Cagney & Lacey off massive protest, and put Rosenzweig into high gear in his dealings with CBS. The cancellation of "House Calls" was announced among insider circles just before upfronts, and Rosenzweig pressured CBS executives to relaunch "Cagney & Lacey" in the fall with Gless replacing Foster. Gless met with "Cagney & Lacey" producers again to consider the role, but while always having taken to the character, had doubts about joining for the fall of 1982 because, after "House Calls", she "didn't want to make a career of replacing actresses." Ratings, however, were still low during the first year Daly and Gless co-starred
Sharon Gless debut in Lillian Hellman's "Watch on the Rhine" at Stage West in Springfield, Massachusetts. Gless has extensive stage experience including two appearances in London's West End, first in 1993 with Bill Paterson, when she created the role of Annie Wilkes in the stage version of Stephen King's "Misery" at the Criterion Theatre, and then in 1996, where she appeared opposite Tom Conti in Neil Simon's "Chapter Two", at the Gielgud Theatre. She starred at Chicago playhouse The Victory Gardens Theater in Claudia Allen's "Cahoots", as well as several stints, including an evening at Madison Square Garden with the National Company