Wiseguy

Wiseguy is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 16, 1987 ,to December 8, 1990, for a total of 75 episodes. The series was produced by Stephen J. Cannell and was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, to avoid the higher studio costs associated with filming in Los Angeles.

Wiseguy featured Ken Wahl as Vinnie Terranova, a deep cover operative for the fictional Organized Crime Task Force division of the FBI. Jonathan Banks played his superior Frank McPike and Jim Byrnes played Daniel "Lifeguard" Burroughs, who assisted Vinnie while in the field. Wahl left the series after three seasons and Steven Bauer joined the series alongside Banks and Byrnes, who were the only cast members to appear in every season.

As opposed to a typical crime drama series, Wiseguy was structured more like a typical soap opera would be; for example, a cycle of episodes would focus on a particular story and the story would conclude in the final episode of the cycle, which gave rise to the term story arc. Since each cycle dealt with a particular story, the episodes had a set of characters written just for those episodes. Actors such as Kevin Spacey, Ray Sharkey, and Tim Curry were among the actors who played central characters in story arcs over the course of the series.

Wiseguy (book)

Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family (ISBN 0-671-44734-3) is a 1986 non-fiction book by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi that chronicles the story of Mafia mobster-turned-informant Henry Hill. The book is the basis for the Academy Award-winning film Goodfellas (1990) directed by Martin Scorsese.

Summary

Henry Hill began his life of crime at age 11 in 1955, by working as a go-fer for Paul Vario, the local boss of Hill's working class Irish/Italian neighborhood. Eventually Hill was "promoted" to selling stolen cigarettes for Vario.

Hill was first arrested in 1959, for using stolen credit cards. Hill refused to cooperate with the police, earning the respect of Vario and Vario's associate Jimmy Burke.

In 1960, when Hill was 17, he enlisted in the United States Army, to everyone's surprise. When questioned about his decision by Vario, Hill explained that he wanted to please his father, who disapproved of his son's association with the Mafia. While stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, however, Hill continued his criminal activities, which led to his discharge in 1963. He returned to the streets of New York, where he was happily welcomed back by Vario and Burke.

List of recurring The Simpsons characters

The Simpsons includes a large array of supporting characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, fictional characters within the show, and even animals. The writers originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokes or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and have subsequently starred in their own episodes. According to the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, the show adopted the concept of a large supporting cast from the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television.

Agnes Skinner

Agnes Skinner (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the mother of Principal Skinner and first appeared in the first season episode "The Crepes of Wrath" as an old woman who embarrassingly calls her son "Spanky". However, as episodes progressed, the character turned bitter. She is very controlling of her son and often treats him as if he is a child. She hates Edna Krabappel due to her son's feelings for the other woman. Agnes has married four times. Several Springfield residents (including the Simpsons) are afraid of her. When "the real Seymour Skinner" arrives in Springfield, Agnes ends up rejecting him in part because he stands up to her, but also because unlike Skinner/Tamzarian, her biological son is independent and doesn't need her anymore, while Skinner immediately reverts to a good-for-nothing without her.