Avoiding watching the TV News (it's always bad!) on a morning I've opted for an old TV cop show on repeat.
TJ. Hooker
Yep, Captain Kirk going where no cop has gone before.
I really enjoyed it. It reminded me how gritty these US shows were, like the ones I watched as a kid, like Kojak, Canon and Ironside. Too many to name.
Those shows must have seemed incredibly urban and exotic to our UK parents at the time. Maybe even shocking. Full of massive cars, skyscrapers, dope, heroin, triads, pimps, hookers (not the TJ kind either!).
We're these shows really suitable for us kids?
Did they shock American audiences?
TJ came later I think. I didn't watch it. I guess I was older and doing other stuff. But I adored it's cop predecessors and Bill Shatner would have drawn me in. I loved Star Trek in the Sixties.
Surprisingly, for shows that really weren't for kids, like Kojak et al and our gritty British cop drama The Sweeney, there were indeed toys! Lots of 'em!
TJ Hooker too.
Here's his rack toy patrol car by Fleetwood ( I'm sure it's the same one as their CHiPS car!) as seen on the web.
