Television pilot costs even if the network chooses to not order the show. Sometimes, a made-for-TV-movie is filmed as the pilot, but because of actors not being available, the series intro is reshot and the first reshot episode is considered the pilot. The original "Cagney & Lacey" movie co-starred Loretta Swit (of "M*A*S*H" fame) as Chris Cagney, but when she could not get out of her contract, they reshot it with Meg Foster, who after the first season was replaced with Sharon Gless; therefore, the original movie is not considered a pilot, and is not included in the series collections on DVD.
Tyne Daly which ran from 1999 to 2005. Addressing a conference of the National Association of Social Workers in 2000, Daly said she had learned from social workers and social work texts to improve her portrayal of her character, and she added: "I take from you because you are the ones dealing with all the bad institutions of our society: institutionalized poverty, institutionalized racism, institutionalized cynicism." Daly appeared in a made-for-TV movie for Lifetime in 2003 titled "Undercover Christmas," as Anne Cunningham. She played the role of a traditional mother and peacemaker at Christmas time in a wealthy family of lawyers, who