T.J. Hooker

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ABC (ended 1986)
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Show Summary

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After his partner was murdered, veteran plain clothes Detective T.J. Hooker (William Shatner) had reverted back to his former role as Sergeant, and returned to the beat to rid the streets of the type of scum that was 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 trainer and mentor on both a professional and social level. The age difference generally being the key hook of the partnership, the pair quickly became good friends and a good team.''''Hooker's tough, no-nonsense ways saw him often clashing with station Captain Sheridan (Richard Herd), but he always got the job done and was highly respected as a result.''''Seen in the short first season, mostly on desk duty, was Officer Vicky Taylor (April Clough). ''Introduced at the start of the second season was attractive Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear), the daughter of Captain Sheridan. Initially brought in to fill Vicky's shoes, by the end of the season she had progressed to patroling with Jim Corrigan (James Darren), another veteran cop much in the mould of Hooker.''In the show's generally most recognised span, Hooker & Romano (Unit 4-Adam-30), and Sheridan & Corrigan (4-Adam-16) usually worked closely together to tackle cases. The addition Corrigan & Stacy's partnership added an extra dimension to the show, sometimes with whole plots revolving around one or both of them.''''Outside of his work, Hooker was divorced as a result of his work putting strain on his marriage, but was still friendly with his ex-wife, nurse Fran (Lee Bryant). Hooker was always one for the ladies, 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 late on).''''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 and to generally work as more of a trio with Stacy and Jim.''''Occasionally unintentionally hilarious, largely thanks to Shatner's so-straight-it's-camp performance of moral speeches to young offenders or Romano, the series never-the-less was a hit; and in it's prime, with it's blend of good humour mixed in with "on the streets" gritiness, followed in the footsteps of 'Starsky & Hutch' and the like to become the popular cop shop of the time.. ''''A note of trivia: very seldom given away, Hooker's initials actually stand for Thomas Jefferson (incidentally, T.J. is the reverse of J.T., the initials of Shatner's most famous role, as Captain Kirk in 'Star Trek').''Also, while never actually given away in the series, LCPD is actually said to stand for Lake City Police Department.''moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 5 :  Ep 19 Aired 5/28/86
S 5 :  Ep 18 Aired 5/21/86
S 5 :  Ep 17 Aired 5/21/86
S 5 :  Ep 16 Aired 5/21/86
S 5 :  Ep 15 Aired 5/14/86

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  • T.J. Hooker Hooking Up with Big Screen 5

    T.J. Hooker Hooking Up with Big Screen

    By Tim Surette, Jul 06, 2009

    Reinventing Transformers for today's audiences I get. Giving another chance to shows like V and Alien Nation seems within reason, as well. A modern-day retelling of MacGyver? It's a stretch, but hey, that's Hollywood. But T.J. Hooker? That's just plain… more

  • The Scoop - 07/06/06 0

    The Scoop - 07/06/06

    By TV.com Staff, Jul 06, 2006

    http://image.com.com/tv/images/features/scoop/header.jpg 7.06.2006 Download or stream the podcast or subscribe to receive this every week! What is a podcast? A Tribute to Aaron TV.com has compiled a tribute feature in memory of Aaron Spelling. Read it right here, then revisit our… more

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  • T.J. Hooker was the best cop show in my opinion for many reasons.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By D-LinkUK, Nov 12, 2010 Report Abuse
    Firstly, the storylines and action scenes were very good. But the thing I liked most was seeing the superb William Shatner playing Hooker.

    Hooker was human. He was divorced from his wife because of his dedication to the job. He was a great mentor to rookie officers and he always cared about the victims of crime. And he was persistent when it came to chasing the villains. In Hookers eyes, no crime was minor and every victim of crime was a human being with feelings.

    It would be so hard to recommend certain episodes because they were all good. The 3rd episode of season 1 was good-Hooker was on the trail of two drug dealers who had killed a young girl. His dedication was second to none as he pursued the bad guys.

    A great show. Hooker is the type of police officer I hope exists in real life.moreless

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    3 0

  • T.J. Hooker was one of the best shows of the 80s.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By sfviewer, Jul 29, 2010 Report Abuse
    A very good premise and excellent execution. With Captain Kirk patrolling the streets hunting down the scum of the city was enticing enough for me to watch it. Heather Locklear was the hot tv chick back then. This show was on for 4 years. This was one good drama show. William Shatner was a real draw for the show. It may look old now, because of the change in culture. Things have changed since then, the way dialogue are written are different. It may look cheesy. To give merit to the show, it had a good hook, T.J. going after the bad guys was a real treat. I\'ll give it minus 1 point coz it\'s a little old.moreless

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    2 0

  • Absolutelty fantastic

    10
    "Perfect"
    By TRISTANRULESCSI, Jul 29, 2010 Report Abuse
    When i first heard about TJ Hooker i thought it would be another crappy 80's copshow with over the top acting and over dramatic storylines. But i was suprised, its not crap it is absolutely fantastic, the storylines are inventive. The characters are likeable. Every day at 4.00 i turn on the tv and cant want for TJ Hooker and i want to watch more and more because it is becoming more and more addictive. I like the original storyline and how the episodes are themed. I love the shootouts and the action. This show is my new favourite cop show!! 10/10moreless

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    2 0

  • i cannot believe anyone took it seriously

    4.6
    "Poor"
    By CAPNDEL, Jun 22, 2006 Report Abuse
    i can not believe any one took this show seriously. to watch it now you would think it was a comedy not a crime drama. william shatner is the funniest actor there is in my opinion. his price line commercials where he did the lounge singing thing were the funniest advertisements ever. the best thing about tj hooker was heather locklear. god she was fine. the worst thing about tj hooker was adrian zmed, what a dork.moreless

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    0 2

  • A really good cop show. God bless Heather Locklear.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By vicmackey31, Apr 22, 2006 Report Abuse
    A really good cop show. God bless Heather Locklear. This was more than a pretty good television series. As is normal with good television shows, this one did not last long enough. This is a show that I would suggest watching if you get the chance. Check the bargain bins at Wal-Mart, the online movies sites (Amazon.com and such) and all of the cable channels that run old shows. Nick at Nite and TV Land are great for theses kind of shows. They will even do a week long spot for shows that only had 6 or so episodes. Then you have your super stations. They run a bunch of old shows too. All in all a pretty good show that did not get a good enough chance. Sometimes it is a simple as the show it is up against. Look at Law & Order. It is one of the longest running shows on TV. They moved it to go up against Lost. After about 2 weeks of getting pounded in the ratings it was moved back to it's original time slot. Shows like this should be given more of an opportunitymoreless

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    1 0
 

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