''Hardcastle and McCormick'' is an American

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from September 18, 1983, through May 5, 1986. The series stars

Brian Keith Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...

as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and

Daniel Hugh Kelly Daniel Hugh Kelly (born August 10, 1952) is an American stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role on the 1980s ABC TV series ''Hardcastle and McCormick'' (1983–86) as the ex-con Mark "Skid" McCormick, co-starring with act ...

ex-con A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

and

race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

driver Mark "Skid" McCormick. During an interview in the early 1980s, producer Stephen J. Cannell referred to the then-upcoming series as ''Rolling Thunder''.

Premise

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

Judge Milton C. "Hardcase" Hardcastle is an eccentric judge notorious for being strict with the law in both his duties and towards

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

s. Preparing for his retirement, he notices file drawers filled with 200 people who escaped conviction due to legal technicalities. Inspired by his childhood hero the

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

, Hardcastle desires to make the criminals answer for their crimes. Mark McCormick is a smart-mouthed, streetwise

car thief "Car Thief" is the 11th track on the album ''Paul's Boutique'' by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989. It heavily samples "Rien Ne Va Plus" by Funk Factory, and was itself sampled in Faith No More's 1992 song "Mid ...

. He faces a long incarceration for his latest theft, a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

called the Coyote X, designed by his murdered best friend. Together, the judge and the car thief strike a deal in which Hardcastle helps McCormick catch the murderer and McCormick agrees to work (his conditional

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

) as the judge's agent. In addition, McCormick is allowed to keep the Coyote, which proves to be an excellent pursuit vehicle for their needs.

Cast

as Judge Milton C. "Hardcase" Hardcastle *

as "Skid" Mark McCormick * Mary Jackson as Sarah Wicks (1983) *

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the ...

as Lt. Michael Delaney (1984–85) *

Ed Bernard Ed Bernard (born July 4, 1939) is an American actor best known for his roles as Detective Joe Styles on '' Police Woman'', Principal Jim Willis on '' The White Shadow'', and as Lieutenant Bill Giles on ''Hardcastle and McCormick''. Career Be ...

as Lt. Bill Giles (1984–85) *

Joe Santos Joe Santos (born Joseph John Minieri Jr.; June 9, 1931 – March 18, 2016) was an American film and television actor, best known as Sgt. Dennis Becker (later Lieutenant), the friend of James Garner's character on the NBC crime drama ''The R ...

as Lt. Frank Harper (1985–86) * John Ashley as narrator during show opening

Episodes

Season 1 (1983–84)

Season 2 (1984–85)

Season 3 (1985–86)

Production

Development

The series premise was somewhat recycled from a previous Cannell series, ''

Tenspeed and Brown Shoe ''Tenspeed and Brown Shoe'' is an American detective/comedy series originally broadcast by the ABC network between January and June 1980. The series was created by executive producer Stephen J. Cannell and a joint production of Stephen J. Cannel ...

''. It was created by

Patrick Hasburgh Patrick Hasburgh is an American television producer and writer. He is best known for his work on the television series '' Hardcastle and McCormick'' and '' 21 Jump Street'', two series he co-created with Stephen J. Cannell. His other television ...

and Stephen J. Cannell, serving as the executive producers and produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions for ABC.

Music

The opening theme song during season one was "Drive", composed by

Mike Post Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil, September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his TV theme music for various shows, including ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Team''; ''NYPD Blue''; ''Renegad ...

and

Stephen Geyer Stephen George Geyer (born November 21, 1950) is an American songwriter best known for his work in television. He is also a studio and performance guitarist and has written scripts for TV. Biography Geyer was born in Lima, Peru, the son of a CIA ...

and sung by David Morgan. For the first 12 episodes of season two, the theme song was "Back To Back", also composed by Post and Geyer, but sung by

Joey Scarbury Joey Scarbury (born June 7, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter best known for his hit song, " Theme from ''The Greatest American Hero'' (Believe It or Not)", in 1981. Childhood and early music career Scarbury was born in Ontario, Calif ...

(who also sang Post and Geyer's theme for ''

The Greatest American Hero ''The Greatest American Hero'' is an American comedy-drama Superhero fiction, superhero television series that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour pilot movie on March 1 ...

