T. J. Hooker
| T. J. Hooker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Rick Husky |
| Starring | William Shatner Adrian Zmed Heather Locklear Richard Herd James Darren |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 92 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes X 72 episodes (ABC) 90 minutes X 19 episodes (CBS) |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC (1982-1985) CBS (1985-1986) |
| Release | March 13, 1982 – May 28, 1986 |
T. J. Hooker was a weekly American police drama television program starring William Shatner. The series premiered as a mid-season replacement on March 13, 1982 on ABC-TV and ran on ABC prime time through May 4, 1985. The show stars William Shatner and Heather Locklear in the title role as the 15-year veteran police sergeant T. J. Hooker (T. J. is the reverse of J. T., the initials of Shatner's earlier role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek). The supporting cast includes Adrian Zmed as rookie Officer Vince Romano, Heather Locklear as Officer Stacy Sheridan (season 2 onwards), and Richard Herd as Captain Dennis Sheridan as personnel in the fictional "LCPD" academy precinct. At the start of the show's second season, James Darren became a regular cast member, as Officer Jim Corrigan.
The series was created by Rick Husky, who later served as executive producer of Walker Texas Ranger in its early seasons.
While never given away in the series, it has been speculated that LCPD stands for "Lower California Police Department" and "Left Coast Police Department." According to some sources, LCPD is actually said to stand for "Lake City Police Department." * The LCPD Headquarters/Academy was in actuality the Los Angeles Police Department Academy in the Elysian Park area of Los Angeles, near Dodger Stadium. This is most notable when viewing the pilot episode, which shows several areas and the distinctive main gates of the academy.
Synopsis
After his partner was murdered, veteran plainclothes detective Thomas "T.J." Hooker (William Shatner) reverted to his former assignment as patrol sergeant, and returned to the beat to rid the streets of the type of criminals responsible for his partner's death. Back in uniform, Hooker was assigned to train the academy recruits, and was partnered with brash, sometimes hot-headed young rookie Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed). With Romano much his junior, Hooker acted as his mentor on both a professional and social level. 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 was divorced as a result of his work putting a strain on his marriage, but was still friendly with his ex-wife, nurse Fran. Hooker was a ladies' man, but was still trying to adjust to being single once again. Lee Bryant was the original actress to portray Fran; the part was reprised by a different actress later on.
Hooker's tough, no-nonsense demeanor saw him often clashing with station Captain Sheridan (Richard Herd), but he always got the job done and was highly respected as a result. Introduced at the start of the second season was attractive Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear), the daughter of Captain Sheridan and Hooker's and Corrigan's younger partner-in-command, who attended the police academy. Initially brought in to fill Officer Vicky Taylor's shoes, 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 second season onward, Hooker and Romano (Unit 4-Adam-30), and Stacy and Corrigan (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 on CBS. 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.
With its blend of good humor mixed with "on the streets" grittiness, the show was incredibly popular. The first season was considered a runaway hit, ranking 28th in the Nielsen ratings, but subsequent seasons failed to repeat that level of success.
Cancellation, revival and syndication
Hooker was canceled by ABC in the summer of 1985, but the series survived when CBS picked up the show and produced new episodes that were longer than the normal 60-minute fare and were shown later at night (part of the CBS "Crime Time After Prime-Time" showcase during the late '80s/early '90s). Original shows finally were canceled in 1987, though the finale aired on May 28, 1986. Starting in 2005, the A&E Network re-broadcast the entire Hooker series, running one episode per weekday at 4 AM (A&E stopped showing T. J. Hooker before the end of 2005, however, and it has not been seen regularly since). It is also available in a shortened format on The Minisode Network[1] and full length episodes are available on Crackle.
Main cast
- William Shatner — Sergeant T. J. (Thomas Jefferson) Hooker
- Adrian Zmed — Officer Vince Romano
- Heather Locklear — Officer Stacy Sheridan
- Richard Herd — Captain Dennis Sheridan
- James Darren — Officer Jim Corrigan
Hooker and Romano's radio call sign for their "black and white" was "4-Adam-30", and radio calls were very similar to those of Los Angeles Police Department, using three bursts of a 900 Hz tone, using LAPD-type radio codes, and the officers acknowledging with roger. The series itself was produced in the Los Angeles area, and the call sign denoted a two-officer unit ("Adam") based in the LAPD's Hollenbeck division ("4"), with "30" as a supervisor unit.
