Did you like T.J. Hooker or Boston Legal?

[Mr. Scott]

Did you like T.J. Hooker or Boston Legal?

I have never seen T.J. Hooker. Why, I can't really say. I was a kid, and out family didn't watch it. Besides, what kind of a character name is Hooker? It just seemed cheesy to me for some reason, and I just couldn't picture Shatner as anything but Kirk.

I loved Shat in Rescue 911. He did a very professional job as a narrarator, almost as good as Robert Stack. He does have an excellent voice and should do more voice overs. However, a friend (who was a young kid of about 20 at the time) was a paramedic and did not like the show because everyone lived.

Boston Legal is OK, but not a great show. It gets stupid and way overly sexual. It's either a comedy or a drama and it just jumps back and forth between these two extremes. I haven't seen the show in a while, and it is not awful, but I have to be in prison with only one show to make me watch it consistantly. (John Larroquette not withstanding)

Have people from Hooker ever talked about what working with Shatner was like, since most of the actors on TOS found him to be an insufferable jerk. Probably Denny Crane is probably the closest characterization to Shatner in real life.

[J. Allen]

I loved Shatner on Boston Legal. Teaming him up with James Spader (playing Alan Shore) was brilliant, and Shatner was able to bounce his talent and charm off his co-stars, which made for a fun and entertaining show, at least in my opinion of course.

[Green Shirt]

Mr. Scott wrote:

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a friend (who was a young kid of about 20 at the time) was a paramedic and did not like the show because everyone lived.

Was your friend similiarly displeased when the people he rescued on the job survived?

[ssosmcin]

I loved T.J. Hooker, a ton of fun. It was by no means a "good" show, but it was entertaining. It was a typical unrealistic 80's cop show, only ramped up in the histrionics because of Bill Shatner. Make no mistake, he was that show. Heather Locklear helped too.

The series was intended to revolve around new recruits and Hooker was to be pretty much stuck at the police academy and offering sage advice and so on. The pilot movie "The Protectors" was chock full of characters and his partner, Romano, wasn't even a main one. But when you have Shatner playing a tough "drill sergeant" kind of chatacter, you don't reign him in - you step out of the way.

The first two seasons (or first "couple of episodes" and following full season) were fairly bright, jaunty action adventure, with a sentimental side as Hooker dealt with his kids and the ex-wife who still loved him. The next season, though, it got darker, grittier. The family was written out and a lot of episodes took place at night. In some ways, the series lost its charm. It went from a cop fantasy (like CHiPs) to something a lot heavier, but still corny.

I'd love to see the final 3 seasons on DVD, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen anytime soon.

Warning: if you watch Shatner on Star Trek and think "overacting" then you don't know the meaning of the word. Shatner on Hooker is out in force. Hooker's a great character, he just deserved a better show. Actually, now that I think of it, he got the show he deserved. It was fun, but very 80's.

[scotpens]

ssosmcin wrote:

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. . . Hooker's a great character, he just deserved a better show.

And a MUCH better toupee.

[RandyS]

I enjoyed TJ Hooker, but like TOS, Shatner was the least reason why.

I've never watched Boson Legal, and never intend to.

[John Picard]

Axiom wrote:

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I loved Shatner on Boston Legal. Teaming him up with James Spader (playing Alan Shore) was brilliant, and Shatner was able to bounce his talent and charm off his co-stars, which made for a fun and entertaining show, at least in my opinion of course.

I remember TJ Hooker as a kid. Kind of a modern-day yet cliche Adam-12 save for Shatner's character confronting/recovering from his alcoholism.

Boston Legal was so uproariously funny that often Denny's antics or the banter betwixt he and Alan Shore would leave me in tears.

[RookieBatman]

I've seen the season(s) of T. J. Hooker that are on DVD. I agree with the above sentiments that it was cheesy fun. And the Leonard Nimoy episode was quite enjoyable (although, I thought the Nimoy-directed episode was very weak, mostly because it centered around Locklear, who couldn't act to save her life).

I used to love Boston Legal, in the first few seasons. I dropped it midway through the season where Larroquette and Christian Clemenson became regular cast. Not because of them, their joining was just coincidental to a marked decline in the quality of the writing, IMHO. But before that, I really think it was a genius show, both hilarious and quite dramatic. Alan Shore was a very strong lead, and Denny Crane must be Shatner's best comedic role (not that he's had all that many). I must, however, wholeheartedly disagree with the OP's idea that Denny Crane is anything like Shatner in real life.

[John Clark]

At the time, I enjoyed T J Hooker. Having seen parts of it again recently, it hasn't seemed quite as entertaining, at least for me.

Boston Legal I loved. I didn't think it would be quite my type of show, but I gave it a go and really enjoyed it

[WillsBabe]

I watched all of TJ Hooker. It came at a time when I was at the height of my TOS love and couldn't get enough of anything even remotely Trek related. I don't think it was a particularly good show but I have great memories of watching it in my rented room at university on my colour portable tv (which were massively rare at the time and made me the envy of lots of people!) I haven't seen Boston Legal.

[J. Allen]

John Picard wrote:

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I remember TJ Hooker as a kid. Kind of a modern-day yet cliche Adam-12 save for Shatner's character confronting/recovering from his alcoholism.

Boston Legal was so uproariously funny that often Denny's antics or the banter betwixt he and Alan Shore would leave me in tears.

I have to admit I cheered when Denny shot the child rapist in the knee caps.

Oh, and Pink Flamingos.

[Shaw]

I've never seen any of the shows Shatner has been in outside of Trek and Twilight Zone. I watched In Search Of..., but not because of Nimoy's involvement. I don't pick what I watch based on actors, after all most shows have actors and they all play different parts. Characters, plot, genre... these are the things that I usually use to decide on what to watch.

But actors... I'd never go out of my way just to see an actor act.

[Nero's Shadow]

Oh i loved T J hooker some of the storylines were great and so many trek connections his name for a start T J just swopped round vic fontiane but i,d loved to seen heather locklear as a orion slave girl

Always liked how shat made hooker so real sometimes i,d feel good after he caught the villains and his running around was unbelievable .

I liked to know how many trek connections there was in that series NS

[Kelso]

I haven't seen much of T.J. Hooker, but Boston Legal was fabulous.

[sbk1234]

Mr. Scott wrote:

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Besides, what kind of a character name is Hooker? It just seemed cheesy to me for some reason.

It did work for General Hooker in the American Civil War. He's actually the one for whom the oldest profession is named for. There used to be women who followed his regiment. I think they were called "Hooker's girls" or something similar, eventually shortened to "hookers."