After a seemingly endless run of abysmal slasher flicks, the popularity of Clint and Ahnold helped make shoot-'em-up action movies the dominant genre of the 80s and this show hit the airwaves in 1986 to send them up along with every other silly thing from the Reagan era.
Inspector Sledge Hammer was a right-wing, gun-happy, anything-for-the- sake-of-justice lawman / thug and his nutty rants were the source for much sharp satire on Reaganist politics, in amongst the movie parody silliness.
Note that the show originally featured a laugh track, at the network's insistence, but that was removed for the DVD release. Series creator Alan Spencer hated it, and felt it was unnecessary. He was right of course. No audience watching this show for ten minutes remained unaware that it was a comedy.
The fun then continued for a second season, as nihilistic Neanderthal action hero Sledge returned for more gun crazy mayhem replete with movie parodies ("Wild About Hammer" is a dead on send-up of Play Misty For Me) and great guest stars (famed Bogart impersonator Robert Sacchi appears in the 1940s detective spoof "Play It Again, Sledge"). Indeed, the second season showed little letup in story ambition or quality compared to the first. Clearly the show's creators had a lot left for the remainder of the show's run.
Inspector Sledge Hammer was a right-wing, gun-happy, anything-for-the- sake-of-justice lawman / thug and his nutty rants were the source for much sharp satire on Reaganist politics, in amongst the movie parody silliness.
Note that the show originally featured a laugh track, at the network's insistence, but that was removed for the DVD release. Series creator Alan Spencer hated it, and felt it was unnecessary. He was right of course. No audience watching this show for ten minutes remained unaware that it was a comedy.
The fun then continued for a second season, as nihilistic Neanderthal action hero Sledge returned for more gun crazy mayhem replete with movie parodies ("Wild About Hammer" is a dead on send-up of Play Misty For Me) and great guest stars (famed Bogart impersonator Robert Sacchi appears in the 1940s detective spoof "Play It Again, Sledge"). Indeed, the second season showed little letup in story ambition or quality compared to the first. Clearly the show's creators had a lot left for the remainder of the show's run.