The series is set in somber Los Angeles right after World War II and before the election of American president John F. Kennedy. The episodes, although filmed in color, mimicked what had been done by Hollywood filmmakers during the film noir era of the 1940s and 1950s in terms of tone, look, and story content. The television program was produced using top-notch directors, well-known hard-boiled fiction writers, experienced screenplay writers, inventive cinematographers, and actors. The art direction gave the series the ambiance and historical look required of a show devoted to noir set in Los Angeles. A few known actors went behind the camera to direct a few episodes. They include: Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Kiefer Sutherland. Each episode in season 1 begins with a cool and restrained jazz score as the sultry character Fay Friendly explained to the audience what would develop in the episode. each episode in season 2 begins with a prologue voiced by Miguel Ferrer which explained to the audience the episode's events and who the main character's were. Her words are wistful, melancholic and foreshadowed the pain to come. Neo-noir novelist James Ellroy said of the show: "It's a role call of tormented souls confronting their monsters within; it's a picaresque look at Los Angeles back in the forties. It's the world of pulp on celluloid, pure translations that augment the stark power of great short fiction."
Stories from the second season are reprinted in various volumes:
"Flypaper" in The Big Knockover, and several Hammett collections.
"Dancing Detective" in the Ibooks edition of Rear Window.
"Professional Man" published in New Crimes, edited by Maxim Jakabowski.
"No Escape!" published in As Tough as they Come, edited by Will Oursler.
"Tomorrow I Die" in A Century of Noir.
"Red Wind," in several Chandler collections.
Reception
When it debuted, Fallen Angels received mixed to critical notices. In his review for the Associated Press, Scott Williams wrote, 'We're asking a lot of TV to deliver entertainment about that stylish, moral abyss. Fallen Angels delivers. It lets us look over the edge and measure our souls against the darkness". The Chicago Sun-Times gave the series two out of four stars and Ginny Holbert wrote, "Part of the problem is the series' arch, self-conscious obsession with style. Instead of a '90s interpretation of film noir, "Fallen Angels" offers contrived, full-color cliche noir, replete with cocked fedoras, plumes of curling smoke and harsh sunlight sliced by venetian blinds". In his review for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor called it, "uneven but diverting, even when just hovering around film-school level". In his review for the Houston Chronicle, Louis B. Parks wrote, "The big problem with film noir homages is they usually overdo the ingredients, with none of the subtlety of the great originals. Fallen Angels has a touch of that. But the directors and actors play straight, and the adaptations, taken from the real McCoy writers, are pretty good stuff". In his review for the Washington Post, Tom Shales wrote, "Creating period pieces out of their period seems to be fairly easy now for the gifted artisans of Hollywood. Even by today's commonplace high standards, however, the look and feel of the six Fallen Angels films seem transportingly authentic and sensuous, stylized in ways that evoke the milieu without spoofing it. Occasionally, the films veer into the arch and ridiculous, but overall, they at least look darn good". Newsweek magazine's David Gates wrote, "no show this summer will do a better job of whisking you away from the increasingly unacceptable '90s. These half hours are all too short". Entertainment Weekly magazine's Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "One unintended result of all this happy, naughty cigarette-puffing, however, is that, at their weakest, these films look like the work of boys dressed up in their dads' big suits".
Home media
In the United States the first season was released in a two volume VHS set. The second season was released in Europe in 1999 and Australia under the title Perfect Crimes.
Other media
Grove Press released a companion book, , with all the original stories and the screenplays from the first season. A soundtrack was also released.
