- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 6, 1988
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Critic Reviews
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Benefits incalculably from the presence of Carroll O'Connor and Howard Rollins in the lead roles -- a stubborn old Southern sheriff and the young black professional dispatched to assist him...[It is] pedestrian as murder mysteries go, but what sustains interest are the clashes and the growing camaraderie of the two men. [5 Mar 1988, p.B1]
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Apr 22, 2014What In the Heat of the Night may lack most, ultimately, is heat, the fundamental tension between Gillespie and Tibbs that would lift them onto some higher ground beyond the TV cliche of innocently bickering partners.
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Little more than a routine cop show with a racial overlay. The pornography- laced plot in the premiere is recycled stuff-you don't have to be a big- city detective to come up with the killer early on-and much of the dialogue lies as flat as a plate of week-old catfish. [4 Mar 1988, p.5C]
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In two unbearably long hours, the film says nothing that wasn't said first, or better, 21 years ago. And where the original had a palpable air of menace, a mood hot and sticky with fear, the TV sequel is as fast-moving as a stagnant pond. [4 Mar 1988, p.7]