In the 1960s, William Shatner cemented his ability to play roguish, authoritarian characters when he stole hearts as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk. After a decade of mostly film and guest starring TV roles, Shatner starred as another commanding figure – T.J. Hooker. But before the series became focused on the charismatic Shatner, producers had a different title and premise in mind.
T.J. Hooker was a police procedural drama created by Rick Husky that premiered 40 years ago on March 13, 1982. As the titular character, Shatner played a 15-year officer who had risen to the rank of sergeant, working out of the Lake City Police Department. Before the series began, T.J. Hooker was a plainclothes cop whose partner was killed as they attempted to stop a bank robbery. Angry at the injustice, Hooker decides that the best way he can rid the city of crime is to return to being a uniformed patrolman on the streets.
Prior to this series, Husky had worked for Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg on The Rookies, a mid-1970s police procedural about three rookie officers. T.J. Hooker was originally going to be a reworking of The Rookies, called The Protectors. In the pilot for The Protectors, Hooker trains police academy recruits, including Adrian Zmed, Richard Lawson, Kelly Harmon, and Brian Patrick Clarke. After the pilot was shot, the producers decided to put the focus on Shatner, and The Proctors became T.J. Hooker.
Though Hooker was now the primary protagonist, the series incorporated aspects of The Protectors. He still worked with rookie officers, including Vince Romano (Zmed), Vicki Taylor (April Clough) in the first season, and Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear) who joined in season two. The main cast was rounded out by Captain Dennis Sheridan (Richard Herd) and Jim Corrigan (James Darren), who also came abroad during season two.
In addition to focusing on Shatner’s character, Husky also wanted the show to have a more realistic, procedure focused approach to the series, breaking from the more stylized cop shows that had been airing up to that point. Both moves proved successful as the show would run for five seasons through May 1986.
