Seasons & episodes

S1 · E1The Protectors (pilot) 1982-03-13 · 120 min＋

With a crime-wave sweeping the city, a new Police programme has been formed to fast-track recruits to get them patrolling on the streets, and it's up to tough veteran cop Sergeant T.J. Hooker to bring them up to scratch. Trying to cope with his recent divorce and money problems, Hooker struggles with a job that he can't get away from. Meanwhile, the spate of crimes, including robbery, murder and a sniper is quickly getting out of hand. Only Hooker can train the eager but inexperienced young recruits as he leads them in bringing peace back to the streets, but the pursuit of the two murderous armed robbers at the head of the crime-wave inevitably leads to an explosive confrontation.

S1 · E2The Streets 1982-03-20 · 60 min＋

While hunting for a mugger who attacks women and leaves a Bible at the scene of his crimes, Hooker and Romano have to escort an overeager, aggressive newswoman. But the reporter's involvement just serves to complicate matters further.

S1 · E3God Bless the Child 1982-03-27 · 60 min＋

When a school-mate of Hooker's daughter is found dead, after being pumped full of drugs and pushed off a roof after threatening to expose a drug runner's racket, Hooker realises that it could just as easily have been his daughter, and is determined to nab the culprits.

S1 · E4Hooker's War 1982-04-03 · 60 min＋

Hooker and Romano spot a van jumping a red light in a seemingly straight-forward traffic violation, but when they give pursuit they find themselves taking on gun-runners in the firearm-loaded vehicle. The pair go on the trail of the former members of a biker gang who are now involved in the illegal arms dealing, but just who is supplying them?

S1 · E5The Witness 1982-04-10 · 60 min＋

An attractive young woman witnesses a murder, but her married boss dissuades her from going to the Police in fear that it will uncover their affair. Hooker must try and persuade the frightened girl to help them and testify against the psychotic killer, but the murderer intends to see that she never makes it that far.

The murder of a dancer who has had a lock of her hair cut off signifies to Hooker that a serial killer he pursed eight years previously is back in operation. Hooker is concerned for the only victim to survive one of the previous attacks - a dance teacher with whom he nearly fell in love - and sets about protecting her, believing that the killer will go after her again to try and finish the job.

The latest in a series of armed robberies on super-markets leaves a young cashier possibly paralysed when the thieves take her hostage and then push her from their speeding car to slow up the pursuing cops. The cars used by the robbers are specially modified "hill racers", leading to the local hill racing champion, an old friend of Hooker's, being wrongly arrested as the prime suspect. Hooker must prove his innocence by speeding after the real culprits.

Two armed juveniles rob a liquor store, and the ensuing Police pursuit results in an Officer being shot dead. Romano waits until the killer is out of bullets before he corners and apprehends him, resulting in a number of Officers being angry at Romano for not avenging their colleague's death. Hooker is torn as his partner is slated for going by the book and not taking the opportunity to shoot the cop-killer.

When two thugs rob a cinema box office, leaving the cashier seriously wounded, a passing woman is the only witness. Hooker tries to question her on what she saw, only to find that she is blind. Not only that, she is very reluctant to co-operate, and Hooker must work hard to change her mind. Meanwhile, the two armed robbers, planning their next big box office heist on an upcoming Beach Boys concert, are unaware that the woman has no sight, and intend to see that she isn't around to give the Police their discriptions.

S2 · E5Big Foot 1982-10-30 · 60 min＋

When a man attacks and rapes a young female jogger, Hooker and Romano find themselves on the trail of a serial rapist who has left behind only one clue: a size 13 shoe-print.

When a highly-trained sniper takes out a patrol car's front tyre, sending it crashing off the highway, the tactics used suggest to Hooker and Romano that the attacker is an ex-Vietnam war veteran gone bad, who has made the hit as practice for a bigger strike. But the culprit is closer to home than they expect, and is planning to turn an upcoming visit by the Mayor to the LCPD headquarters into a nightmare, with his own little war-zone.

A traffic hold-up leads by chance to Romano spotting a freshly stolen car, and when he goes to approach, one of the offenders opens fire, badly wounding him. As the juvenile roped into the robberies makes a run for it, one of the ring-leaders shoots him too - but to a watching TV camera, it looks as if it was Hooker who fired the shot! With Hooker facing an investigation over the shooting and Romano on the verge of loosing his nerve after being shot, the masterminds behind the car-theft operation are still at large.

