Fan Nickname: There is a gold Ford Mustang that frequently appears in stock footage and various outside scenes. Fans call it the "stalker Mustang", due to jokes about person/persons owning following the guys.
In "Elegy for a Pig" (the episode that paid tribute to officers killed in the line of duty) has one particular one, given the recent series of events involving police officers and relations with African-Americans. At the end of the episode, the gravesite service for Malloy's friend and fellow police officer, Tom Porter, has ended; Malloy stands there, taking stock of the situation and gives a reflection that says that — in addition to being forgotten before long, except by family, friends and his closest fellow officers — there will be no protests or marches to denounce his senseless death. Flash forward to the 2014-2016 time frame, where several police officers died in the line of duty and/or were targeted (in response to unarmed African-Americans being shot and killed during confrontations with police officers). Here, there were protests by counter-movements to the Black Lives Matter group, and others who were willing to speak out about the recent ill-relations between the two sides.
The case in season 2 where a creep molested and mortally injured a five-year old boy, and Reed made no bones about how pissed off he was, is harsher in light of Malloy's later Police Brutality against a child molester who hospitalized a six-year-old girl and then said she asked for it.
Malloy, the happy bachelor, has occasional dalliances with women but dislikes being pursued by them (though it may be down to thinking this is 'improper' or some such).
In the episode "Vice Versa", Malloy is jumpy and nervous when Reed does the driving. There is also this conversation in the middle of the ep: "Why don't you just relax and leave the driving to me?" "That's why I can't relax, you're doing the driving." Reed replies, "I haven't had any complaints from Jean." The Death Glare that follows is pretty epic.
Product Placement: It seems that about the time they started featuring American Motors Matadors as the primary squad cars, Reed and Malloy started pursuing a lot more AMC cars. Not to mention that Malloy buys an AMC Matador to replace his Mustang in season six.
Mark Harmon guest-starred as a rookie in the show's final season.
Barry Williams appears in "Log 152: A Dead Cop Can't Help Anyone" as a boy who calls the police on his mother's abusive boyfriend.
Ron Pinkard, later of Emergency!, plays a police photographer in "Log 12: He Was Trying to Kill Me."
David Cassidy is in "Log 24: A Rare Occasion" as a drug-addled teenager.
Jodie Foster is in "Log 55: Missing Child" as the best friend of a missing girl.
Tim Donnelly, best known as Chet from Emergency!, appears in "Log 25: Indians" as a hapless pizza deliveryman.
Randolph Mantooth, who starred in Emergency!, is in "Log 88: Reason to Run" as a worker accused of theft.
Lindsay Wagner, aka The Bionic Woman, has her first role in "Million Dollar Buff" as a woman whose ring is stolen.
The Scrappy: Judy, Pete's season six girlfriend. Besides the natural "he won't be single anymore" stuff, many fans either just don't like how she was written or think she was too old for Pete.
Values Dissonance: Although the show in general holds up pretty well today, some aspects inevitably don't.
Domestic disputes, even violent ones (and especially women abusing men), are frequently Played for Laughs in a way that wouldn't be acceptable today.
A number of episodes feature Reed and Malloy trying to stop people from committing suicide. Their methods are decidedly insensitive by modern standards, as Malloy in particular frequently berates them for "throwing away their life" and the like without showing real empathy for their situation. One episode even features Malloy handing a suspect a loaded gun to distract him while Reed moves in to disarm him, though in that case at least he's chewed out by Sergeant MacDonald.
