Thursday, 23 February 2017
613 T.J. Hooker
First viewed : 1983
I always referred to this as "Toupee" Hooker in reference to the obvious syrup sported by William Shatner throughout the series. Contrary to popular wisdom, this was not the first regular TV vehicle for Shatner since Star Trek; he had a starring role in the forgotten Barbary Coast in the mid-seventies but his re-emergence here as a paunchy ex-detective who decides to go back on the uniformed beat was almost certainly due to the popularity of the first Star Trek movies.
Forget Shatner though, the real reason for tuning in was Heather Locklear, a pocket-sized Farrah Fawcett lookalike who joined the cast in the second series as a rookie officer. The producers wasted few opportunities to make use of her assets with storylines regularly calling for her to wear a bikini or go undercover as an exotic dancer or other such devices. The third member of the core trio was Adrian Zmed as Officer Romano who looked up to Hooker as a mentor.
T.J. Hooker was something of a throwback to seventies shows like Starsky and Hutch in contrast to more earnest fare such as Hill Street Blues or Cagney and Lacey. As such it was always watchable without ever being essential viewing. It ran until 1986.
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