Amy Prentiss

A less than imaginatively titled female empowerment cop show from a time when female empowerment was a bit scary for TV folk, Amy Prentiss featured Jessica Walter as a hot thirty-ish Frisco detective who finds herself suddenly promoted to Chief of Police when her higher-up dies unexpectedly. As if solving crime isn’t enough, Amy also has to deal with the chauvinist types in her department who think a woman can’t handle the Chief’s job, as well as her pre-teen daughter Jill (a young but very recognizable Helen Hunt), who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Best guess is she didn’t do either well enough for viewers, who never caught on to the show and didn’t notice when it was dropped a year later, William Shatner guest appearance notwithstanding. And just think, seventeen years later little Helen was straddling a paralyzed Eric Stoltz in The Waterdance, showing us everything but her ‘Helen Hunt’. Time flies…