21 Jump Street was one of the first shows launched on Rupert Murdoch's Fox network in the USA in 1987.
It was a springboard to stardom for star Johnny Depp. He is the youthful looking police officer Tom Hanson.
As no one takes him seriously as a cop. He is transferred to a special unit that operates from a church.
Jump Street uses youthful looking police officers to go undercover in teenage venues such as high schools.
The pilot episode has Hanson being recruited and working under Captain Richard Jenko (Frederic Forrest.) He who sends Hanson to a high school to investigate drug dealing.
This was the first time I watched an episode of the television series. In Britain it was shown on the fledgling Sky channel.
Some years later 21 Jump Street was spun off to a series of films that I found to be rather enjoyable. Depp even appeared in a cameo.
Unfortunately, this was one of the most racist pile of junk I have seen. It tells a lot of the attitude of the Fox network.
This could pass as a recruitment film for the Ku Klux Klan. I am surprised that Johnny Depp did not buy up the rights to the show and locked it up in his vaults.
The opening scenes had black guys terrorising a white family. The black guys continue to harass white people including a student who is an addict.
Contrast this with Murder, She Wrote where star Angela Lansbury tried to get positive roles for black actors who tended to play law enforcement rather than thugs.