Line #3 Series/TJHooker


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tj_hooker-show_7555.jpg]]
2
3	->''"But Hooker's a Good Cop!"''
4	-->-- [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] catchphrase used during policeman argument scenes.
5
6	This [[CopShow police action series]] was produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and Leonard Goldberg, and ran on Creator/{{ABC\|US}} from 1982 to 1986 and its last first run year as a Creator/{{CBS}} Late Night series. It started out as a MidseasonReplacement, but proved popular enough after its first [[FiveEpisodePilot five episode run]] to be picked up for further seasons. It starred Creator/WilliamShatner as Sgt. T.J. Hooker, a former detective who had volunteered to teach at the police academy and go back out on the beat because of his absolute conviction in doing the right thing. Hooker is an extremely moral cop, whose reaction to something would often be passionately over the top (come on, it's [[LargeHam William Shatner]] we're talking about here), to the point of almost becoming AnAesop.
7
8	Starring alongside Shatner was Creator/AdrianZmed as his rookie partner, Vince Romano, and Creator/HeatherLocklear as Stacy Sheridan, one of her earliest screen roles. Creator/JamesDarren joined in season 2 as a fellow police Sgt. Jim Corrigan, and the series had something of an [[UnexpectedGenreChange Unexpected Format Change]]. Despite this, the series never lost its unique flavor, as Shatner always managed to serve up copious amounts of HamAndCheese.
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10	The series had a reputation for being unerringly {{Anvilicious}}. The plot of an episode usually revolved around a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain of the Week]] who is doing something like dealing drugs or robbing old people. Sgt. Hooker would then deliver a sermon about this being the scourge of humanity, with his speech most likely involving the words "''it's in our schools, it's getting mixed up with [[ThinkOfTheChildren our kids]]''". He would then launch a one-man crusade to "[[CowboyCop clean up]]" the streets.
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12	While the series was set in an un-named city, and focused on the adventures of a completely fictional California police department, it looked and felt almost exactly like [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles The City of Angels]]. In fact, the series had so many copious shots of streets which are clearly recognizable as Los Angeles suburbs, that the viewers would frequently be left wondering why the producers of the show [[HeyItsThatPlace couldn't just come out and admit it]].
13	----
14	!!This series contains examples of:
15	* AlmightyJanitor: Hooker himself. He took a voluntary demotion to uniformed officer so he can patrol the streets and help younger officers along. Even his fellow Sgts often come to Hooker for advice.
16	* AmnesiaDanger: Stacy in "Nightmare".
17	* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The climactic ending scene of "The Lipstick Killer" finds Hooker engaged in a fight with the killer, a psychologist dressed in drag, in a hospital lab. During the fight, beakers of chemicals are spilled, which starts a fire. Hooker and the killer fight amongst the flames, smoke and water from the overhead sprinklers.
18	* BridgeBunnies: Stacy Sheridan. In her first season (Season 2, 1982-83), she is isolated to being on the desk back at the academy, and giving instructions to Hooker over the radio.
19	* BoundAndGagged: Stacy, several times.
20	* BuddyCopShow: Eventually expanded to ''two'' sets of cop buddies.
21	* BurgerFool: In "The Decoy", Hooker goes to Circus Burger as many times as possible, hoping to get enough stamps to win a prize for his daughter. Romano complains about it incessantly and insists that if they win any prize other than the bike, he gets it. The prize they win turns out to be five dozen burgers.
22	* BusFullOfInnocents: Taken absolutely literally, with a bus full of ''nuns'' no less, in "The Streets." The villain of the week hijacks the bus to escape with his hostage and Hooker has to jump on.
23	* CartwrightCurse: Jim Corrigan often has an ex-lover who ends up somehow connected with the bad guys and is either arrested or killed.
24	* ChaseScene: And plenty of them.
25	* ChewingTheScenery: It's a show starring ''William Shatner'', of COURSE it has it! Bonus points for how Hooker angrily declares perps to be "SCUM!" and "MAGGOTS!"
26	* ChristmasEpisode: "Slay Ride".
27	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The character of Officer Vicky Taylor appeared on the front desk for the first half dozen or so episodes, before being quickly replaced by Stacy Sheridan.
