T. J. Hooker

T. J. Hookeris an Americanpolice dramatelevision program starringWilliam Shatnerin the title role as a 15-year veteran police sergeant. The series premiered as amid-season replacementon March 13, 1982, onABCand ran on the network until May 4, 1985. The show was then picked up for a further single season byCBS.

T. J. Hooker
Opening title card (seasons 1–2)
Genre	Action Police crime drama
Created by	Rick Husky
Starring	William Shatner April Clough (season 1) Heather Locklear(seasons 2–5) Adrian Zmed Richard Herd James Darren
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No.of seasons	5
No.of episodes	91(list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Spelling-Goldberg Productions Columbia Pictures Television
Original release
Network	ABC(1982–1985) CBS(1985–1986)
Release	March 13, 1982(1982-03-13)– May 28, 1986(1986-05-28)

The supporting cast includesAdrian Zmedas rookie Officer Vince Romano; April Clough as Officer Vicki Taylor (Season 1 only), replaced byHeather Locklearas rookie Officer Stacy Sheridan (season 2 onwards); andRichard Herdas Captain Dennis Sheridan, portraying officers in the LCPD Academy Precinct of a fictional, unnamed California city.Toward the end of the show's second season,James Darrenbecame a regular cast member as Officer Jim Corrigan.

Plot

The background of Sergeant Thomas Jefferson "T. J." Hooker is that he, up until recently, was a plainclothes LCPD Detective Sergeant whose partner was killed in the line of duty while he and Hooker were trying to stop a bank robbery. An angry Hooker becomes motivated to rid the streets of criminals like those who murdered his partner. Thus, he decides the only way to do so is return to his former position as a uniformed patrolman. Hooker is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, serving in U.S. Army Special Forces during the early years of the U.S.'s involvement in the war.

In "The Protectors," the series'pilot/TV movie,Hooker, back in uniform, trains a group of police academy recruits, including those played byRichard Lawson,Brian Patrick Clarke,Kelly Harmon,andAdrian Zmed.Hal Williamsplays a senior officer, andRichard Herdmakes a brief appearance as Captain Dennis Sheridan, Hooker's tough but understanding superior. During most of the series, Hooker is partnered with brash, sometimes hot-headed young rookie Vince Romano (played by Zmed). Romano is also a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, serving in the Army Infantry towards the end of U.S. ground forces involvement in the war. Hooker acts as his mentor both professionally and socially. The age difference generally being the key hook of the partnership, the pair quickly became fast friends and a good team.

Outside of his work, Hooker is divorced as a result of his work putting a strain on his marriage, but he is friendly with his ex-wife Fran, a nurse. A ladies' man, Hooker is still trying to adjust to being single again.Lee Bryantwas the original actress to portray Fran; the part is later played by Leigh Christian.

Hooker's tough, no-nonsense demeanor has him often clashing with stationCaptainSheridan (Richard Herd), but he always got the job done and was highly respected as a result. Working behind the desk at the police precinct, Vicki Taylor (April Clough) is a female officer who continually dodges pick-up attempts by Vince Romano. Introduced at the start of the second season was attractive Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear), the daughter of Captain Sheridan, who attended the police academy. Initially brought in to replace Vicki, by the end of the season she had progressed to patrolling with Jim Corrigan (James Darren), another veteran cop much in the mold of Hooker.

From the third season onward, Hooker and Romano (Unit 4-Adam-30), and Stacy and Corrigan (Unit 4-Adam-16), usually worked closely together to tackle cases. The addition of Corrigan and Sheridan's partnership added an extra dimension to the show, sometimes with whole plots revolving around one or both of them.

For the final season, the series moved from ABC to a late-night slot onCBS.Along with the move, Adrian Zmed chose to leave the series to pursue other projects, leaving Hooker to patrol alone or to generally work as more of a trio with Stacy and Jim, often on undercover work.

With its blend of humor mixed with "on the streets" grittiness, the show proved popular. The first season ranked 28th in the Nielsen ratings, but subsequent seasons failed to repeat the same level of success. The third season saw a slight revamp (including the theme music being rearranged into a more pop-driven version), with Corrigan set into place as Stacy's partner, and Captain Sheridan being dropped into the background (appearing as 'Special Guest Star' in just a few third and fourth-season episodes). The recurring character of Hooker's new boss, Lieutenant Pete O'Brien, portrayed byHugh Farrington,was added. Lt. O'Brien was a veteran detective who was wounded in the line of duty. The injuries put him in a wheelchair but he still worked complex investigations and supervised officers. The stories started drifting toward a more straightforward cops-and-robbers fare.

Cast

Heather Locklear,James DarrenandWilliam Shatnerin a fifth season publicity shot.

• William Shatneras Sergeant Thomas Jefferson "T. J." Hooker (Seasons 1–5)
• Adrian Zmedas Officer Vincent "Vince" Romano (Seasons 1–4)
• April Cloughas Officer Vicki Taylor (Season 1)
• Heather Locklearas Officer Stacy Sheridan (Seasons 2–5)
• Richard Herdas Captain Dennis Sheridan (main cast Seasons 1–2, occasional special guest star Seasons 3–4)
• James Darrenas Police Officer Jim Corrigan (Seasons 2–5)
• Hugh Farringtonas Detective Lieutenant Pete O'Brien (Seasons 3–5)

Production

Background

The series was created byRick Huskywho had also worked onThe RookiesforAaron SpellingandLeonard Goldberg.The series was originally to be a reworking of that former cop show, this time calledThe Protectors.After the pilot, it was decided to focus the series on William Shatner's character and retitle itT. J. Hooker.The series initially set out to give a more "hands on", procedure-based view of police work than some of the more stylized cop shows of the 1970s and 1980s, evident in the very early episodes.

