BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: The Complete Seasons

Beauty and the Beast is an American television series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent (Ron Perlman), a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine (Linda Hamilton), a savvy assistant District attorney in New York; and a secret Utopian community of social outcasts living in a subterranean sanctuary. Through an empathic bond, Vincent senses Catherine's emotions, and becomes her guardian. The series follows the developing relationship between the characters and the division between New York and the hidden world beneath it. In a twist from the original tale, however, this "beast" does not transform into society's idea of beauty after gaining the love of Catherine. Rather, Vincent's inner beauty is allowed to remain the focus of who he is, and it is Catherine's life which transforms from her relationship to Vincent. Vincent's makeup was devised by veteran Hollywood makeup artist Rick Baker.

In the third season, after the death of Catherine, Jo Anderson became the new female lead, playing Diana Bennet, a police woman investigating Catherine's murder.

Series Synopsis

Season 1
When Catherine Chandler is abducted, beaten and slashed and left to die in Central Park, she is rescued and cared for by Vincent, who has taken her to his Father (Roy Dotrice), to their hidden community of people dwelling in tunnels below the city of New York. Ten days later, she returns to the surface with the promise of keeping Vincent's secret and the challenge to go on after her terrible attack. After completing her recovery, her life begins a serious transition: She takes self-defense lessons, leaves her comfortable job at her father's law firm and joins the Manhattan District Attorney's office as an Assistant District attorney. During the course of the first season, the production team fashioned a blend of romance and crime drama which used both Catherine's position as an ADA and her will to help Vincent and his world to place her in moments of physical danger which would bring the idealized romantic figure of Vincent to the surface world as her guardian angel.

Season 2
During its second season, the series shifted its focus slightly to add more character development, as the central characters spent considerable time exploring their relationship and with the inhabitants of the Tunnel World, where Catherine had now finally been accepted as a friend and "Helper" (someone who assists the Tunnel community with what they need to survive and by keeping their secret). More people from the world Above turned up for emotional support and healing in the World Below's welcomingly secure environment. Near the end of the season, however, in an effort to boost faltering ratings, the action orientation returned as a result of the misleadings of the recurrent villain Paracelsus (Tony Jay). (See also: Personality). In a cliff hanger final episode, Catherine is seen walking down a tunnel into a chamber, where Vincent is suffering from a violent madness.

Season 3
When the series returned for its abbreviated third season late in 1989, Linda Hamilton had announced her decision to leave the series. It was a decision that, along with the network's desire to attract more male viewers, would have serious repercussions for the show's continued survival. In the resolution to the previous season's cliff-hanger, Catherine rescued Vincent from his inner demons but was kidnapped by Gabriel (played by Stephen McHattie), the ruthless head of a huge criminal empire she had been investigating, which was trying to corrupt the D.A.'s office. She was killed, but not before giving birth to Vincent's son, who was held hostage by the evil Gabriel. Catherine's boss and close friend Joe Maxwell (played by Jay Acovone) hired Diana Bennett (Jo Anderson), a criminal profiler with the police department, to track down Catherine's killer. Quite naturally, her investigation ultimately led her to the now darkly obsessed and grieving Vincent.