28	* CityWithNoName: Many of Aaron Spelling's cop shows — ''Series/TheRookies'', ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' — are set in police agencies that resemble the Los Angeles Police Department, but are in unnamed cities. The police officers on ''T.J. Hooker'' wear shoulder patches of the "L.C.P.D.", which is said to stand for "Los Angeles County Police Department" (This is presumably due to the fact that the real LAPD wouldn't allow them to use their name and insignias or because it allowed more story-telling flexibility--the writers were not tied to real LAPD policies and procedures).
29	* ClosingCredits: In Seasons 1 and 2, the closing credits for each episode would be seen against freeze-frames of scenes from the episode; the Spelling-Goldberg IAW (in association with) card would be the last card, and then that would fade to black, and the Columbia Pictures Television logo of the time would appear (the Sunburst/Abstract Torch on the short first season in early 1982 [which would also be seen on Mill Creek Entertainment's DVD print of the pilot, even though that was only copyrighted to Spelling-Goldberg], and then the 80s Torch Lady with Coca-Cola ownership byline thereafter [on DVD prints, the 80s Torch Lady would be bylineless, both on Mill Creek's first-and-second-season release, and on Shout! Factory's complete-series release starting with the second episode of Season 3]). In Seasons 3-5, it would be a slow-motion reprise of the scene from the title sequence where Hooker runs into the gun warehouse from "Lady In Blue"; the S-G card would still fade to black and give way to the CPT logo of the time (except on two episodes from Season 5, where the S-G text would disappear, and the 80s Torch Lady showed up on the next frame).
30	* CruelMercy: In "The Connection", Hooker and Romano chase down a PCP cooker who has been responsible for the near-death of a teenage girl and one of the probationary officers. When the guy crashes into the water, Hooker rescues him because he thinks seeing him pay for his actions would be more satisfying than seeing him drown.
31	* DaChief: Captain Sheridan, who acts both as ReasonableAuthorityFigure and ObstructiveBureaucrat depending on the episode.
32	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both Sgt. Hooker and Sgt. Corrigan are introduced as characters who are still mourning the death of a former police partner. One episode even sees Hooker suffer a FlashbackNightmare of the day his former partner was killed.
33	* DirtyHarriet:
34	** One episode seen Officer Stacy Sheridan going undercover as a prostitute, with her partner Officer Corrigan acting the part of her pimp.
35	** In "Hollywood Starr," Detective Dani Starr (Creator/SharonStone) puts on her "flashiest streetwalking outfit" for a stakeout on Hollywood Boulevard.
36	* DiscoDan: A lot of the humor is the culture clash between middle aged Hooker and his younger partner Romano. Hooker has old fashioned tastes in music even for a man his age.
37	* DoNotGoGentle: Hooker is surprised when his long-retired detective father keeps getting involved in a case of some store robberies, including getting secret information on them. In a showdown, the senior Hooker [[spoiler: takes a shotgun blast before Hooker kills the perp. Hooker had discovered his father was dying of cancer and wanted to solve one last big case and go out in a blaze of glory rather than wilt away in a hospital bed. Hooker tearfully holds his father who, as he wished, gets a lavish cop funeral and remembered as a hero]].
38	* EightiesHair: Of course.
39	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Every single episode ends with one of these.
40	* EveryCarIsAPinto: The inevitable result of every ChaseScene is that ''at least'' one of the vehicles will spontaneously explode.
41	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In "God Bless the Child", one of the villains says he didn't want to hurt Jenny, but it was the only way to shut her up. He tells Hooker that he doesn't understand why she wouldn't play along with his drug-selling; she could have had anything she wanted.
42	* ExtraLongEpisode: "Blood Sport".
43	* FairCop: Though Hooker and Corrigan might be a subversion, Stacy and Romano are both ridiculously good looking. Creator/SharonStone guest-starred as Detective Dani Starr in a PoorlyDisguisedPilot.
44	* FanService: Virtually every female character. This is an Creator/AaronSpelling production after all.
45	* GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply: When they bust the leader of a drug ring, Hooker and Romano shoot holes in a PCP container, getting the cooker sprayed with it as he tries to elude them. The guy drives toward and off the pier, much to Romano's disbelief. Hooker says that he's finding out what his customers go through.
