Sledge Hammer!

This has got to be the most hilarious show to ever pollute the airwaves. Sledge Hammer (David Rasche) is a man's man, a parodical sexist pig who talks to the .44 magnum he carries in his shoulder-holster and drives around with a rocket-launcher in his trunk, and who presumes all suspects to be scum until proven otherwise. There is not a single constitutional right that he has not flagrantly violated during the unfortunately short life-span of this series. Any cops out there will envy Sledge for doing all the things they would have liked to have done but couldn't. But despite Sledge's propensity for wanton and gratuitous violence and his callous use of weapons of mass destruction, he's more of an Inspector Cluseau than a Dirty Harry. His slapstick bumbling and his misogynist remarks are both counter-balanced by his partner, the intelligent and beautiful Dori Doreau (Anne-Marie Martin), who constantly compensates for Sledge's ineptitude and general lack of diplomacy. Rounding out the comedy trio is Captain Trunk (Harrison Page), Hammer's superior, who is constantly swilling Pepto Bismol to counter the ulcer and high-blood pressure that Hammer's antics are causing him to suffer; a futile gesture, as he is usually driven to screaming "Hammer!" at the top of his lungs in a fit of rage at least several times per episode. Our whole residence used to watch this show all the time back in university, and it had us all in side-splitting stitches (okay, maybe not all of us; the feminists didn't pick up on the fact that his sexist antics were a parody, and would frequently leave the room in disgust, but not before hurling verbal abuse, and sometimes beer bottles, at us ...). This is a classic among cult classics. I've scoured the Internet trying to find episodes of Sledge Hammer! on DVD, but all I've been able to find so far are a few bad-quality, copyright-infringing VHS tapes on e-Bay. Shame, I'd buy the whole series if I could find it in reasonable-quality digital form.

This is one of the greatest TV comedies that has ever been produced. Episodes like "All Shook Up" (the Elvis impersonators one) and "Hammeroid" (the Robocop spoof) will stay with me forever. Today's comedies can't hold a candle to this. It discovered irony and satire 10 years before the rest of America. "Trust me- I know what I'm doing!" should have been a catchprase for one of Ronald Reagan's campaigns, it summed up the spirit of an age that is no more, like this sublime show...<sob>

I laughed my ass off watching this show.!!! David Rasche had a ball spoofing Dirty Harry. This show sort of reminded me of Police Squad. They cancelled it because it was ahead of its time and people were too slow to catch all of the gags in it. Anne Marie Martin was wonderful as Sledge's partner and the chemistry between the two was irresistable. I have so many fond memories of this show and I only wish they would put it back in syndication.

Ah, the comedies of the 1980s. The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Night Court. There are shows like those, classics indeed, for their own reasons, and then there is "Sledge Hammer!"

It's just a _bit_ different. Imagine if you will the ability of a show to consistently spoof movies, or whole genres of tv show/film, and consistently nail it dead on in a 30 minute time slot. That's the quality of writing the show had, but the execution is what made it work. The three leads had consistent timing and brutally funny comic delivery. David Rasche, as the lead, was a standout, often getting the most manic material, though Page and Martin made it truly a triple threat. On one of the shows, Martin's character takes on Hammer's personality, and she nails that stuff pretty well.

In short, Hammer is the ultimate send-up of the classic loose cannon police detective. Dirty Harry is a great inspiration, but there are other aspects that work their way in as well. A few of the shows sent up the film noir detective genre. While some have compared it to "Get Smart" or "Police Squad," the thing that amazed me about it was how it reminds me at times of British comedies like "Blackadder" or some of Monty Python's skits. It is great that send-ups this consistently good got on American TV. Especially as there was almost always another, more subtle layer of humor under the more over-the-top gags. The main running current of humor was the sending up (by exaggeration) of the ultra-violent tone the action genre had taken on at the time. Yet underneath the people involved managed to work in genuine warmth, sybtle moments of humor, and genuine emotion across the board.

The show only ran for two seasons, agaist stiff competition (Put in a timeslot for example, against CBS' "Dallas" and NBC's "Miami Vice.") If only there was a better timeslot.. and maybe more budget, though the show did quite well with what they had.

I saw this in it's initial ABC run, then a few years later when a local station in Philadelphia put it on in reruns. Some of it held up very well, especially when classic genres/films were "given tribute." Some of the 80s references date it, but it wasn't bad. In fact, it rocked. Plus I remember seeing the first run as a kid, and the scene with the bazooka in the first show hooked me. Hilarious. In short, although it struggled, it built a pretty strong following among fans, and that is the definition of a cult classic. Websites have sprung up in recent years, allowing fans to chat about this truly unique show. When they put this one together, they really did know what they were doing.

A hidden gem from the eighties. In-jokes seemed to be the rage at ABC around the '86-87 and '87-88 seasons (Moonlighting, Growing Pains etc.) and this was no exception. A cool look, a lot of pop culture riffs, and an original in every way. How many other half hour sitcoms had action and adventure like this but still maintained a comic edge ? I rented four episodes from the video store ten years after the show went off the air and still found it funny. Like Miami Vice, the look of the show was very much of the time. Too bad it was scheduled opposite it on Friday nights.