The Commish: Season 04 (1994)

Season four of The Commish gets off to a harrowing start with the two-part "Against the Wind," wherein Eastbridge, NY, police commissioner Tony Scali (Michael Chiklis) is temporarily paralyzed in an assassination attempt. Though he manages to recover from this, Tony narrowly escapes death in a later episode when he comes too close to exposing a conspiracy to frame an innocent man. There has been quite a turnover since season three, with Chief of Detectives Cyd Madison (Melinda McGraw) leaving Eastbridge to accept another job, and Paulie Pentangeli (John Cygan), not seen since the series' first season, returning to take Cyd's place. Others missing from the roster this season are officers Ricky Caruso (Nicholas Lea), Mike Rose (Pat Bermel), and Jonathan Papdakis (Ray Scrivano) -- and, of course, the late officer Stan Kelly, who died in spectacular fashion at the end of season three. The cases crossing Scali's desk during this years' 22 episodes involve crooked cops, illegal immigrants, a possible ghost sighting, and, on an intensely personal note, the possibility that Tony's father (George Kennedy) may have killed the man dating Tony's mother (Carol Lawrence). In the two-part season finale (which was also planned as The Commish's very last episode), "Off Broadway," Tony teams with New York police officer Connie Muldoon (Lisa Vidal) to hunt down a serial killer. ~ Rovi