46	* GiveMeAReason: In "God Bless the Child", two drug-dealers take Hooker's teenage daughter hostage and threaten to shoot her. When he and Romano finally get the upper hand on them, Hooker snarls at the one he collared to resist arrest. The guy takes a long look at Hooker's face and wisely declines.
47	* HeelFaceTurn: A typical ingredient in most of the episodes is that at least one of the villain characters is not really nasty but just "fell in with the wrong crowd". Hooker will convince them to help him infiltrate the gang, and the villain in question will be seen to be on the right path back to salvation by the end of the episode.
48	* HeroicResolve: Sergeant Hooker is by no means a very fit cop. However, it is amazing how many times he manages to find the sudden energy required to jump on to the roof of a speeding bus on which some nuns are being held hostage, or to barge down a locked door and do a dramatic barrel roll into a room when lives are at stake. Parodied in ''Showtime'' and in a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch in which Shatner (that week's host) jumped on the hood of a car and managed to hold on as the driver drove through a number of distant locations and time zones.
49	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Creator/GaryLockwood, who appears as DEA Agent Twill in "The Snow Game" and Sgt. Carey Dunston in "To Kill a Cop", previously worked with Shatner in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
50	** And of course, Creator/LeonardNimoy in "Vengeance Is Mine".
51	* KillerCop: In "Blue Murder," Hooker and pals go after a pair of motorcycle cops who, under the supervision of a superior officer, execute criminals the law can't touch... DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything [[Film/MagnumForce Seriously, does it?]]
52	* LastNameBasis: Hooker, to EVERYBODY, up to and including his ex-wife. Only one person ever called him T.J., a psychiatrist played by Henry Darrow in "A Cry For Help".
53	* LikeADaughterToMe: Implied. Hooker is very protective of Stacy Sheridan. In "The Decoy", he tells her that the day she was born, her father was incommunicado on a mission, so he was the first person to hold her. Because of that (and her inexperience), he doesn't want her acting as bait for the Surfside Killer.
54	* MrFanservice: Vince Romano. Early episodes had quite a few scenes of Romano bare-chested. One episode has him going undercover as a male stripper, and compare his enthusiastic moves to Stacy's half-hearted dancing[[note]]which still makes it to the opening titles of later episodes[[/note]] when ''she'' goes undercover not wearing much. Speaking of which...
55	* MsFanservice: Stacy Sheridan (again). The producers of the series were always finding excuses to have her change out of her uniform and into "civilian clothing" of tight-fitting jeans/shorts/T-shirts.
56	* {{Nepotism}}: Stacy is frequently doted on and given preferential treatment by the boss, Captain Sheridan, who just happens to be her father. Stacy herself chafed at the special treatment, and wanted to be treated like any other cop.
57	* ObviouslyEvil: The crooks that Hooker chases have no shades of grey: they're evil in such blatantly obvious ways that they're almost like cartoon villains.
58	* OldFriend: Almost every other episode has a cop Hooker has served with during his career and known for years. Half the time, Hooker has to clear their names or help them out of a jam and the other half, they've fallen on hard times or are full-on criminals themselves.
59	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickName:
60	** While Hooker has clearly got a first name, other characters ''always'' refer to him simply as "Hooker". The fourth episode of the first season tells us that his given name is in fact Thomas, but this is never mentioned ever again. Even his ex-wife only ever calls him by the name Hooker when she talks to him (of all people you'd expect her to call him Thomas, wouldn't you?).
61	** At the very beginning of the pilot, Shatner tells a group of recruits "[[TitleDrop TJ Hooker]] is the name, but do not lose any sleep wondering what the TJ stands for -- as far as you're concerned my first name is SERGEANT!"
62	* OutsideRide: The trademark stunt of the show was Shatner clinging to the hood of a moving car, as seen in the opening credits. Parodied when Shatner hosted ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' and did a skit where Hooker spent '''weeks''' hanging on to the hood of a speeding car.
63	* PictorialLetterSubstitution: The logo for the first and second seasons replaces the second 'o' in the title with a cross-hairs target.
64	* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Season 4's "[[PunnyName Hollywood Starr]]" with Creator/SharonStone as a vice cop called Dani Starr.
