The successful television movie American Dream (ABC, 1981) led to a critically acclaimed short-lived series which cast Macht in the role of a family man who chucks the suburban life to set up home in the inner city of Chicago. The following season, he landed the role of Joe Cooper, brother of Karen MacKenzie (Michele Lee), on Knots Landing (CBS, 1982–83). Other notable roles included playing Nancy McKeon's father in Strange Voices (NBC, 1987). He was Benedict Arnold in the miniseries George Washington (1984) and played one of the survivors of an air crash in Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac (NBC, 1984). He spent three seasons (1985–88) as David Keeler, love interest to Cagney (Sharon Gless), on Cagney & Lacey (CBS). During his run on the show, he moved behind the cameras to make his directorial debut. In 1993, Macht played Krim Aldos in "The Siege", an early Season 2 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Macht had been Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the role eventually went to Patrick Stewart in 1986.