City of Angels (1976 TV series)

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For the 2000 television series starring Blair Underwood, see City of Angels (TV series).

City of Angels
Format	Drama/Crime
Created by	Stephen J. Cannell
Starring	Wayne Rogers Elaine Joyce Clifton James Philip Sterling
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jo Swerling Jr.
Running time	60 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	February 3, 1976 – May 18, 1976
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

City of Angels was a 1976 television series created by Stephen J. Cannell and produced by Roy Huggins.

[edit] Plot

Wayne Rogers starred as the ethically-dubious private detective Jake Axminster, looking out for himself and sometimes for his clients, in an equally corrupt Los Angeles, California of the 1930s.

[edit] Background

Many^[who?] saw similarities between City of Angels and the 1974 film Chinatown. Aside from both featuring private eyes named "Jake," they were set in the same city, during the 1930s, and both took a very cynical view of corruption as all-pervasive. However, much of the inspiration for the show came from real life as well: the three-part pilot episode "The November Plan", dealing with a plot by wealthy industrialists to overthrow the Presidency, was based on the real-life Business Plot which aimed to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Another episode featured a brothel where the prostitutes were specially cast to resemble movie stars of the day; this was based on the real-life T&M Studio (later fictionalized in L.A. Confidential as the "Fleur de Lis Club".)