Product Description

A street cop who gives a damn! The cop drama series T.J. HOOKER starred William Shatner as a police detective who turned his back on a gold badge and went back to patrolling the streets and training recruits. The long-running series also starred Adrian Zmed, James Darren, and launched the career of sexy Heather Locklear. Highlights include the show's original pilot and a special guest appearance by Leonard Nimoy!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18943 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2005-08-09
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 1338 minutes

Amazon.com
Florid of face and flamboyant of voice, William Shatner oozes smarmy self-importance with the barest sliver of irony...yet that sliver transforms him from unbearable to bizarrely charming. Mock him all you want--and you will--but the man is unstoppable; T. J. Hooker was his fifth TV series (not counting assorted mini-series or the animated version of Star Trek), with more to come. As a freshly-divorced, middle-aged cop who--out of either proletariat zeal or just a bad attitude--would rather pound a beat than be a detective, Shatner swaggers around in a sausage-tight uniform and lush wig of curly hair, casually spouting right-wing speeches and fearlessly hurling himself onto moving vehicles. With cocky Adrian Zmed (Bachelor Party) and mischievous Heather Locklear (another TV diehard, co-starring in this show and Dynasty simultaneously) as co-stars/eye-candy, T. J. Hooker is a glorious slice of Aaron Spelling cheese.

The brief first season--only five episodes--delved into the dark side of Hooker's character, brooding over booze and mounting debts, riding his recruits because of his own regrets. All that went out the window as the second season roared into action, turning Hooker into a standard tough guy with a heart of gold. But the classic Spelling elements were there from the start: Almost every case involves a relative or an old friend; the bad guys announce their sleaziness from the moment they appear; and no opportunity to show a little skin is missed (short-shorts and tight, nipple-emphasizing tops are de rigueur). Featuring street gangs, snipers, Bible-toting psychos, baby-faced arsonists (a very young David Caruso, NYPD Blue), and vengeful cops (Shatner's old pal Leonard Nimoy), T. J. Hooker had no pretensions to anything but roiling melodrama with some midlevel stunts thrown in every few episodes. It all rests on whether or not you like Shatner. If you do, you'll hug yourself when Hooker's ex-wife tells him, as if intoning a zen koan, "You'll do your best, and I know you already have, because you always do." No commentaries, alas; the only extra is a pointless compilation of "Next week on T. J. Hooker" snippets. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

One of the real "gems" of the 80s
To me this is one of the best cop shows I have ever seen. The star is William Shatner as Sergeant Thomas John Hooker (you only hear his name in one episode which guest stars Vic Tayback so watch for it, it should be in THIS set) a former detective who decided (before the series started) to turn in his gold shield and put his uniform back on to train some raw academy recruits. At the end of the 90 minute pilot, those who remain in the class get assigned veteran officers as partners and hit the streets. One of these rookies (ironically the best in the class) Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed) lucks out and gets partnered with Hooker, and thus begins our series. Throughout the 4 or 5 episodes of Season 1 and all of Season 2 (the first FULL season), stories revolve around Romano learning there is more to learn on the streets than what you learn in training, Hooker spending time with his family (ex wife Fran, a nurse, younguns Chrissy and Tommy and high school age Cathy, who works part time as a candy striper at the same hospital as her mom), Romano making goo goo eyes at the girl dispatcher (Vicki Taylor played by April Clough in the VERY SHORT first season or Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear) who happens to be the precinct Captain Dennis Sheridan (Richard Herd)'s daughter), Hooker training more rookies (with Romano as his aide), and more. After the contents of this set (perhaps the Season 2 finale), Stacy graduates and gets partnered with another veteran Jim Corrigan (played by James Darren). After a rocky start (ala the Adam 12 series premiere) Stacy and Jim become a partnership, and the remainder of the series (which will hit dvd soon I hope) they run tag team with Hooker and Romano. Although, James Darren appears on the cover of this set, he does not become a regular til Season 3 (that's why you don't see his name on the box), by then also Captain Sheridan becomes occasional. Watch in this set for an episode directed by Leonard Nimoy and another one co-starring Nimoy as a lieutenant friend of Hooker who goes off the beam when his daughter is raped. This was a fixture on the Saturday night ABC lineup from 1982 to 1985 when it mysteriously got cancelled. It then surfaced on CBS late night in mostly reruns, but a handful of new episodes (minus Adrian Zmed for reasons unknown) were produced. The show stayed on CBS late night for another year, but by then was pretty much all reruns (from the original ABC run and their (CBS)'s run as well). Hopefully Columbia will release all the other episodes soon (considering they've stalled on the second and final season of S.W.A.T. who knows). Truly one of my favorite series of all time.

Great Series - Awesome Addition To DVD Collection
I just got this DVD collection and I have to tell you how awesome it was to watch a show I grew up with 20+ years ago. The picture and sound quality look great and shows the producers of this set took their time to clean up the video/audio for its release.

The only small complaint that I have, and it is small but has to be acknowledged is the episode listings on the cases for each disc. I just got finished with Disc 1 & 2. Each case holds 2 discs and list the episodes on the discs, but it is inaccurate. Disc 1 and Disc 2 show that there are 4-5 episodes on each of the discs and the case shows only 9 episode titles, but when you go into the DVD Episode Menu it shows a total of 11 or 12 episodes. The sad thing is that you have to look to the case holding Disc 3 & 4 to get the episode listing for the unlisted episodes on the DVD case for Discs 1 & 2. Assumably, I think the problem will be the same with the other cases and DVDs in the set. A minor setback, but coming from Sony I am surprised this got past quality control...

Still an awesome addition to my collection.

"The Shatt" Reigns Supreme
What can I say about this show which hasn't already been said. This is the ultimate fun cop show I've ever seen. The characters are entertaining with William Shattner as the father figure T.J. Hooker, Adrian Zmed as Vincent Romano the big brother, and Heather Locklear as Stacey Sheridan the kid sister.

When this show came out in 82/83 I was too young to see it. I watched it over summer reruns years later with my sister. We both immediately fell in love with the dramatic stories which didn't take themselves too dramatically.

And just recently I purchased this boxset and have found it one of the best series for the price. I actually enjoy watching this show again. It's fantastic and not old, dated, and boring like other shows of that time. I've even gotten my roomate hooked on this show that he has never seen before. It's that entertaining.

Aaron Spelling is a television genius and with Hooker he shows us why.

My only complaint is over the boxset (not the series) is that the episodes listed on the sheet sleeves do not match the episode content on discs.