''). Public demand, however, resulted in the "Drive" theme being reinstated in episode 13 and kept through season three. Post and

Pete Carpenter Clarence E. "Pete" Carpenter (April 1, 1914 – October 18, 1987) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and veteran of television theme music sheet music. After a long career playing the trombone in bands and as a studio musician, Carpenter ...

scored the music for the series.

"Coyote X" or "Cody Coyote"

The car that McCormick drove, the Coyote X, was built from custom molds based on the

McLaren M6GT The McLaren M6A was a Group 7 prototype race car deisnged and developed by driver Bruce McLaren, and built by his Bruce McLaren Motor Racing team for their entry in 1967 Can-Am season. As a replacement for the team's M1Bs from 1966, the Ch ...

. The original Coyote X was molded, modified and assembled by Mike Fennel and Unique Movie Cars. The nose, windshield, doors, and lower body (minus the ventral intakes) are faithful representations of the McLaren; the cut-down rear deck, however, was a custom component that became a feature on many

Manta Montage Manta Cars was owned and operated by American brothers Brad and Tim LoVette, and was located in Costa Mesa, California, from 1974 to 1986 (Manta Cars moved their production facility and showroom to 2914 Halladay Avenue, Santa Ana, California around ...

kits with damaged or removed rear windows. The most noticeable differences between the Coyotes and Mantas are the wheel wells, roll pan height and shape, and the fact that the Coyote has a one-piece front clip that terminates about an inch before and surrounding the windshield. Most of the cars made for the show were molded and assembled by either Mike Fennel or Unique Movie Cars. Like many

kit car A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...

s of the time, the car uses a chassis from a

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

and its engine from a

Porsche 914 The Porsche 914 or VW-Porsche 914 is a mid-engined sports car designed, manufactured and marketed collaboratively by Volkswagen and Porsche from 1969 until 1976. It was only available as a targa-topped two-seat roadster powered by either a ...

. For the second and third seasons, producers used a different Coyote which was based on a

DMC DeLorean The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine two-passenger sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling comp ...

, as Brian Keith had difficulty getting in and out of the original Coyote. The seasons-two and -three 3 Coyote does not resemble the Manta, as the front is larger than the original, making the car resemble a front-engined car. The season-one "Hero" car that was used in the production of ''Hardcastle and McCormick'' is owned by a private owner in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The stunt/skid car (used in all three seasons) was reconfigured for the ''

Knight Rider 2000 ''Knight Rider 2000'' is a 1991 American made-for-television science fiction action film based on the 1982–1986 television series ''Knight Rider''. Overview In the year 2000, conventional handguns have been banned, with law enforcement car ...

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, then consequently turned into Jay Ohrberg's show car "Taz-Mobile". In April 2011, the stunt/skid car was sold and shipped to Dallas, Texas, where it was rebodied back to its former Coyote configuration, retaining as many of the original Coyote pieces as possible (in private collection). Note: only one season-one "Hero Car" and one "skid/stunt" car were used in all three seasons and several (center seat-mounted, dune buggy-like, see title shot) "jump cars" were used. A season-two and -three (De Lorean body) car appeared briefly on the sixth episode of season five of the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Married... with Children''. File:Coyote 024.JPG, Season-one car owned by a private collector in NY File:Coyote 033.JPG, Season-one Coyote at NJ home in 2008 and now in New York (2019) File:Coyote Ride 028.JPG, Season-one car rear quarter File:coyote Ride 022.JPG, Season-one car front File:Coyote-Taz Rebody.jpg, Rebodying Tazmobile back to Coyote skid/stunt car

Reception

Nielsen ratings

* 1983–84: #15 (18.71 rating) * 1984–85: #39 (15.82 rating) * 1985–86: #52 (13.9 rating)

Home media

Visual Entertainment Visual Entertainment Inc. (VEI) is a home video/television distribution company that is based in Toronto, Ontario. An independent label, it has released several well-known TV series on DVD, some through sub-licensing deals with other labels such ...

has released all three seasons of ''Hardcastle and McCormick'' on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only). VEI also released ''Hardcastle & McCormick: The Complete Series'' on DVD on September 3, 2008. As of March 2016, the complete DVD set is available on Amazon.com.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardcastle And Mccormick 1980s American crime drama television series 1983 American television series debuts 1986 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming Fictional duos Television duos Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series by Stephen J. Cannell Productions Television series created by Stephen J. Cannell