Setting

The LCPD Academy scenes were filmed at theLos Angeles Police Department Academyin Elysian Park. Though the series itself was produced in Burbank and filmed in the Los Angeles area, the setting was not disclosed throughout the show's entire run.

Hooker and Romano's radio call sign for their "black and white"was" 4-Adam-30 ", and radio calls were very similar to those ofLos Angeles Police Department,using three bursts of a 900 Hz tone, using LAPD-type radio codes, and the officers acknowledging withroger.

Vehicles

In the first, second and up to the fourth episode of the third season, Hooker drove a '77-'78Dodge Monacopolice package, but afterwards he started driving a '79-'81Dodge St. Regis,usually powered by the much more anemic 318 or 360 Cid V8 as opposed to the 440 Cid V8 Monaco. By the fourth season, when Hooker and his team needed an unmarked cruiser, they usually rolled around in a '82-'83 light blueDodge Diplomator a '77-'78 burgundy redDodge Monaco.Hooker's personal car for the duration of the series was a '74 blueFord Torinosedan. Romano's car was a gold 1983Datsun 280ZX,Corrigan's ride was a silver and redJeep CJ-7Laredo, and Stacy's car was a blue 1983Ford MustangLX convertible.

Cancellation and revival

T. J. Hookerwas canceled by ABC in the summer of 1985 (the final episode was a proposed reworking of the series set in Chicago) but the series survived when CBS picked up the show and produced new episodes (still produced in Los Angeles) and one two-hour TV movie titled "Blood Sport".The new episodes were shown later at night as the first portion of the network'sCBS Late Nightprogram block, with each episode's runtime extended to 70 minutes (or one hour and ten minutes) to allow CBS affiliates time for increased availability for advertisements.The TV movie and the penultimate episode were both aired by CBS on May 21, 1986, with the finale one week later on May 28, 1986. The season was produced on a much smaller budget and reused action sequences from the previous seasons.

Episodes

Main article:List of T. J. Hooker episodes

William Shatner is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series. Heather Locklear appeared in the second-highest number of episodes, appearing in 84 of the 90 episodes, after joining the cast's second season.

Broadcast

US and international syndication

Starting in 2005, theA&E Networkre-broadcast the entire series, running one episode per weekday at 4:00 a.m. It is also available in a shortened format onThe Minisode Networkand full length episodes are available onCrackle.The Universal HD Channel started airing episodes in September 2010. On October 9, 2010, the Sleuth network began a 24-hourT. J. Hookermarathon. In September 2014,FamilyNetcable channel began carrying the series, which was remastered in the mid-2000s with ahigh definitionversion that originally aired onUniversal HD.Around early 2017, the show aired onMeTV.On June 26, 2017,FETVbegan airing the series weeknights at 10:00 p.m until 2021. In 2023, theMeTV+network began airing the program.

In the United Kingdom, the show was originally broadcast byITVstarting in April 1983. Most regions broadcast episodes at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday evenings, later in a similar Friday evening slot. Some regions gave it a slot on a different day (southern regionTVS,for example, typically ran it on Tuesday evenings), and not all regions broadcast the entire series, with some areas not progressing beyond the third or fourth seasons. Some regions also broadcast the later episodes - particularly those concerning a more adult or violent nature - as part of the night-time line-up during the advent of 24-hour broadcasting in the later 1980s. In 2002,Fiveran the whole series through, in a weekday 11:00 a.m. slot. This run included every episode, although some were edited for content for the daytime slot. In 2009, digital channelQuestaired the series on a daily basis,although they only hold the rights to show the first three seasons. On 11 November 2019, series 1 began broadcasting onSony Channel.

In Italy, the series started to air in 1983 onCanale 5.After his first run, it was often repeated through the years: first onItalia 1(late afternoon or in the morning ) and then onRete 4(in the morning) andFox Retro(in the evening). Recently, METOO a Sister station of WCIU-TV in Chicago began airing the show in a 2:00 p.m. timeslot.

In Japan, the series has been playing 1985 – 1988 onNippon TV.

In Australia, the series has been playing reruns on the 7 Networks 3rd channel7matefrom 2012 to 2016.

In New Zealand, the series is being screened for the first time, as from May 13, 2013, on Sky Television's Jones! channel.

As of 2019, the show has been re-run in the UK and Ireland bySony Channel.

High definition

Beginning on October 1, 2010, the series was rebroadcast onUniversal HDto overwhelming success, quickly becoming one of the most successful series on the channel although the channel did not yet subscribe to Nielsen ratings. Due to the high ratings, the original film elements were re-mastered for high definition, and the program was cropped to a 1.78 aspect ratio to fill the screens of modern televisions.

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainmenthas released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 and 2. Due to poor sales, no further seasons were released. This release has been discontinued and is out of print.

On August 27, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment announced that it had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library, includingT. J. Hooker.It subsequently re-released the first two seasons on DVD on April 1, 2014.

On April 5, 2017, it was announced thatShout! Factoryhad acquired the rights to the series and subsequently releasedT. J. Hooker – The Complete Serieson DVD in Region 1 on July 18, 2017.

Title	Ep #	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4	Special Features	Distributors
Seasons 1 & 2	27	August 9, 2005 April 1, 2014(re-release)	September 26, 2005	N/A	TBA	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Mill Creek Entertainment
Season 3	22	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Season 4	23	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Season 5	19	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
The Complete Series	91	July 18, 2017	N/A	N/A	N/A	Shout! Factory

External links

• T. J. HookeratIMDb
• T. J. Hookeratepguides.com