Night Heat

I Feel the Niiiiiight Heat! I feel your HEEAAAAAAAAAART-beat! Something ain't right!" Theme song written by B.J. Cook from Skylark- David Foster's old band and wife. She also wrote the memorable theme from CBC's "Airwaves." OH Night Heat! What a program! Well-written, well-acted and totally classic. Crime solvers and a good team and a dash of humour at the end. I'd like to think this is really what detectives do/did. Giambone was a real favourite! On a Canadian tip, I learned EVERY Canadian actor's name and style from guest spots done on Night Heat. Everyone passed through the Night Heat set and like Law & Order, it was story-driven so you could just watch and enjoy without a lot of character melodrama.

I didn't start watching this show until the late 80s, but really enjoyed it. Very unique police program, and great cast as well. Eventually the show ended it's run, and the re-runs were hard to come by, so hopefully I can get a few on video. Very intriguing episodes, as they all occurred at night. While many of the actors, including Eugene Clark, Clark Johnson (Homicide fame) and Jeff Wincott.

It was definitely a break from the American cop shows, in that it had a certain mystique and roughness to it. Don't get me wrong..I love the American shows, but Night Heat more or less broke the mold. I also enjoyed other Canadian shows such as "Hot Shots" and "Diamonds".

While I can empathize with Canadain viewers who like seeing Canadian actors in roles, and enjoy seeing Toronto and other major Canadian cities on American television, etc., I also can't get past being bothered when a show made anywhere in Canada pretends to be from a gritty American city like New York, especially the New York underworld which would generate the most activity for criminals and work for detectives. Sorry, but Canada is just too sanitized. I had the same problem with "Police Surgeon" in the 1970s. In any event, however, the theme music and opening of "Night Heat" was terrific. I still have a sound recording and play it, even though it runs less than a minute, just because I like it!

I used to enjoy watching this show. Since this was on CBS Late Night and through the years it was on, due to work or college, I wasn't able to watch it when it was on. Thank goodness for VCRs!!! Otherwise I would've missed out on a great show.

It featured a great cast was great with Scott Hylands, Jeff Wincott, Sean McCann, Deborah Grover and Susan Hogan. Stephen Mendel as Detective Freddie Carson and Eugene Clark as Detective Colby Burns were the perfect comic relief. Both had great chemistry together and played off each other well. In addition, Tony Rosato as "Whitey" was hilarious as well playing Detective O'Brien and Giambone's "stoolie". I used to love the one liners "Whitey" would lob at both O'Brien and Giambione like, "Hey Giambonie, you need to lighten up on the hairspray", or "you two need to wear more pastels and you can look like those guys on Miami Vice" as they left him when they got the information they needed. Clark Johnson as Detective Dave Jefferson was both sleazy and funny at the same time, not always telling "O.B." and Giambone what they needed to know when Vice ended up getting linked to their cases, but in the end, they got it, but had to work for it.

In some of their episodes, you'll find guest appearances from Danny Aiello and from future stars like Keanu Reeves. I best remember him (Reeves) as the stoner punk villain. He played the role well.

Back in the late summer of 1987, CBS used this show as a summer replacement for a month at the 10 o'clock time slot on a Tuesday night. It did well in the Neilsens, but CBS chose to keep this on their Late Night lineup.

Sometimes, I pull one of these tapes out, blow off the dust and put it in my vcr. It was a great show.

I still have the shows on tape and have blown the dust off and popped them in the VCR. I still enjoy the show.

Guess I'm biased! It was a great Canadian series, shot in Toronto (my birthplace). Being from Toronto, the background scenery was very familiar and added to the realism. My wife and I enjoyed all the actors, although some were being re-cast as different guest villains,etc. a little too much. We especially like the "confrontations" between cops "Kevin & Frank" and "Whitey".