Nash Bridges (TV series)

***Nash Bridges*** is an American police procedural drama television series created by Carlton Cuse that ran on CBS from March 29, 1996, to May 4, 2001, for a total of six seasons and 122 original episodes. It was produced in partnership with The Don Johnson Company, Carlton Cuse Productions, and association with Paramount Television (later CBS Studios).

## Premise

This series follows the guy named Nash Bridges, an inspector (and later captain) with the San Francisco Police Department's elite "Special Investigations Unit". The show begins with Bridges in his 40s, twice divorced, and co-parenting his teenage daughter, Cassidy (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Nash convinces recently retired Inspector Joe Dominguez (Cheech Marin), to return to the force and partner with him. Nash and Joe cruise the streets of San Francisco in Nash's 1971 Plymouth Barracuda convertible, a gift from Nash's brother Bobby just before Bobby left for the Vietnam War. The car was originally to be painted Curious Yellow, but was switched to factory Caterpillar Yellow, due to lighting and camera appearances. The car was portrayed by several replicas of a 1971 Hemi 'Cuda convertible.

Bobby Bridges was reported as MIA but turns up in the season 3 episode "Revelations", played by Jan-Michael Vincent. Nash's father, Nick (James Gammon), suffers from mild dementia and has a habit of getting kicked out of nursing homes. He eventually moves in with Nash and is often involved in comic subplots that are intertwined with some of the show's dark humor themes.

Aiding Nash in his police work is the technically savvy Harvey Leek (Jeff Perry), a middle-aged "Deadhead" (a diehard Grateful Dead fan). Another is the young, hotheaded Evan Cortez (Jaime P. Gomez), who has an off-and-on relationship with Cassidy. In later seasons, other inspectors and supporting characters were added or removed from the cast.

For the first sixteen episodes, the commander of the SIU was Lieutenant A. J. Shimamura (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), a character who was said to have returned to his native Hawaii after failing to be promoted to captain. Shimamura's departure opened the door for Bridges to be promoted to captain and given command of the SIU.

## Cast and Characters

* Don Johnson as Inspector/Acting Lieutenant/Captain Nash Bridges
* Cheech Marin as Joe Dominguez
* Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Cassidy Bridges
* Jeff Perry as Inspector Harvey Leek
* Jaime P. Gomez as Inspector Evan Cortez (season 1–5)
* Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Lieutenant A.J. Shimamura (season 1–2)
* Serena Scott Thomas as Kelly Bridges (seasons 1–2; guest season 3)
* Annette O'Toole as Lisa Bridges (seasons 1–2; guest season 4)
* James Gammon as Nick Bridges (seasons 2–6; recurring season 1)
* Mary Mara as Inspector Bryn Carson (season 2; guest seasons 1 & 3)
* Kelly Hu as Inspector Michelle Chan (season 3; guest season 4)
* Yasmine Bleeth as Caitlin Cross (season 4–5)
* Wendy Moniz as Inspector Rachel McCabe (season 6)
* Cress Williams as Inspector Antwon Babcock (season 6)

## Production

The show was produced and filmed on location in the San Francisco Bay Area. The show shot on the streets of San Francisco including The Embarcadero and Piers 30 through 32. Neighboring Treasure Island was used as the headquarters for the show. Hangar 2 on Treasure Island was the location of permanent sets including Nash's apartment The show employed several hundred local workers including production crews and staff members, carpenters, electricians, set designers, grips, set dressers, props, scenic artists, location managers, costumers, drivers, cameramen, special effects, soundmen, makeup and hair stylists and production assistants. Episode production was nearly $2 million per episode.

*Nash Bridges* premiered on March 29, 1996, at 10:00pm on CBS.

The show was produced by the Don Johnson Company and Carlton Cuse Productions in association with Rysher Entertainment for the first 4 seasons. In 1999, Paramount Network Television took over Rysher's spot after acquiring that company.

The show used three different main theme songs during its initial run. Season 1 used primarily an instrumental piece written by Elia Cmíral. Seasons 2–5 used the theme "I Got a Friend in You" written by Eddie Jobson" and sung by Gigi MacKenzie and is by far the most well-known of the show's opening themes. Season 6 changed the theme again, using another primarily instrumental piece with a bit of a techno beat to it, this time written by Velton Ray Bunch. A fourth song, also written by Cmíral which was Johnson's original choice, sometimes replaces the first season song in syndication.

### Cancellation

The sixth season of *Nash Bridges* would be its last; however, the show was obtaining fair ratings from Nielsen. Following its Friday night ratings battle (which it was losing to NBC's *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit*), the show was canceled. Paramount Network Television, which was producing the show, felt that its $2 million per episode production cost was just too much. CBS was hoping to get a seventh season out of *Nash Bridges*, but that failed because Paramount wasn't willing to pay, even though at the time, Viacom owned both CBS and Paramount.

Another factor that led to the ending of the series was that Don Johnson wanted out. Johnson was getting tired, and CBS and Paramount had enough episodes to put the series into syndication.

Carlton Cuse went on to become the showrunner for *Lost*. *Lost* co-creator Damon Lindelof had started his television writing career on *Nash Bridges*. He sought out Cuse's advice on how to run *Lost*.

## Broadcast

The show has aired in over 70 countries. It currently[*when?*] airs in the Middle East on MBC's newly launched Action block MBC Action, Crime & Investigation Network, WGN America, Universal HD in the United States, TV1 in Australia, 13th Street in The Netherlands and Universal Channel in Serbia and on CBS Action in the United Kingdom. The series currently airs on H&I on Mondays as part of the channel's "Day Shift," starting at 12 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Central for five episodes.

## Home media

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) released the first three seasons of *Nash Bridges* on DVD in Region 1 in 2008/2009. As of September 2014, these releases have been discontinued and are now out of print.

On September 10, 2014, it was announced that Visual Entertainment (VEI) has sub-licensed the rights to the series from CBS in Region 1 and would release a complete series collection in early 2015. It was subsequently released on November 18, 2014. The 27-disc set contains all 122 episodes of the series. The complete series was reissued by VEI as a 22-disc set in November 2016 to coincide with the anticipated blu-ray release.

VEI released the complete series on Blu-ray in November 2016 as a 16-disc set.

On February 10, 2015, VEI released season 4 on DVD as a separate season set. They also re-released the first three seasons on DVD on March 3, 2015.

In Region 4, Shock Entertainment has released the first three seasons on DVD in Australia.

King Records is releasing all of the seasons on DVD in Region 2, specifically through the Japanese market.

## TV movie

On July 18, 2019, it was reported that USA Network was working with Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, which controlled the Rysher Entertainment intellectual property, to revive *Nash Bridges*. The show would reportedly have series star Don Johnson reprising the titular role and serving as one of the showrunners for the project. It was reported to be a two-hour special which, if successful, could serve as a backdoor pilot for a revival of the series. This revival would follow Nash, still running the SFPD's SIU and working to adjust to a new boss and to the changes of San Francisco in the 2020s. In May 2021, further casting for the television film was announced, with series stars Cheech Marin and Jeff Perry reported to return for the film along with Johnson.

The film premiered on November 27, 2021. In January 2022, the revival was nominated for the Outstanding TV Movie at the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards.