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YOUR
QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED
Get up to speed on the world of T.J. Hooker and TJ-Hooker.com
by browsing these frequently asked questions.
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T.J.
Hooker is a television cop show created by Rick
Husky and produced by Aaron
Spelling and Leonard
Goldberg which aired on ABC prime time from the
fall of 1982 to the spring of 1985, then on CBS late night
from the fall of 1985 to the spring of 1986. It originally began
as a pilot entitled The Protectors, which featured William
Shatner in a supporting role and focused primarily on the
young recruits of the fictitious Los Angeles County Police Department
(LCPD). When test audiences responded favorably to the
T.J. Hooker character, a shift occurred in the focus of the show
and it came to be primarily about Hooker and his relationships
with a handful of junior officers at the Academy.
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William
Shatner portrayed Sergeant T.J. Hooker; Adrian
Zmed portrayed officer Vince Romano; Heather
Locklear portrayed officer Stacy Sheridan; James
Darren portrayed officer Jim Corrigan; Richard
Herd portrayed Captain Dennis Sheridan, Stacy's father;
April
Clough portrayed officer Vicki Taylor; Hugh
Farrington portrayed Detective Pete O'Brien.
More information on these characters can be found in our Characters
section.
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Although
it has long been rumored that T.J. Hooker was based a real-life
Los Angeles cop, T.J. Hooker creator and producer Rick
Husky has explained that this is not the case:
"Nothing
about [Hooker's] character was based upon an L.A. cop, though
I am proud to have known many of them. I created the character
when I wrote the pilot for the series, which I produced for
90 episodes. Hooker's last name was inspired by an American
Civil War general, General Joe Hooker. Why? No reason, other
than I liked the name. His full name: Thomas Jefferson Hooker."
As for LCPD, it stands for Los Angeles County Police
Department. The location of the show is Los Angeles.
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The
only consistent source that we have found so far for purchasing
T.J. Hooker collectibles is eBay,
the world's largest online auction house. Several dealer's shops
in California also deal in T.J. Hooker collectibles, but most
of these people also sell their wares on eBay.
And
no, we can't sell you any. Occasionally we make available some
TJ-Hooker.com merchandise. Come back soon and you might find
some for sale!
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TJ-Hooker.com
is a service of NewhallNet
dedicated to preserving, protecting, and defending the world's
right to learn about, understand and enjoy T.J. Hooker.
It is a group of individuals drawn together by their love
of the show and their wish to perpetuate that love across the
worldwide Internet.
More
information on the staff of TJ-Hooker.com can be found on our
Staff page.
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Perhaps
this is the most difficult question of this FAQ, and may best
be left unanswered. If pressed, 4Adam30
(TJ-Hooker.com Webmaster) would probably speak to the show's celebration
of the everyman, its imagery, themes, music,
and the all-important presence of Shatner as keys to the
show's importance.
He might also say that it's fun to love something that
so many people dislike.
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YES
to the first. NO to the second. T.J. Hooker
is no longer in syndication. It has been shown recently on the
UK's Channel 5, but nowhere else
in the world. But yes, you can purchase the show on video
now.
However, before you get too excited, read on.
 Yes,
you can now order T.J. Hooker episodes on VHS video
only (and regioned only for North American televisions)
via Columbia
House's TV Greats Video subscription club. But before you
join, be warned: each tape (after your first one) costs
a whopping $14.95 (excluding shipping), and only
includes two episodes. If they make good on their promise
to release every episode, you will have to pay OVER $600U.S.
for the complete collection--and on VHS no less, which will
degrade after only a few plays and contain no extras whatsoever.
When you realize the price of an entire season of Sanford
& Son costs no more than $30U.S. on the vastly superior
DVD format, the Hooker deal begins to make the blood
boil.
This
gross injustice can be fought, however. Sign our NO
HOOKER NO PEACE™ petition to help get the show
back on the airwaves and on DVD! When we collect enough signatures,
we will approach Columbia/Tri-Star Television with our demands.
Let your voice be heard! Stand up for what's right! Help bring
T.J. Hooker back onto television screens everywhere!
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No,
YOU suck. Even though Columbia House has finally started selling
Hooker videos (see above), that doesn't mean our work
is over. Far from it, as a matter of fact. VHS is an inferior
format to DVD. The tapes cost too much for what you get--let's
face it, they have no extra features, will degrade in quality
after only a couple of plays, are vastly overpriced and frankly,
their packaging leaves a lot to be desired. Besides, Hooker
is a television phenomenon--it should be ON TV for people to
watch, not just available on VHS for a select few who have the
extra cash to shell out over $600 for the complete collection!
So
there. Now shut up and sign our petition.
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NO.
We get a lot of requests for duplications of our videos; so
many, in fact, that if we honored them all, our tapes would
have worn out and broken a year ago. They are precious jewels
that must be preserved.
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This question has plagued T.J. Hooker fans for over 15 years.
While we don't yet have the definitive answer, there are two
possibilities why Adrian Zmed left the show after its 4th season.
1.
When the show was cancelled by ABC, there was some turmoil surrounding
it and its eventual move to CBS Late Night for its final season.
In the process, according
to our interview with Philip Weyland, William Shatner's
dialogue coach and stand-in, the cast members had to take a
pay cut. Mr. Zmed may have quit rather than see his paycheck
reduced.
2.
Around the same time, Adrian Zmed was offered the chance to
host Dance Fever, a popular dance-a-thon show formerly
hosted by Deney Terio. Mr. Zmed may have moved on because of
this offer, in an effort to avoid being typecast as Vince Romano.
In
any case, Romano was never specifically written out of T.J.
Hooker; he just merely disappeared. The slate was wiped
clean with Hooker's
transfer to Chicago at the end of the 4th season. When he
returned to the LCPD on CBS Late Night, it was (sadly) as if
Vince Romano had never existed.
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