MovieChat Forums > T.J. Hooker (1982) Discussion > Uniformed cops doing plain-clothes work!

Uniformed cops doing plain-clothes work!

posted 14 years ago by OsamaBenFartin
11 replies | jump to latest

Yeah, I know it's just a T.V. show, but I always laughed at how Hooker and Ramano (two regular patrol cops), would spend a whole day tracking down a killer, robber, or some other criminal, and not get dispatched to any other calls! No trafic stops, report writing, booking of criminals, or court days! And what about those officer involved shootings! Hooker or Ramano would shoot a guy, and be back to work within a couple of hours! (No I.A.D. investigation! When Sheridan, and Corigan became full time show characters, they joined Hooker and Ramano as a little 4 person police department, all four of them working on the same case all day! (Just some funny observations)

[–] w22nuschler 14 years ago

I would agree with you on that, but I still love the show. I watch Adam-12 all the time and they get plenty of calls. T.J. Hooker was just a different setup. They wanted one story for the episode.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] darkavenger77 14 years ago

This is a glaring situation to anyone that has ever done patrol work, especially in a "large city" (L.C.). I find it humorous how they always get "approval" to follow up a criminal investigation and suspend patrol work. Even when you used to be a detective (as is the case w/ Hooker), those functions are not handed over to patrol officers.

A couple of other things-
An academy precinct? Not likely, the academy is for training, both recruit (certification) and in-service.

A rookie (Romano) assigned to a line supervisor for training (in fairness, they show the same thing on the new CBS show Blue Bloods)? Although Hooker as I recall rarely did supervisory things like a briefing, and you never saw him "supervise" anyone other than the three mentioned here. Law enforcement, even in the 80's, tried to utilize a span of control with a set ratio of line officers to supervisors. This was usually a maximum of 7~10:1, although in small departments it would be much lower. "L.C." being a large city would have a higher number of officers per supervisor.

Note to writers:
If you must kill off a character, make it the sunglasses dude on CSI Miami!

[–] Benihanahasnofunflare 13 years ago

Must be a SERIOUS manpower problem.

[–] w22nuschler 13 years ago

Good point on handing out tickets.

Still, even though it might not be how it is in real life, it's still a well done show and one of my favorites of all time. I always liked how they would work on the cases witht the detectives.

I do remember Adam-12 clearing showing how the officers would do their job and then hand it off to the detectives. However, every once in a while they would have the officers assist in a bust. So I think that T.J. Hooker has some basis on fact.

I always enjoyes seeing Heather Locklear out of her police clothes! She looked great in that outfit she wore, while dancing on stage, shown in the credits. I have a feeling the writers tried to get Heather in revealing outfits as much as possible.

[–] Benihanahasnofunflare 12 years ago

She looked like she was very resourceful undercover.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Benihanahasnofunflare 12 years ago

LAPD : HELP WANTED! lol.

[–] ydobon-1 8 years ago

I know this is a little late, but...

Yeah, I know it's just a T.V. show, but I always laughed at how Hooker and Ramano (two regular patrol cops), would spend a whole day tracking down a killer, robber, or some other criminal, and not get dispatched to any other calls! No trafic stops, report writing, booking of criminals, or court days! And what about those officer involved shootings! Hooker or Ramano would shoot a guy, and be back to work within a couple of hours! (No I.A.D. investigation! When Sheridan, and Corigan became full time show characters, they joined Hooker and Ramano as a little 4 person police department, all four of them working on the same case all day! (Just some funny observations)

The same thing happens in many other crime-themed shows. Quincy had the medical examiner solving all the crimes. Chips had motorcycle cops solving crimes. The CSI shows had the crime scene investigators solving all the crimes and arresting people. Criminal Minds has the behavioral analysis unit going around arresting people.

If it's a crime show, whatever characters the show focuses on will be the ones to go way outside their normal job description and solve the crimes. I'm surprised there hasn't been a show about a crime solving janitor.

This is a THREADED message board. Please reply to the proper post!

[–] w22nuschler 8 years ago

Wasn't Hong Kong Phooey a Janitor!