65	* RevolversAreJustBetter: LCPD issues Smith & Wesson revolvers to the officers, though Sgt. Hooker carries a Colt Trooper on duty and he owns a .357 Magnum Dan Wesson revolver as an off duty firearm. In fact, Hooker bragged to a particularly evil perp about how he carried a .357 Magnum loaded with hollow point bullets, stating "they leave a six-inch hold going in...AND THE HOLLAND TUNNEL COMING OUT!"
66	* ShoutOut: It's commonly considered that the initials "T.J." in Shatner's character name are a shout-out to the first two initials of his most famous character, [[Franchise/StarTrek James T. Kirk]].
67	** More obviously, the episode guest starring Leonard Nimoy (better known as ''Star Trek'''s Mister Spock) features Hooker saying he has known Nimoy's character for "seventeen years". Since it had been 17 years since the first broadcast of ''Series/{{Star Trek\|The Original Series}}'' at the time of the episode, this is almost certainly a ShoutOut
68	%%* StrictlyFormula
69	* TheVietnamVet: Interestingly, Romano served in Vietnam despite his youthful looks (He said he enlisted as a 16-year-old using a fake birth certificate). Adrian Zmed was actually born in 1954 meaning he could have still served in Vietnam, the last US soldiers leaving in 1975. According to the episode "The Assassin", Hooker also served in Vietnam as a paratrooper Sergeant as well, as it was revealed that he saved the titular villain's life in Vietnam.
70	* TitleSequence: In Seasons [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znfy2xMmoaE 1]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRD9hCkpQ-c 2]], the title came together (two clear copies of the title that came together, filling in with gold when they did) over a freeze-frame of Hooker that turned blue in the background, with the second O in ''Hooker'' turning into a crosshair; there was an iris-in effect from that second O as well. This iris-in effect also came after each of the players was billed; the players were billed by having two clear copies of the name coming together from the left and right bottom of the screen, and having them meet at middle bottom. When both copies were together, the name filled in in yellow or gold; all major players were done this way, with William Shatner having "Starring" above his name, and Richard Herd getting the Main/AndStarring credit as Captain Sheridan (Locklear, Zmed, and [in Season 1] Clough simply had their names coming together and filling in).
71	** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEqIuwchDyw Season 3]], Hooker ran inside the entrance to a gun warehouse (this footage was taken from the climax scene of the second-season finale episode "Lady In Blue") as the opening notes of the title track played, and then the title appeared on screen in a computerized metallic lettering with red and blue police car lights shining over it; this effect was also used to bill all the major players (Shatner, Zmed, Locklear and Darren), and was used at the end to credit creator Rick Husky. The title track was a more pop-driven arrangement as well. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7jj66UR7Xk There was also an alternate third-season title track that had more lead synth, and was heavier on kick and snare drums.]]
72	* UglyGuyHotGirlfriend: Hooker seems to romance a lot of women seemingly out of his league, including Lisa Hartman, Cristina Raines, Kristen Meadows and Michelle Phillips, to name a few.
73	* UnexpectedGenreChange: In its first season, the show was about Hooker and Romano taking to the streets and fighting crime. In the second and subsequent seasons, the main cast expanded to four (with Stacy and Sgt. Corrigan making up "team 2"), with the two separate teams sometimes investigating two completely different crimes, and other times investigating the same one but from different angles. Not quite a complete "genre change", but it certainly gave the series' format a larger scope that it had before.
74	* UndercoverModel: Stacy goes undercover as a model in "Model For Murder".
75	* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: A Shatner specialty.
76	* WorkOffTheDebt: In "Second Chance", Hooker catches the boy responsible for vandalizing Gino's store. The boy explains that he was mad because the man accused him of stealing without cause. Ultimately, he offers to pay using his allowance, but Gino apologizes for his reaction and instead makes a deal for him to work there to pay off the debt. Both of them are quite happy with the arrangement.
77	* YourTomcatIsPregnant: During "Second Chance", Romano is trying to adopt out his cat, Rodney, who he can't keep at the barracks. At the end, Romano has finally found a new home for the cat...only for the new owner not to take "Rodney" immediately because she's had kittens and can't travel.

Context Series / TJHooker