Mar

9

Pilot Season | “Hunter”

Filed Under TV 

I’m taking an episodic television writing class, so I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately. Well, Hulu. And while I should be watching all the current, critically-acclaimed stuff (“Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” “Cheaters”), I can’t help but see what else is out available for instant streaming. I’ve been chipping away at old, old episodes of “The Outer Limits,” which is great. But I also noticed a big, gaping hole in my life: the fact I’ve actually seen precious few TV shows from the 1980s. So, I thought I’d start doing regular blogs about the pilots to popular TV shows from Reagan era. Let’s kick things off with the first episode of “Hunter.”

Created by Frank Lupo, “Hunter” stars 6′6″ ex-football player Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter, a shoot-first-ask-questions-later supercop on the LAPD. Hunter goes through partners like bullet-riddled Kleenex, and his particular brand of policework has him on the outs with Captain Cain (Michael Cavanaugh), a desk-riding bureaucrat. Early in the episode, Cain issues a memo to everyone in the precinct that outlines his touchy-feely approach to crime-fighting (e.g. always fire a warning shot); it’s the kind of B.S. that could easily get a man killed on the streets. The streets, by the way, are as dangerous as you’d expect. Hunter can’t even stop by the bank to make a deposit without showing up in the middle of an armed robbery. Even worse, there’s a serial killer on the loose, some nutjob in a ten-gallon hat who targets blondes that frequent a country-western bar.

Not wanting to be paired with the bowtie-wearing doofus Capt. Cain’s assigned him, Hunter partners up with Sgt. Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer, who I think might be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life…ever). She’s another loose cannon, and therefore, they make most insubordinate duo on the force. I’m glad that the producers didn’t make McCall a shrinking violet, like Tyne Daly’s character in the Dirty Harry movie, “The Enforcer.” Rather, McCall’s basically Hunter with ’80s hair and a skirt. At any rate, they put a blonde wig on McCall and have her go undercover as a potential victim for the redneck bar ripper.

Meanwhile, Hunter butts heads with his psychiatrist, Dr. Bolin (Brian Dennehy). Capt. Cain, the pencil-pushing empty suit that he is, has ordered all officers to have bi-annual psychiatric evaluations. Now Bolin holds Hunter’s career in his hands. A negative evaluation could cost Hunter his badge. But Hunter begins to suspect that Bolin might actually be the killer he and McCall are looking for. Coincidentally, the killer, whose M.O. is slashing women’s throats, drives a Ford Bronco.

The episode also has a few interesting character beats. Hunter’s the son of a big-time crime boss and the only member of the family who chose to work on the right side of the law, and McCall’s a widow, whose husband was killed in the line of duty. They both have very personal reasons for not wanting to molly-coddle scumbags.

Here’s some more fun trivia about the 90-minute ep:

Hunter’s Catchphrase (Spoken Twice): “Works for me.”

Occasions McCall Goes Undercover as a Prostitute: 2

Explosions: 1

Flipped Cars: 2

Body Count: 4

Best WTF Line, Spoken by Sgt. McCall: “We’re going to wind up doing weekends in the electric chair if Cain finds out about this.”

Would I Watch It Again? Absolutely. “Hunter” is a blast.

So far, we’re off to a good start with my Pilot Season experiment. I loved “Hunter” something fierce. To borrow a phrase, the show definitely “works for me.”

-Brad Lohan

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