Memories Of TJ Hooker
WILLIAM SHATNER occupies a peculiar spot in America's TV consciousness: many revere him as a charming and legitimate star, while some in the back of the room chuckle at him as an icon of ironic kitsch. T.J. Hooker seemed designed to play to both crowds at once.
Produced by Aaron "Love Boat" Spelling, Hooker ran for 90 episodes from 1982 to 1986. The series mixed lighter moments with major melodrama, as reflected in episode titles like "Slay Ride," "Hooker's War," and "Requiem for a Cop." Still, good or bad, the show endures in reruns in America and even overseas.
Here are some other stars who are part of the "Hooker connection."
While starring as Officer Stacy Sheridan, HEATHER LOCKLEAR was also playing Sammy Jo in the Spelling show Dynasty, leading to some audience confusion. On both shows she played a hot young blonde, though on Hooker she was a serious trainee eager to prove her value. A decade later she became the scheming older blonde on yet another Spelling show, Melrose Place, before joining Michael J. Fox on the sitcom Spin City.
JAMES DARREN, as officer James Corrigan, played Locklear's partner after she graduated from trainee to patrol officer. Darren popped up on Hooker nearly thirty years after he'd taken the country by storm as a musical heartthrob. In those days he was famous as the surfin' boyfriend in the Gidget movies, and also as a lady-killing pop singer in the vein of fellow Philadelphians Fabian and Frankie Avalon.
The show's modern-day heartthrob was ADRIAN ZMED as Hooker's dashing young partner, Vince Romano. Zmed had starred on Broadway in "Grease," in the same role played by John Travolta in the movie version. While Hooker may have been a good gig for him, it didn't prove to be a springboard to superstardom; Zmed remains mostly a star of the 1980s.
The same can't be said for SHARON STONE. In her days between modelling for Ford and becoming the siren superstar of the 1992 film Basic Instinct, Stone made a two-episode stopover on T.J. Hooker, playing the luscious Dani Starr in the 1985 two-parter 'Hollywood Starr.'
And yes, it's true: LEONARD NIMOY had a brief association with Hooker, directing the 1983 episode "The Decoy" and guest-starring in another 1983 episode, "Vengeance Is Mine." Nimoy, of course, had played Spock to Shatner's Captain Kirk in the Star Trek TV series. Nimoy's Hooker experience fell between the second and third Star Trek movies.
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