After a security guard is shot down when trying to stop a diamond vault robbery, the investigating detective is determined to prove that the guard had taken a bribe from the robbers and wants to nail him for aiding the thieves. The guard is an old friend of Hooker's who knows that his friend wouldn't have been involved. As he and Romano investigate to find out the true circumstances it seems as if the detective is willing to go to any lengths, including blackmail, to see that he is covered in glory for his busts and quickly fly through the ranks.

After arresting a teenager who's been left to take the rap for a murder by his fellow gang members, Hooker discovers that the youth is hearing impared. Convinced of the boy's innocence and that his membership in the gang is a cry for help, Hooker and Romano try to help the youth's hearing problems and to root out the real culprits behind the drugs-related killing. But Hooker can't help the teenager unless the boy is first willing to help himself.

Hooker and Romano get caught up in the dispute between an independent trucker and the ruthless wholesaler who is sabotaging the trucker's operations. Against the wishes of his superiors, Hooker insists that he intervene in the situation before the truckers tire against the lack of action taken against the saboteurs, and become vigilantes to deal with things themselves. A new female Police commissioner who doesn't agree with Hooker's methods does not exactly help matters.

Saving a teenage girl high on drugs from jumping off the high-school roof, Hooker is concerned that there is a new supplier of PCP on the streets that is dealing to the students. When a rookie officer is badly wounded while undercover trying to stop the suppliers, Hooker is determined to get to the root of the operation and put the dealers behind bars.

After a fatal drink-driving crash, Hooker and Romano set out to track down the gang who are making liquor robberies and then selling it to local youths. But Romano has a personal concern in the case when he finds out that the gifted son of a deceased friend from his time serving in Vietnam has fallen into the disreputable company of the gang.

As Hooker and Romano pursue a pair of thieves who have stolen a batch of valuable new furs, Hooker rescues the robbers' hostage - a model who turns out to be an ex-girlfriend of Romano's. Brought back together by the incident, Romano and the girl become close, and Romano quickly develops deep feelings her. But unbeknown to him, she is actually involved with the thieves, and is giving them information that she's extracting from Romano to help them plan their next heist.

The latest victim of a serial murderer known as the ""Surfside Killer"" turns out to be a police officer. Stacy, a close friend of the murdered girl, fits the description of each of the killer's victims - young blonde females, and volenteers herself to work undercover to try and draw out the murderer. But Hooker does not have faith in the way the operation has been organised, and vows to watch over and protect Stacy himself.

As Hooker and Romano examine the scene where a trio made an attempt to hold up an armoured bank van, Hooker finds a pigeon leg band dropped by one of the thieves. A pigeon breeding friend traces the band to its owner's address, where they meet the orphaned young sister of one of the men who is mixed up with the thieves. As they try and track down the robbers, Hooker forms a bond with the girl, and is determined to see that she isn't sent back to juvenile hall.

Hooker and Romano are just finishing working on a case with Lt. Paul McGuire, a close friend and colleague of Hooker's, when they respond to a reported rape - in which the victim turns out to be none other than McGuire's own daughter. The girl is certain that she knows the attacker and can identify him, but the attacker, a lawyer, uses legal loopholes to get off without charge. As Hooker tries to nail the attacker ""by the book"", McGuire becomes infuriated at the lack of action taken and takes matters into his own hands, endangering not only his job, but Hooker's case that will bring the attacker to justice in the proper way.

An ex-prostitute is trying to convince a young girl new on the game to give it up, when the pair unwittingly stumble onto a mobster's back-street deal, who with his henchman, goes after the girls to make sure they don't talk and leaves one of the girls dead. As Hooker and Romano investigate, they find themselves uncovering a web of corruption involving city officials.

When Hooker and Romano spot a cocaine deal taking place and intervene, they are surprised to find that the supplier is a family man with no prior convictions. With the help of an old flame of Hooker's, a reformed gambling addict, they uncover a crooked gambling club owner's scheme that involves having members run up huge debts on rigged games, and then forcing them to make drug deliveries to help pay off the money they owe.

The hunt for a serial arsonist that is torching condemned buildings intensifies when a Private Investigator, who is an ex-cop and an old friend of Hooker's, is murdered. Certain that the man was on the verge of finding out who is behind the attacks, Hooker and Romano work with his daughter, who is also a PI, to bring the arsonist to justice.