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The Best Episodes of Wiseguy Season 1

Every episode of Wiseguy Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Wiseguy Season 1!

Binge this in 22h 0m•Peaking at 8.7/10

Vinnie Terranova does time in a New Jersey penitentiary to set up his undercover role as an agent for the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau) of the United States. His roots in a traditional Italian city

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 1 - Wiseguy (1)
    8.0/10(386 votes)

    #1 - Wiseguy (1)

    S1:E1

    Vinnie is released from prison where he has been for two years to establish his cover. He meets his boss, Frank McPike and gets to see his coach and mentor, Jerry Greco. Greco is killed and Vinnie demands to be put in to finish the investigation. He uses his ingenuity to get a foothold in the Steelgrave crime family, but it will take a while to finish this job.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writers:Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo

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  2. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 2 - Wiseguy (2)
    7.7/10(103 votes)

    #2 - Wiseguy (2)

    S1:E2

    Vinnie and Sonny's right hand man, Tony Grecco, has a run-in with the cops causing Vinnie to be arrested. The Steelgraves find that guns are being exported illegally using their pier and decide to take possession of the guns and sell them back to the owner.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writers:Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo

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  3. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 3 - New Blood
    7.5/10(103 votes)

    #3 - New Blood

    S1:E3

    In an attempt to take over Sonny Steelgrave’s business, mob head Paul Patrice frames Sonny for several murder attempts he makes on the life of the special prosecutor investigating Sonny.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:David J. Burke

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  4. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 4 - The Loose Cannon
    7.6/10(83 votes)

    #4 - The Loose Cannon

    S1:E4

    A psychopathic murderer posing as Sonny's nephew double-crosses Sonny and holds Vinnie's girlfriend Gina hostage.

    Director:Larry Shaw
    Writer:Stephen J. Cannell

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  5. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 5 - The Birthday Surprise
    8.0/10(85 votes)

    #5 - The Birthday Surprise

    S1:E5

    Vinnie nearly blows his cover when he becomes obsessed with finding out who killed his cousin, causing Frank to threaten him with dismissal. Frank desperately wants Vinnie to concentrate on nailing the Zaratzos, who are trying to arrange a drug smuggling deal with Sonny, because they killed one of Frank's agents.

    Director:Robert Iscove
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 6 - One on One
    7.9/10(81 votes)

    #6 - One on One

    S1:E6

    After several deals go sour, Sonny starts suspecting Vinnie may be a plant. Frank orders Vinnie to drop the case when he finds out the local police have an informer in Sonny's operations. Sid has Frank picked up and tortured, but Vinnie and undercover cop Karen Malloy rescue him. Karen's disappearance points the finger at Sid as the leak.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 7 - Prodigal Son
    8.1/10(81 votes)

    #7 - Prodigal Son

    S1:E7

    After his mother is mugged in Brooklyn, an enraged Vinnie sets out to find the punk who did it, but when he visits his mother in the hospital, it breaks his heart that she still won't forgive him for his life of “crime.”

    Director:Charles Correll
    Writer:Carol Mendelsohn

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  8. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 8 - A Deal's a Deal
    8.5/10(93 votes)

    #8 - A Deal's a Deal

    S1:E8

    Sonny’s cruel punishment of a lounge singer who wants out of his contract triggers a cascade of events that leads to Vinnie’s being photographed with McPike — a photo that is to be delivered to Sonny.

    Director:Charles Correll
    Writer:David J. Burke

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  9. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 9 - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
    8.7/10(125 votes)

    #9 - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

    S1:E9

    Sonny’s impending marriage to a syndicate boss’ daughter begins a supposedly businesslike realignment of “families,” but Vinnie learns that the wedding is a pretext for a bloody gang war.

    Director:Zale Dalen
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 10 - No One Gets Out of Here Alive
    7.7/10(68 votes)

    #10 - No One Gets Out of Here Alive

    S1:E10

    An outraged Sonny Steelgrave accuses Vinnie of betraying him to his arch-rival, then realizes the devastating truth — that his paisan is an undercover Federal agent.

    Director:Robert Iscove
    Writer:David J. Burke

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  11. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 11 - Last Rites for Lucci
    8.1/10(91 votes)

    #11 - Last Rites for Lucci

    S1:E11

    In the aftermath of the Steelgrave case, Vinnie tries to vindicate himself of his lingering feelings of betrayal and disloyalty by risking his life to save an old friend from the Brooklyn neighborhood who has a contract out on him.

