Up Till Now: The Autobiography

unthinkable for television just a couple of years ago...T.J. Hooker is a fascinating creation.” But I knew we’d struck a chord even without reading that review. We used to film on the streets of Los Angeles, we’d have all our production trailers parked in a row, and before the show went on the air people would stop to watch and they’d point me out and I’d hear them say, “Oh, there’s Captain Kirk.” The night after the show went on the air, literally the night after, I heard people saying, “Oh, look, there’s T.J. Hooker.”
    Hooker was an interesting character. He was a tough, conservative Los Angeles cop forced to deal with the new rules of a changing society, things like Miranda laws and understanding the root causes of crime, and didn’t like it at all. When he joined the force the rules had been pretty straightforward; the good guys take the bad guy into the back of the station until he confesses. Instead, as he says sadly, “There’s a war going on out there in the streets and, from where I stand, the bad guys are winning.”
    You know how much fun it is to play a character like this? What made Hooker’s character so interesting to me was that he remembered the old rules of law enforcement: of course I understand you robbed that bank because you have no self-esteem. Boom, taste mynightstick. Yes, I know your addiction is a disease and you couldn’t help mugging that person. Boom, say hello to my nightstick. But Hooker had to do his job under the new rules—and chafed at it like a stallion with a bit in his mouth.
    And it wasn’t just modern law enforcement, it was modern life. Hooker was always railing against “parents that don’t care, kids that lack discipline,” against gambling and a permissive society. As his partner Romano described him, “Hooker’s just a little backward. He’s not used to dealing with modern women.”
    I rarely had time to do any research for the parts I played. For Kirk, who was I going to talk to? For Incubus, I couldn’t understand anybody. Well, perhaps I did research modern women. But before we started filming Hooker I did spend two days with LAPD officers from the North Hollywood station to try to get some ideas about their procedures. For example, a captain showed me how to pat down a perp. They made me lean against a wall at a forty-five-degree angle, arms outstretched, legs spread wide. Standing in that position, I asked, “What happens if I resist at this point?”
    That’s when the captain, standing behind me, rammed his knee into my crotch. He explained, “They may get a little loud, but by this time most of them cooperate.”
    Stars were twinkling in my eyes as another officer added, “His whole life is flashing before his eyes.”
    “Yeah,” I squeaked, remembering suddenly why I didn’t do research. Eventually the cast included Adrian Zmed as my young hot-headed partner, James Darren as another veteran cop, and Heather Locklear played his partner, a female street cop who often worked underclothed...undercover. Actually, I think the most difficult problem faced by the writers each week was creating another plot that forced Heather Locklear to take off most of her clothes. Until I did this show I can honestly say I did not know how many criminals hung out at female mud-wrestling emporiums or how many stool pigeons insisted on meeting in the privacy of a strip club.
    Heather Locklear joined the cast for the second season. The producers had decided to add a beautiful woman to the cast to attract avery specific demographic group: every man in the world. Rick Husky was looking out his office window one afternoon when this gorgeous blonde came out of Aaron Spelling’s office and walked by. He immediately went into Spelling’s office to find out who she was. “That’s the girl I want for Hooker, ” he told Spelling.
    Spelling shook his head. “No, you don’t,” Spelling said. “She can’t act. We just had her on a Matt Houston and she just doesn’t have it.”
    Rick Husky had seen her walking. He knew she had it. “That’s who I want.” Spelling tried to talk him out of it, but Husky insisted and Heather Locklear joined our cast. She was a sweet, nice, and beautiful young woman, who worked very hard to become a good actress. So good, in fact, and so popular that several months later Aaron Spelling added her to the cast of his new show Dynasty .
    For several years she was working simultaneously in two hit series. That must have