Veteran cop Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) and his young partner Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed) are on stakeout whilst plainclothes narcotics colleagues burst in on a drug deal going down inside a condo where high-class madam April DeMarco (Barbra Horan) runs a call-girl operation. The result of the huge bust is a rather unpredictable piece of evidence on videotape.
April DeMarco is seen on tape discussing with a call-girl a system of graft she has set up with the local police. Sgt. T.J.Hooker, badge #115 is the one named as receiving bribes of the financial and amorous variety. Of course our hero must be innocent right? All is not what it seems and Hooker leaves town whilst Internal Affairs launches a probe of him. He heads to Las Vegas gambling his life upon a scheme that will either restore his reputation or leave him at the mercy of a deadly mob boss (Joe Santos).
This episode contrasts with most others in the series with the exception of how it begins and how it ends. For most of it Hooker is in plainclothes in an entirely different setting acting completely unlike himself. Most episodes looked so much like others it is almost like this one is a long dream sequence.
To say that it is entertaining whilst also saying it is unlike other episodes in the series might imply that the series isn't good. The show had good entries and bad ones. There were also a fair number of terrible ones.
You could say Joe Santos was typecast as a cop from early on in his career though he also played his share of gangsters. For that reason he was an ideal guest star for this show. By the time he appeared in this episode of T.J.Hooker it didn't matter what he played. Just his presence in the episode brought with it that subconscious deja vu credibility from previous cop show roles.
April DeMarco is seen on tape discussing with a call-girl a system of graft she has set up with the local police. Sgt. T.J.Hooker, badge #115 is the one named as receiving bribes of the financial and amorous variety. Of course our hero must be innocent right? All is not what it seems and Hooker leaves town whilst Internal Affairs launches a probe of him. He heads to Las Vegas gambling his life upon a scheme that will either restore his reputation or leave him at the mercy of a deadly mob boss (Joe Santos).
This episode contrasts with most others in the series with the exception of how it begins and how it ends. For most of it Hooker is in plainclothes in an entirely different setting acting completely unlike himself. Most episodes looked so much like others it is almost like this one is a long dream sequence.
To say that it is entertaining whilst also saying it is unlike other episodes in the series might imply that the series isn't good. The show had good entries and bad ones. There were also a fair number of terrible ones.
You could say Joe Santos was typecast as a cop from early on in his career though he also played his share of gangsters. For that reason he was an ideal guest star for this show. By the time he appeared in this episode of T.J.Hooker it didn't matter what he played. Just his presence in the episode brought with it that subconscious deja vu credibility from previous cop show roles.
