T. J. Hooker is an American police drama television program starring William Shatner and Heather Locklear. 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 in the title role as the 15-year veteran police sergeant T. J. Hooker. 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.
Synopsis
After his partner is 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 later reprised by a different actress.
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 proved 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. It is also available in a shortened format on The Minisode Network[1] and full length episodes are available on Crackle. In 2009, the UK channel Quest aired the series on a daily basis.[2]
Main cast
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)
- Savannah Smith Boucher as Eadie Morgan (1 episode, "The Two Faces of Betsy Morgan", 1984)
- Mary-Margaret Humes as Lisa Temple (2 episodes, 1985–1986)
- David Caruso as Jennings (1 episode, "Requiem for a Cop", 1983)
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.
DVD releases
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 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 |
 |
27 |
August 9, 2005 |
Film
In July 2009, it was announced that T. J. Hooker is set to be adapted into a film. Chuck Russell is in talks to direct, and writing team Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson will script.[3]
References
External links
