T.J. Hooker

After a lean run for William Shatner in the 1970s, things began looking up for him after the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and since then he has gotten steady work in film and television. Shatner signed on to star as the title character of the cop show T.J. Hooker as a former detective who decides to go back to being a uniformed street cop in order to rid Lake City of crime in the memory of his former partner.

There's nothing special about T.J. Hooker; it's just another cop show like the dozens of others before and after it. I just think it's a stretch for Shatner and Heather Locklear to play cops. Shatner could play Captain James T. Kirk or a gangster or somebody who's a bit nutty but I found it droll to see Shatner and that rug on his head running around and doing those rolls versus the thugs of Lake City. Aaron Spelling regular Heather Locklear, all 5 feet and 98 lbs of her, is miscast here. Adrian Zmed as Officer Vince Romano and James "Moondoggie" Darren as Officer Jim Corrigan fare better. It's clear the cast were hired on their good looks than playing convincing police officers.

Regardless, I like TJ Hooker because there's that feeling of zaniness seeing Shatner, Locklear and Co. playing against type. Shatner doesn't disappoint with his brand of acting here. His presence carries this show. If you liked him in Star Trek, you'll like him here.

Recommended.

William Shatner pretty much personified T. J. Hooker, and it was one of those series that was get-home-in-time-to-watch TV for the first two seasons, but after that the writing got a bit tired and I suspect William Shatner was focussing on his Star Trek movie career.

I'm reasonably certain that Officer Sheridan (at least, back in the '80s) could shoot me, and I wouldn't even feel it. That may not be the only reason to watch the show, but it is, far and away, the best. Need I say more?

I always held off watching this thinking it will be some pretentious camp mess only designed to blow smoke up William Shatners rear end.

I tried watching the first 10mins of the pilot and was very surprised with how good it was so watched it till the end. I am now going through season one and the show is maintaining a very high standard throughout. I would recommend people give this a try.

T.J. Hooker is a real cool cop show.William Shatner,a.k.a. Capt. James T. Kirk of Star Trek shows he can really act.Shatner was not given enough credit for his acting by people and critics on this TV series.The other great cast who is also great is Adrian Zmed(Bachelor Party),Heather Locklear(Melrose Place and Spin City),James Darren,who to us Star Trek fans is well known for his roll as holographic character Vic Fontaine on "Star Trek:Deep Space Nine",as Richard Herd is awesome,to us science fiction fans is well know in the mini series "V" and the 1984 sequel "V The Final Battle" as John,to us Star Trek fans,he played Lt. Tom Paris's father,Adm. Owen Paris on "Star Trek Voyager".T.J. Hooker is the type of cop that everyone needs in every cop precinct,he fight s for the victims.I like this show so much,it deserves more credit.This show still rocks.