Police Story is an anthology television crime drama. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Although it was an anthology, there were certain things that all episodes had in common; for instance, the main character in each episode was a police officer. The setting was always Los Angeles and the characters always worked for some branch of the LAPD. Notwithstanding the anthology format, there were recurring characters. Scott Brady appeared in more than a dozen episodes as "Vinnie," a former cop who, upon retirement, had opened a bar catering to police officers, and who acted as a sort of Greek chorus during the run of the series, commenting on the characters and plots.
| Title | Air Date | Duration | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | Episode 1 | Slow Boy (1) | 1973-03-20 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 2 | Slow Boy (2) | 1973-03-20 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 3 | Dangerous Games | 1973-10-02 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 4 | Requiem for an Informer | 1973-10-09 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 5 | The Ten-Year Honeymoon | 1973-10-23 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 6 | Violent Homecoming | 1973-10-30 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 7 | The Ho Chi Minh Trail | 1973-11-06 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 8 | Collision Course | 1973-11-20 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 9 | Death on Credit | 1973-11-27 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 10 | The Big Walk | 1973-12-04 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 11 | Man on a Rack | 1973-12-11 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 12 | Line of Fire | 1973-12-18 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 13 | Chain of Command | 1974-01-08 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 14 | Countdown (1) | 1974-01-15 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 15 | Countdown (2) | 1974-01-22 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 16 | Cop in the Middle | 1974-01-29 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 17 | The Ripper | 1974-02-12 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 18 | Country Boy | 1974-02-19 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 19 | Big John Morrison | 1974-02-26 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 20 | Wyatt Earp Syndrome | 1974-03-05 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 21 | Fingerprint | 1974-03-12 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 22 | Chief | 1974-03-19 | 60 min |
| Season 1 | Episode 23 | The Gamble | 1974-03-26 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 1 | A Dangerous Age | 1974-09-10 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 2 | Requiem for C.Z. Smith | 1974-09-17 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 3 | Robbery: 48 Hours | 1974-09-24 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 4 | Fathers and Sons | 1974-10-01 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 5 | A World Full of Hurt | 1974-10-08 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 6 | Glamour Boy | 1974-10-29 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 7 | Across the Line | 1974-11-12 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 8 | Wolf | 1974-11-19 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 9 | Love, Mabel | 1974-11-26 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 10 | Explosion | 1974-12-03 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 11 | Capt. Hook | 1974-12-17 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 12 | Incident in the Kill Zone | 1975-01-07 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 13 | Headhunter | 1975-01-14 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 14 | Year of the Dragon (1) | 1975-01-21 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 15 | Year of the Dragon (2) | 1975-01-28 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 16 | To Steal a Million | 1975-02-04 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 17 | Sniper | 1975-02-11 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 18 | The Execution | 1975-02-18 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 19 | The Man in the Shadows | 1975-02-25 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 20 | War Games | 1975-03-04 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 21 | The Witness | 1975-03-11 | 60 min |
| Season 2 | Episode 22 | The Return of Joe Forrester | 1975-05-06 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 1 | Officer Needs Help | 1975-09-09 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 2 | The Cutting Edge | 1975-09-16 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 3 | A Community of Victims | 1975-09-23 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 4 | The Losing Game | 1975-09-30 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 5 | The Cut Man Caper | 1975-10-28 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 6 | Face for a Shadow | 1975-11-07 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 7 | The Test of Brotherhood | 1975-11-14 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 8 | Empty Weapon | 1975-11-21 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 9 | Little Boy Lost | 1975-11-28 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 10 | Vice: Twenty-Four Hours | 1975-12-05 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 11 | Breaking Point | 1975-12-12 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 12 | Company Man | 1975-12-19 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 13 | Spanish Class | 1976-01-02 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 14 | Odyssey of Death (1) | 1976-01-09 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 15 | Odyssey of Death (2) | 1976-01-16 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 16 | The Other Side of the Fence | 1976-01-23 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 17 | Fifty Cents, First Half Hour -- One Dollar and Seventy-Five Cents All Day | 1976-01-30 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 18 | Firebird | 1976-02-06 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 19 | The Long Ball | 1976-02-13 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 20 | Eamon Kinsella Royce | 1976-02-20 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 21 | Officer Dooly | 1976-03-05 | 60 min |
| Season 3 | Episode 22 | Open City | 1976-03-12 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 1 | Payment Deferred | 1976-09-21 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 2 | Bought and Paid For | 1976-10-05 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 3 | Two Frogs on a Mongoose | 1976-10-12 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 4 | The Other Side of the Badge | 1976-10-26 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 5 | Three Days to Thirty | 1976-11-09 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 6 | Trash Detail, Front and Center | 1976-11-16 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 7 | Thanksgiving | 1976-11-23 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 8 | Monster Manor | 1976-11-30 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 9 | Oxford Gray | 1976-12-07 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 10 | The Jar (1) | 1976-12-14 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 11 | The Jar (2) | 1976-12-21 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 12 | Trial Board | 1977-01-04 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 13 | Spitfire | 1977-01-11 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 14 | Nightmare on a Sunday Morning | 1977-01-18 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 15 | The Malflores | 1977-01-25 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 16 | The Blue Fog | 1977-02-01 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 17 | Hard Rock Brown | 1977-02-15 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 18 | End of the Line | 1977-02-22 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 19 | One of Our Cops is Crazy | 1977-03-01 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 20 | Ice Time | 1977-03-08 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 21 | The Six Foot Stretch | 1977-03-22 | 60 min |
| Season 4 | Episode 22 | Prime Rib | 1977-04-05 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 1 | Pressure Point | 1977-09-27 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 2 | Stigma | 1977-11-09 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 3 | River of Promises | 1978-01-14 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 4 | Day of Terror, Night of Fear | 1978-03-04 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 5 | The Broken Badge | 1978-03-19 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 6 | No Margin for Error | 1978-04-30 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 7 | A Chance to Live | 1978-05-28 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 8 | A Cry for Justice | 1979-05-23 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 9 | Confessions of a Lady Cop | 1980-04-02 | 60 min |
| Season 5 | Episode 10 | The Freeway Killings | 1987-05-03 | 60 min |
| Season 6 | Episode 1 | The Cop Killers | 1988-10-29 | 60 min |
| Season 6 | Episode 2 | Gladiator School | 1988-11-05 | 60 min |
| Season 6 | Episode 3 | The Watch Commander | 1988-11-12 | 60 min |
| Season 6 | Episode 4 | Burnout | 1988-11-26 | 60 min |
| Season 6 | Episode 5 | Monster Manor (remake) | 1988-12-03 | 60 min |
| Production | David Gerber | Executive Producer |
| Production | Mel Swope | Producer |
| Production | Liam O'Brien | Producer |
| Production | Stanley Kallis | Executive Producer |
| Production | Carl Pingitore | Producer |
| Production | Christopher Morgan | Producer |
