Veteran cop Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) is summoned by dispatch to investigate a possible break and enter at an airport cargo terminal. He gets there just in time to find a security guard - his long-time colleague and old friend Bill Kennedy shot and near death. A group of masked thieves with automatic weapons have stolen a small fortune and gotten away.
Hooker's young colleague Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear) is hit hard by the old security guard's death. The deceased was kind to her and she had a relationship with his son Steven (Martin Hewitt). The killing also appears senseless given that Kennedy offered no resistance during the robbery. Something doesn't add up.
Somehow a dead contract killer (Billy Drago) and his would be target (Jeannine Bisignano) whom somebody else takes out, tie in. Hooker's Captain (Alex Rocco and an FBI agent named Brodsky (Robert Alan Browne) are sniffing around too. It makes for a lot of characters doing different things but not for an interesting story with a coherent resolution.
The cast of guest-stars in this entry is among the best of the entire series. When actors like Marc Alaimo, Billy Drago and Leo Rossi were cast in roles in the 1980s it was almost an automatic that they would be playing scum-bags. Just one look at them and I always accepted them each completely as whatever sleazo criminals they happened to be playing. That is the power of typecasting.
By the fifth and final season of T.J.Hooker the show had diminished. It never again cracked the ratings top thirty after its truncated first season. ABC cancelled it in spring 1985 and Adrian Zmed, who had portrayed Hooker's young partner Vince Romano for three of the four seasons moved on. CBS picked up the series but moved it out of prime time to very late at night.
When it was finally cancelled for good just weeks after this episode was aired few people were watching. Some thought it had gone off the air when ABC canned it and were not able to find in its spot on the schedule of a different network.
Hooker's young colleague Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear) is hit hard by the old security guard's death. The deceased was kind to her and she had a relationship with his son Steven (Martin Hewitt). The killing also appears senseless given that Kennedy offered no resistance during the robbery. Something doesn't add up.
Somehow a dead contract killer (Billy Drago) and his would be target (Jeannine Bisignano) whom somebody else takes out, tie in. Hooker's Captain (Alex Rocco and an FBI agent named Brodsky (Robert Alan Browne) are sniffing around too. It makes for a lot of characters doing different things but not for an interesting story with a coherent resolution.
The cast of guest-stars in this entry is among the best of the entire series. When actors like Marc Alaimo, Billy Drago and Leo Rossi were cast in roles in the 1980s it was almost an automatic that they would be playing scum-bags. Just one look at them and I always accepted them each completely as whatever sleazo criminals they happened to be playing. That is the power of typecasting.
By the fifth and final season of T.J.Hooker the show had diminished. It never again cracked the ratings top thirty after its truncated first season. ABC cancelled it in spring 1985 and Adrian Zmed, who had portrayed Hooker's young partner Vince Romano for three of the four seasons moved on. CBS picked up the series but moved it out of prime time to very late at night.
When it was finally cancelled for good just weeks after this episode was aired few people were watching. Some thought it had gone off the air when ABC canned it and were not able to find in its spot on the schedule of a different network.
