Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Hooker Knows It's Cocaine

I spent many Saturday evenings during the 1980s watching T.J. HOOKER. It wasn't a good show then, and it isn't a good show now, but it is frequently a funny show and certainly well-packed with action. You have to love that most episodes either had Heather Locklear wearing a bikini or going undercover as a stripper or a prostitute. There was publicity at the time that William Shatner did his own stunts, but judging from the opening titles, that would make him just about the greatest stuntman in Hollywood. Really, if you were doing a parody of a TV cop show opening title sequence, it would look a lot like T.J. HOOKER's actual titles.

I still think Heather knocking that guy on his ass with that wimpy baton toss is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

EDIT: Thanks to Jim for reminding me that this version of the credits (from Season 2, I think) doesn't include the amazing Heather baton toss. So here is the titles from Season 3, which does. As well as Heather in a bikini. And showing off how bad a dancer she is. Accompanied by a shitty "synthy" version of Mark Snow's theme.


Something else that was funny about this show. You could always predict whether you were going to see a car chase or a foot chase by whomever was driving the squad car. If Zmed was driving, then you knew Shatner was going to jump out and chase somebody (and probably end up diving on the guy's car hood). If Shatner was behind the wheel, then you knew there was going to be a car chase. And then a scene were Shatner's boss chewed him out for destroying property and endangering lives, and Shatner came back with, "Who are you to put a price on getting scumbags off the streets?" or something similar.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I watched those credits twice, and saw no baton-tossing, wimpy or otherwise. Please advise.

Bob Turnbull said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bob Turnbull said...

Sorry for the repost...Left relevant detail out of the initial one.


Little late, but I just found this blog (great title!). The baton tossing comes in with just over 30 seconds left in the second clip. It's indeed a thing of beauty. However, I believe the funnier moment immediately precedes it...After doing an awkward stroll on a modelling runway, Heather stops, turns, gets a close-up and snaps her fingers several times - presumably to the beat of some improvisational free jazz...

Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

I remember watching the show and wondering what the "LCPD" even needed the other cops for. Hooker was a one-man S.W.A.T. team. As for Heather, I would watch her do just about anything, whether she was doing it well or not.