Recurring cast members and notable guest stars
Shatner's fellow Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy guested in and directed the episode "Vengeance is Mine". In addition, both Sharon Stone and Tori Spelling guest-starred in episodes long before they were well-known actresses. T. J. Hooker featured many notable character actors in recurring roles throughout the series, including:
- Hugh Farrington as Det. Pete O'Brien (18 episodes, 1984–1986)
- Paul Kent as Corter (6 episodes, 1982–1985)
- Nicole Eggert as Christine "Chrissie" Hooker (T. J.'s daughter) (5 episodes, 1982–1983)
- Lee Bryant as Fran Hooker (4 episodes, 1982–1983)
- Robert Miano as Alex Lucas (4 episodes, 1982–1985)
- James O'Sullivan as Det. Conrad (4 episodes, 1982–1985)
- Shawn Weatherly as Claudia Cole (4 episodes, 1983)
- Robert Davi as Joseph Picartus (2 episodes, 1982–1984)
- Mickey Jones as Dave Bowman (2 episodes, 1982–1984)
- Jim Brown as Detective Jim Cody (2 episodes, 1983–1984)
- George Cheung as Dr. Coe (2 episodes, 1983–1984)
- Mike Genovese as Lucky Robinson (2 episodes, 1983–1984)
- Peter Brown as Lt. Drummer (2 episodes, 1983)
- James Hong as Dr. Hong (2 episodes, 1983)
- Alex Rocco as Capt. C. Danza (2 episodes, 1984–1986)
- Tina Lifford as Lorraine Barr (2 episodes, 1984–1985)
- Al White as Freddie (2 episodes, 1984–1985)
- Scott Marlowe as Marty Lathon (1 episode, "The Ransom", 1985)
- Mary-Margaret Humes as Lisa Temple (2 episodes, 1985–1986)
- David Caruso as Jennings (1 episode, "Requiem for a Cop", 1983)
Although not credited, Gary Busey had a small walk-on role in the pilot. His character can be seen briefly walking behind Shatner in the squadroom.
Four cast members of T. J. Hooker also appeared in the Star Trek universe: William Shatner portrayed Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, James Darren had a recurring role as a holographic lounge singer named Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Richard Herd portrayed Admiral Owen Paris on Star Trek: Voyager. The latter of the two actors started on Hooker prior to the Trek spinoffs. Actor Vic Tayback who guest starred as Lieutenant Pete Benedict in the episode Hooker's War had previously worked with Shatner on the Star Trek episode "A Piece of the Action", playing mob boss Jojo Krako.
Episodes
William Shatner is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series. Heather Locklear appeared in the second highest number of episode, appearing in 85 of the 90 episodes, after joining the cast's second season.
Season One
- The Protectors
- The Streets
- God Bless the Child
- Hooker's War
- The Witness
Season Two
- Second Chance
- King of the Hill
- The Empty Gun
- Blind Justice
- Big Foot
- Terror at the Academy
- The Survival Syndrome
- Deadly Ambition
- A Cry for Help
- Thieves' Highway
- The Connection
- The Fast Lane
- Too Late for Love
- The Decoy
- The Mumbler
- Vengeance is Mine
- Sweet Sixteen and Dead
- Raw Deal
- Requiem for a Cop
- The Hostages
- Payday Pirates
- Lady in Blue
In popular culture
While hosting Saturday Night Live and in a T. J. Hooker spoof, William Shatner (as Hooker) spent the entire segment on the hood of a criminal's car and even fell asleep there; the criminal abandoned the car while Hooker slept.
The 1987 film RoboCop paid homage to T. J. Hooker in the form of a futuristic cop show called T.J. Lazer, a favorite program of Officer Murphy's (RoboCop's) son.
An episode of the Disney cartoon Bonkers features the title character meeting his hero T. J. Finger, a tough 'TV cop'. Much to Bonkers' disappointment, Finger turns out to be the crook he and his partner Lucky Pickell are tracking down.
The song "I Can't Wait" performed by Ol' Dirty Bastard is primarily based around a sample of the first season's opening theme.
In the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury, Will Ferrell refers to a female police officer as "T.J. Hooker".
In the Family Guy episode, "To Love and Die in Dixie", Peter confronts a criminal attempting to kill Chris, introducing himself as "Sheriff Officer T. J. Hooker".
In the episode "Stage 5" of the hit HBO series, The Sopranos, Tony Soprano jokingly referred to a character named J.T. Dolan as T. J. Hooker.
DVD releases
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time on August 9, 2005. No plans have been announced for DVDs of further seasons.
| DVD Name | Cover Art | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasons 1 and 2 | File:TJHookerDVD.jpg | 27 | August 9, 2005 |
