The Beat: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The short-lived series featured the day and night lives of two beat cops dealing with crimes, absurdities, and heart grief. It had a unique visual approach, switching from film to video when the cops stepped out to do their duty. Unfortunately, pressure from the PTA and lukewarm ratings combined to put a stop to The Beat after only six of 13 ordered and produced episodes were aired. The second episode featured a guest appearance by Richard Belzer's character, Detective John Munch, who had previously starred in Tom Fontana's signature series, Homicide:Life on the Street, and continued his career at Law & Order:Special Victims Unit. Episode titles were taken from song titles by Sting, Bob Dylan, and T. Rex, among others. As you may have noted, I have only very incomplete information for the seven unaired episodes (#7 - #13) with the exception of their...

Series details

• Title: The Beat
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama, Crime, Mystery
• Premiere date: 2000-03-21
• Final broadcast date listed: 2000-04-25
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: UPN
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 15689
• IMDb ID: tt0231013
• TVDB ID: 78420

Cast and credited roles

• Derek Cecil — Mike Dorigan
• Mark Ruffalo — Zane Marinelli
• Celeste Holm — Frances Robinson

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2000-03-21; final listed air date 2000-04-25; episode order: 13.

Source and licence

Adapted from The Beat on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.