 In the TV movie that inspired the series, Christine Cagney was  played by Loretta Swit (qv). When the show first began,  Meg Foster (qv) took over the role of Christine Cagney. After a  few episodes, Sharon Gless (qv) eventually won the role and played  Cagney for six years. A CBS spokesperson was quoted at the time as  saying the reason for replacing Foster with Gless was the audience  had trouble telling "the two leads apart".