 • Sep 28, 1991 • 47 m
In the Best of Families
Tony is threatened with criminal negligence after the son of a prominent lawyer hangs himself in his cell.
Episode 2 • Oct 5, 1991 • 49 m
Do You See What I See
The commissioner sets out to trap a serial rapist in a Santa Claus mask who's been terrorizing the city.
Episode 3 • Oct 12, 1991 • 48 m
The Poisoned Tree
Rachel refuses to believe Tony when he tells her that her school teacher colleague, Jim Hollister, is a child molester.
Episode 4 • Oct 26, 1991 • 47 m
Nothing to Fear But Fear...
After receiving a pair of baffling death threats, Tony initiates around-the-clock surveillance of his unsuspecting family
Episode 5 • Oct 26, 1991 • 1 h 29 m
A Matter of Life or Death: Part 1
Tony starts the review process to become New York police commissioner while investigating the disappearance of two of his police officers.
Episode 6 • Nov 2, 1991 • 1 h 30 m
A Matter of Life or Death: Part 2
Tony discovers who is responsible for the disappearance of two of his police officers and a new New York police commissioner is named.
Episode 7 • Nov 9, 1991 • 48 m
Behind the Storm Door
Tony is pursued by a woman he suspects is filing false complaints.
Episode 8 • Nov 16, 1991 • 48 m
The Hatchet
Tony butts heads with both a tough cop who is overzealous in his handling of criminals, and a hard-nosed management consultant hired by the city in a cost-cutting effort.
Episode 9 • Nov 30, 1991 • 45 m
Two Confessions
Tony is doubly stymied when identical twins both initially confess to the same murder, then, in a surprise about-face, accuse each other of the crime. Also, Arnie finds romance with a kindred soul, a phone-sex operator named Gloria.
Episode 10 • Dec 7, 1991 • 48 m
The Commissioner's Ball
A serial killer has been mutilating the bodies of Eastbridge transients and homeless people -- and Tony begins to suspect the perpetrator's identity.
Episode 11 • Dec 21, 1991 • 1 h
No Greater Gift
An elderly woman is killed in her home during the Christmas season and Tony discovers what really happened.
Episode 12 • Jan 4, 1992 • 47 m
The Fourth Man
After Commissioner Scali's friend and colleague, Chief of Detectives Irv Wallerstein, is struck down during a bloody encounter with hijackers, Tony becomes obsessed with finding the assailant!
Episode 13 • Jan 18, 1992 • 47 m
Charlie Don't Surf
Vietnamese gangs threaten Eastbridge and Tony steps in to help.
Episode 14 • Feb 8, 1992 • 47 m
Skeletons
Tony investigates a 35-year-old murder with the help of an old friend who pays him a visit.
Episode 15 • Feb 22, 1992 • 47 m
The Wicked Flee
After seeing his mother killed by a stranger, a boy withdraws deep into himself, prompting a sympathetic Tony to step up his efforts to catch the murderer.
Episode 16 • Feb 29, 1992 • 47 m
True Believers
The unwelcome appearance in Eastbridge of white supremacists leads to a murder, with the suspicion soon arising that one or more of Tony's associates may be implicated.
Episode 17 • Mar 7, 1992 • 48 m
Officer April
After he shoots a woman in a drunken domestic squabble, Officer Kelly becomes the victim of a terrorization campaign.
Episode 18 • Mar 21, 1992 • 45 m
Sex, Lies and Kerosene
Tony and Paulie investigate a puzzling arson case in which the husband of a beautiful woman appears to have been murdered.
Episode 19 • Apr 4, 1992 • 48 m
Judgement Day
Tony winds up in one of his own jail cells when he runs afoul of an imperious judge who's hiding a fearsome secret.
Episode 20 • Apr 11, 1992 • 47 m
Shoot the Breeze
Tony attempts to protect an informant from a mysterious hit man, while Stan Kelly enjoys a romantic encounter with a beautiful new Eastbridge arrival.
Episode 21 • May 9, 1992 • 47 m
Video Vigilante
Tony is embarrassed, then enraged, as a publicity-seeking "video vigilante" metes out even more bizarre and harsh punishment to offenders.
Episode 22 • May 16, 1992 • 47 m
The Puck Stops Here
Mike Cermak -- star high-school hockey player, recovering addict, and good friend of the Scali family - becomes a prime drug-ring suspect.
6 Seasons

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 11 Critic Reviews
50
36% Positive
4 Reviews
36% Mixed
4 Reviews
27% Negative
3 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 11 Critic Reviews
50
36% Positive
4 Reviews
36% Mixed
4 Reviews
27% Negative
3 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
70
Apr 16, 2020
Chiklis as the man with the big badge and large heart puts over the role with grand, embracing humanity. And Saldana as the Mrs. makes the part convincingly real. To be sure, there's more than a tad of schmaltz and stage business afoot here. Yet "The Commish" out-performs the usual cop operas impressed into primetime service this time of year. [27 Sept 1991]
By Miles Beller FULL REVIEW
70
Apr 16, 2020
The Commish is a conventional cop series that will rise or fall on the strength of its main character, so it may have a shot. Chiklis, a stumpy dynamo who played John Belushi in Wired, is instantly likable as Scali, an "unorthodox" police commissioner in suburban New York.
By Greg Dawson FULL REVIEW
63
Apr 16, 2020
The man, and the actor, command respect, but probably will get precious little in this terrible time period. [27 Sept 1991, p.3D]
By Matt Roush FULL REVIEW
58
Jun 9, 2013
Chiklis' Scali is such a happy saint that he verges on the insufferable — no one can be this generous, this clever, this jolly.
By Ken Tucker FULL REVIEW
40
Apr 16, 2020
Take a good character and put him in a lame show peopled by cliches and what you get is a waste of a good character.
FULL REVIEW
30
Apr 16, 2020
The print ads for The Commish go: "Loves pasta. Sings opera. Nails scum. . . . A police commissioner you gotta love." Viewer, you don't gotta at all. The Commish and ABC should go nail themselves. [28 Sept 1991]
By Hal Boedeker FULL REVIEW
20
Jul 12, 2013
It's hard to believe that anybody could make such a ludicrous police drama after "Hill Street Blues." [30 Sep 1991]
By Marvin Kitman FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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