    Director:Bill Corcoran
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 12 - Independent Operator
    8.1/10(86 votes)

    #12 - Independent Operator

    S1:E12

    Vinnie’s assignment to check out a contract killer leads him into a huge global contraband syndicate — an operation that far exceeds the scope of the Steelgrave family — overlorded by brother and sister Mel and Susan Profitt.

    Director:Aaron Lipstadt
    Writer:Stephen J. Cannell

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  13. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 13 - Fascination for the Flame
    7.6/10(76 votes)

    #13 - Fascination for the Flame

    S1:E13

    Vinnie, now a bodyguard for the Profitts, gets his first trial by fire when Mel Profitt, the brilliant but paranoid overlord of an international crime empire, disrupts the wedding of an associate, who retaliates by kidnapping Susan.

    Director:William A. Fraker
    Writer:Stephen J. Cannell

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  14. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 14 - Smokey Mountain Requiem
    7.9/10(77 votes)

    #14 - Smokey Mountain Requiem

    S1:E14

    Vinnie tells Mel Profitt he is leaving to go home to New Jersey, but Mel offers him the biggest cocaine distribution network in the country — a plum that Vinnie feels is too juicy for any undercover cop to turn down.

    Director:Neill Fearnley
    Writers:David J. Burke, Hans Tobeason

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  15. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 15 - Player to be Named Now
    7.7/10(79 votes)

    #15 - Player to be Named Now

    S1:E15

    Mel’s desire to buy a baseball franchise is two-fold: he wants to play on it, and he wants to take it away from an old business associate who cheated him in a Mexican drug deal. When Mel’s former girlfriend shows up, begging for readmission to the Inner circle, he humiliates her, using her as a sexual pawn in a power game with a rival, but for Vinnie, forced to watch it happen, the worst is yet to come.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 16 - The Merchant of Death
    7.9/10(74 votes)

    #16 - The Merchant of Death

    S1:E16

    When some of his munitions contacts begin drying up, Mel decides to blackmail a French Deputy Minister of Defense into supplying him with the weapons he needs.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Carol Mendelsohn

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  17. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 17 - Not For Nothing
    8.2/10(71 votes)

    #17 - Not For Nothing

    S1:E17

    Hiding out in Vancouver after the fall of the Steelgrave empire, Aldo Baglia sees a photo of Vinnie in the paper and decides to even the score, sending Vinnie into a coma from two serious gunshot wounds. Roger, using his CIA contact, tracks down Aldo.

    Director:Bill Corcoran
    Writer:David J. Burke

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  18. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 18 - Squeeze
    8.0/10(84 votes)

    #18 - Squeeze

    S1:E18

    After his munitions operation starts falling apart, Mel orders Vinnie to set up a meet with the mob to use his immense cocaine trade to regain financial power.

    Director:Bill Corcoran
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 19 - Blood Drive
    8.2/10(65 votes)

    #19 - Blood Drive

    S1:E19

    After rejecting an offer to finance a coup d'etat in the Caribbean, Mel Profitt becomes obsessed with a supposed voodoo death curse, and Vinnie, horrified, can only watch as Mel’s personality begins to disintegrate.

    Director:Kim Manners
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 20 - Phantom Pain
    8.4/10(61 votes)

    #20 - Phantom Pain

    S1:E20

    After Susan is arrested for Mel’s murder, Vinnie refuses McPike’s order to pull out of the Profitt case, because Susan, who has seemingly lost her grip on reality, has told him she is pregnant with his child.

    Director:Dennis Dugan
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 21 - Dirty Little Wars
    8.0/10(65 votes)

    #21 - Dirty Little Wars

    S1:E21

    With Mel and Susan Profitt undone, McPike begins dismantling their empire, but Vinnie demands to stay on the case to get to the bottom of Roger Lococco’s ties to a rogue CIA operation to stage a Caribbean coup d’etat.

    Director:Robert Iscove
    Writer:David J. Burke

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  22. Wiseguy Season 1 Episode 22 - Date With an Angel
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Date With an Angel

    S1:E22

    Roger Lococco in effect signs his own death warrant by testifying to a Senate committee about a cabal within the U.S. intelligence community, but to back him up he needs Vinnie to testify as an O.C.B. operative — testimony that would end Vinnie’s career as an undercover agent.

    Director:Les Sheldon
    Writer:David J. Burke

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Wiseguy (1)" is the best rated episode of "Wiseguy" season 1. It scored 8/10 based on 386 votes. Directed by Rod Holcomb and written by Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo, it aired on 9/16/1987. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Wiseguy (2)".