Episode
Police Woman: Flowers of Evil
Overview
"Flowers of Evil" is a 1974 episode of the American police procedural television series Police Woman. The episode features Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson going undercover at a nursing home to investigate a murder. She uncovers a trio of lesbians who are robbing and murdering their elderly residents. The episode, the 8th of the first season, originally aired on November 8, 1974. Gay and lesbian organizations protested "Flowers of Evil", which producers said was based on a real case, for its portrayal of the killers as lesbians and for the stereotypical presentation of lesbianism. The episode aired a month after a similarly controversial episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. on ABC garnered national protests. Mindful of that recent controversy, NBC delayed the episode and ordered some changes but they were not enough to allay gay and lesbian concern over network television's negative portrayal of homosexuality. After negotiations, NBC agreed not to rerun the episode.
Details
- Series
- Police Woman
- Season
- Season 1
- Episode
- Episode 8
- Air date
- 1974-11-08
- Runtime
- 60 min
Episode context
Flowers of Evil is Episode 8 in Season 1 of Police Woman. It aired on 1974-11-08. The runtime is 60 min.
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More episodes from this season
Episode 6: It's Only a Game
Squad veterans question whether their newest member really wants the job or is being pushed into it by his father, a retired detective.
Episode 10: Requiem for Bored Wives
Bob Crane plays a freewheeling disc jockey who finds his wife murdered in her bed.
Episode 5: Anatomy of Two Rapes
In this episode two rapes are investigated. The first victim is a woman who is raped the day before her daughter is supposed to get married. The second victim is an alcoholic who was raped and murdered and her body dumped in a vacant lot. It is later revealed that the first victim made up the story in order to stop the wedding. The second rape is solved when a teenager who was teased by the victim admits to killing her.
Episode 11: Smack
Pepper goes undercover as a high school teacher to hunt down a group of drug pushers.
Episode 4: Seven Eleven
Pepper goes undercover and impersonates an airline stewardess who is a link in a complex heroin smuggling chain.
Episode 12: The Cradle Robbers
A search for a missing granddaughter of Sergeant Crowley's old friend leads Pepper to an adoption racket in which children are bought and sold.
Episode 3: Warning: All Wives...
Pepper and Bill go undercover to catch a rapist/killer who is targeting the wives of patients at a hospital. The first suspect is the amorous parking attendant. However, Pepper is later abducted by the real killer, the nephew of a pair of nurses at the hospital, who kills as a way of getting back at his mother who abandoned him as a child.
Episode 13: Shoefly
Internal Affairs gives Pepper and Crowley 72 hours to find the cop who switched barrels on a murder weapon before the accused killer got to court.
Episode 2: The Beautiful Die Young
Pepper and Crowley investigate a modeling school that takes advantage of young runaways girls, turning them into white slaves in Japan, or making them participate in pornographic movies.
Episode 14: Target Black
Pepper serves as bodyguard for a visiting campus speaker who, being black and Marxist, is a magnet for threats from hate groups.