A stylish, influential late-80s crime drama with a strong undercover premise, memorable villains, and a more serialized approach than most network shows of its era. It’s worth sampling if you like gritty, character-driven mob stories, but the show can be uneven and its best-known stretches are more compelling than… Read more
41% ★★☆☆☆ (3,322)
Wiseguy
Where to watch: Amazon
TV Show · Crime · Drama
1987 · ★ 41% (3.3K)
With friends like his who needs enemies
Starring: Steven Bauer, Jonathan Banks, Jim Byrnes
Overview
Vinnie Terranova does time in a New Jersey penitentiary to set up his undercover role as an agent for the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau) of the United States. His roots in a traditional Italian city neighborhood form the underlying dramatic base throughout the series, bringing him into conflict with his conservative mother and other family members while acting undercover as syndicate enforcer.
Production
Stephen J. Cannell Productions
Cast
Steven Bauer, Jonathan Banks, Jim Byrnes, Cecil Hoffman, Maximilian Schell
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus, Pluto TV, Plex, Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads, Tubi TV
Curator Review
Verdict
A stylish, influential late-80s crime drama with a strong undercover premise, memorable villains, and a more serialized approach than most network shows of its era. It’s worth sampling if you like gritty, character-driven mob stories, but the show can be uneven and its best-known stretches are more compelling than the series as a whole.
Best for
fans of 1980s network crime dramas
viewers who like undercover-agent stories
people interested in early serialized TV
fans of mob and organized-crime narratives
Skip if
you want consistently polished prestige-TV writing
you prefer fast, modern pacing
you’re not interested in dated 1980s TV style
you want a tightly focused series with no dips
Overview
Wiseguy is one of those late-80s network dramas that feels ahead of its time in structure, even when the execution is uneven. The undercover setup gives it a built-in tension, and Steven Bauer’s Vinnie Terranova works well as a conflicted lead caught between duty, identity, and family loyalty.
Worth noting
What the show is best remembered for is its ambitious, often surprisingly serialized storytelling and its gallery of strong guest antagonists. It has that Stephen J. Cannell energy: propulsive, muscular, and willing to lean into melodrama, but also more morally tangled than many of its contemporaries.
Bottom line
The caveat is that it’s very much a product of its era. Some stretches are procedural and repetitive, and the tone can swing from gritty to soapier than modern viewers may expect. Still, if you like crime TV history or want to see an early template for the long-form antihero era, it’s a rewarding watch in the right mindset.