The 87th Precinct was a very, very short lived TV show that was based on a series of police procedural novels and stories written by Ed McBain. McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several occasions.  The series is based on the work of the police detectives of the 87th Precinct in Isola, a district of a large fictional city based on the New York City borough of Manhattan. Other districts in McBain's fictionalized version of New York correspond to NYC's other four boroughs, Calm's Point standing in for Brooklyn, Majesta representing Queens, Riverhead substituting for the Bronx, and Bethtown for Staten Island.

Each novel begins with the same disclaimer: “The city in these pages is imaginary. The people, the places are all fictitious. Only the police routine is based on established investigatory technique."

 In interviews and articles, McBain has freely admitted that his series was heavily influenced by the radio and TV series Dragnet. This introduction, simultaneously evoking and contradicting Dragnet's introductory phrase, "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent," was apparently McBain's way of acknowledging the debt, yet announcing his intention to go his own way in every book.

 The TV version starred Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, and Ron Harper, and aired on NBC on Monday evenings during the 1961–1962 television season. The show premiered on September 25, 1961, and ended its first-run episodes on April 30, 1962. The program faced stiff competition on CBS from The Danny Thomas Show and its spin-off, The Andy Griffith Show. At the time, ABC aired the second and last season of another detective program, Surfside 6, starring Troy Donahue and Van Williams.

The show’s star Robert Lansing (1928–1994) later had a hit as General Frank Savage on ABC's Twelve 12 O'Clock High. His costars were Chris Robinson and future U.S. Representative Robert K. Dornan, a Republican from California.