The District

This article is about a television program. For the place, see Washington, D.C. For all other uses, see The District (disambiguation).

The District is an American crime drama and police procedural television series that aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department.

The District
Cast
Genre	Crime drama Police procedural
Created by	Terry George Jack Maple
Starring	Craig T. Nelson Lynne Thigpen Jayne Brook Roger A. Brown Sean Patrick Thomas Justin Theroux David O'Hara Elizabeth Marvel Jonathan LaPaglia
Composer	Michael Hoenig
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	89 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Denise Di Novi Terry George Lynn Marie Latham
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Di Novi Pictures Studios USA Television (2000–2002) (seasons 1–2) Universal Network Television (2002–2004) (seasons 3–4) CBS Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	October 7, 2000 (2000-10-07) – May 1, 2004 (2004-05-01)

Premise

Former Newark, New Jersey Police Commissioner and New York Transit police officer Jack Mannion is hired as the chief of the bureaucracy-laden Washington, D.C. police force. Together with his detectives and allies, he must fight crime as well as internal corruption and the powers of Congress in order to reorganize and renovate the force.

Production

The District was inspired by the real-life experience of former New York City Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Maple.^[1][2] Along with Police Commissioner William Bratton, he had reorganized the NYPD, and one of the achievements was the CompStat program (comparative statistics), which has its own major role in the TV series. After the success in New York, the CompStat program has been adapted by other cities. However Jack Maple himself chose to publish his experiences—along with Chris Mitchell he wrote a book (The Crime Fighter, 2000), and along with Terry George he prepared a TV series concept. His impact on the storyline after season 1 was limited; he died of colon cancer on August 4, 2001.

Primary filming was in Los Angeles, with some location shooting in Washington, D.C.

Episodes

Main article: List of The District episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	23		October 7, 2000 (2000-10-07)	May 19, 2001 (2001-05-19)
2	22		September 29, 2001 (2001-09-29)	May 18, 2002 (2002-05-18)
3	22		September 28, 2002 (2002-09-28)	May 17, 2003 (2003-05-17)
4	22		September 27, 2003 (2003-09-27)	May 1, 2004 (2004-05-01)

Cast and characters

Main

Character	Actor	Seasons
		1	2	3	4
Chief Jack Mannion	Craig T. Nelson	Main
Nick Pierce	Justin Theroux	Main	Recurring
Deputy Mayor Mary Ann Mitchell	Jayne Brook	Main		Guest
Ella Mae Farmer	Lynne Thigpen	Main
Deputy Chief Joe Noland	Roger Aaron Brown	Main
Detective Danny McGregor	David O'Hara	Main
Officer/Detective Temple Page	Sean Patrick Thomas	Main
Officer/Detective Nancy Parras	Elizabeth Marvel	Main
Detective Kevin Debreno	Jonathan LaPaglia		Main

Recurring

• Jean Smart as Det. Sherry Regan
• Wayne Duvall as Sgt. Phil Brander
• Richard Burgi as Capt. Vincent Hunter
• Richard Fancy as U.S. Attorney Bruce Logan
• Segun Ajaga (season 1) and William Turner (seasons 2–3) as Ricky Alvarez
• Michelle Forbes as Helen York (season 1)
• John Amos as Mayor Ethan Baker (season 1)
• Kristen Wilson as MPD Press Secretary Kendall Truman (season 3)
• Christopher B. Duncan as Sgt. Ray Cutter (seasons 2–4)
• Gregory Alan Williams as Clive Rodgers (seasons 2–4)
• Rita S. Jett as Ferris Gluck (seasons 2–4)
• Ving Rhames as Attorney General Troy Hatch (season 3)
• Kelly Rutherford as Melinda Lockhart (season 3)
• Carol Bodine as Carol Bodine (season 3)
• Joseph C. Phillips as Mayor Morgan Douglas (seasons 3–4)
• Jaclyn Smith as Vanessa Cavanaugh (seasons 3–4)
• Alexandra Barreto as Maria Rodriguez (seasons 3–4)
• Vanessa Bell Calloway as Gwen Hendrix (season 4)

Notes

• In 2001, Jean Smart was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" for her performance as "Sherry Regan".
• On March 12, 2003, Thigpen died of a cerebral hemorrhage in her Marina del Rey, California, home. The show's third-season finale had a tribute to her character.

Ratings

Season		U.S. ratings	Network	Rank
1	2000–01	12.7 million	CBS	#35
2	2001–02	10.3 million	CBS	#49
3	2002–03	9.8 million	CBS	#60
4	2003–04	9.0 million	CBS	#65

Note: Throughout The District's entire run it was aired in a Saturday night timeslot and also it was the last American scripted series to air on its Saturday night schedule until Ransom debuted in 2017.

International broadcasts

• In Australia, The District aired on the Nine Network in late night slots throughout its run.
• In Bulgaria, the first two seasons aired on Nova Television. The whole series was aired on AXN with subtitles and later on AXN Crime. Later Fox Crime repeated the first two seasons and the dub was rerecorded with the same actors. The third season started in October 2010.
• In Sweden, The District aired on TV4.
• In Poland, The District aired on the Universal Channel.
• In Germany, The District airs on VOX.
• In the United Kingdom, it aired on CBS Justice (formerly CBS Action) and was also previously broadcast in late night slots on ITV1.
• In Serbia, it aired on RTS.
• In Slovenia, it aired on the now defunct Prva TV, later it aired on Fox Life (Bulgaria & Balkans region).
• In Jamaica, The District aired on CVM TV.
• In Romania it aired on TVR1 and TVR2.
• In Italy it aired on Rai 2 from November 29, 2004 to 2008.
• In France, The District aired on France 2 (as Washington Police)

Syndication

It ran for a time on USA Network as well as on The Biography Channel after cancellation. On February 7, 2020 it joined the day shift in the Friday slot on Heroes & Icons.^[3] Without explanation as of Feb. 20, 2020 the program was pulled and Fridays reverted to NUMB3RS.^[4] As of mid-2020 it was back on the Heroes and Icons TV schedule weekdays from 1AM to 3AM Eastern Standard Time. As of October 2023, it has been pulled from the Heroes and Icons TV schedule once again.