Summary:
After his partner was murdered, veteran plain clothes Detective T.J. Hooker (William Shatner) had reverted back to his former role as Sergeant, and returned to the beat to rid the streets of the type of scum that was responsible for his partner's death.
Back in uniform, Hooker was assigned to train the academy recruits, and was partnered with brash, sometimes hot-headed young rookie Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed). With Romano much his junior, Hooker acted as his trainer and mentor on both a professional and social level. The age difference generally being the key hook of the partnership, the pair quickly became good friends and a good team.
Hooker's tough, no-nonsense ways saw him often clashing with station Captain Sheridan (Richard Herd), but he always got the job done and was highly respected as a result.
Seen in the short first season, mostly on desk duty, was Officer Vicky Taylor (April Clough).
Introduced at the start of the second season was attractive Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear), the daughter of Captain Sheridan. Initially brought in to fill Vicky's shoes, by the end of the season she had progressed to patroling with Jim Corrigan (James Darren), another veteran cop much in the mould of Hooker.
In the show's generally most recognised span, Hooker & Romano (Unit 4-Adam-30), and Sheridan & Corrigan (4-Adam-16) usually worked closely together to tackle cases. The addition Corrigan & Stacy's partnership added an extra dimension to the show, sometimes with whole plots revolving around one or both of them.
Outside of his work, Hooker was divorced as a result of his work putting strain on his marriage, but was still friendly with his ex-wife, nurse Fran (Lee Bryant). Hooker was always one for the ladies, but was still trying to adjust to being single once again.
(Lee Bryant was the original actress to portray Fran; the part was reprised by a different actress late on).
For the final season, the series moved from ABC to a late-night slot on CBS. Along with the move, Adrian Zmed chose to leave the series to pursue other projects, leaving Hooker to patrol alone and to generally work as more of a trio with Stacy and Jim.
Occasionally unintentionally hilarious, largely thanks to Shatner's so-straight-it's-camp performance of moral speeches to young offenders or Romano, the series never-the-less was a hit; and in it's prime, with it's blend of good humour mixed in with "on the streets" gritiness, followed in the footsteps of...
