Debuting on ABC in fall of 1983, this show would last three seasons. Stephen J. Cannell was the producer; he was responsible for a lot of great shows including Toma, Black Sheep Squadron, The Rockford Files, The A-Team, and The Commish.
This month’s blog theme is “It Takes Two,” all about partner crime shows. Today we are zooming in on Hardcastle and McCormick.
Cannell talked about the creation of this series during his Television Academy interview. He wrote the pilot with Patrick Hasburgh, who thought it would be fun to start the concept with a car chase and McCormick came out of that idea. They decided to pair him up with a judge. Cannell wanted Hasburgh to become a writer and creator trusted by the networks, but they wanted Cannell to work with him on this show. Hasburgh would go on to work for 21 Jump Street as a producer and writer as well.
The show starred Brian Keith as Judge Milton Hardcastle, notorious for ruling by the book. When he got ready to retire, he realized that there were 200 people who were never convicted because of legal technicalities. He decides he will make them pay for their crimes. He partners with Mark McCormick (Daniel Hugh Kelly), a car thief who is facing a long jail sentence after being falsely accused. As conditional parole, he agrees to help McCormick catch a murderer and the rest was history.
Working with or against them is Sara Wicks (Mary Jackson), Lt Delaney (John Hancock), Lt. Giles (Ed Bernard), and Lt. Harper (Joe Santos).
The duo traveled around the country in a Coyote X based on the McLaren M6GT. There must be some unwritten rule that no matter if your salary is high or low, if you’re a private eye, you get a cool car. Maverick did it, Miami Vice stars did it, and Joe Mannix did it. About the only person not to have a great car was Columbo.
The writers and producers quickly realized in order to keep it legal, instead of going after crooks for their past crimes, Hardcastle and McCormick investigated them for current offenses. Hardcastle’s nickname was “Hardcase.”
The show started off well in the top twenty but continued to drop each season. By season two it was at the bottom of the top thirty, and by the third season it was down to 52.
The first season the series aired on Sunday nights with not much competition. It stayed there for season two, but now competed with Murder She Wrote, a top-ten show. The final season found the show on Monday nights up against Scarecrow and Mrs. King, a top-thirty show.
The concept seems fun and I wanted to like it more than I did. While I read a lot of positive reviews, many people called it “predictable” or “unrealistic.” It’s average rating was 6.6, not great.
I think the biggest hurdle the show had was trying to compete with so many other crime dramas. ABC alone had McGyver, Moonlighting, The Fall Guy, and TJ Hooker. The other networks were also heavy in the genre with Miami Vice, Spenser for Hire, Remington Steele, The A-Team, Crazy Like a Fox, Simon and Simon, and Magnum PI. How many of these could the average person watch in a week?
I know Keith was dealing with a lot in his personal life at this time too, which probably didn’t help anything. While you might want to go back and watch a few episodes, there are probably better shows to check out from the mid-eighties.
