While veteran cop Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) is helping put out a fire at pierside carnival midway during a visit with his kids his daughter Chrissie is abducted by a former colleague (Scott Marlowe). Hooker doesn't know what has happened and can only imagine the worst possible things. Given his long career filling prisons with criminals retribution by the most diabolical of them is a distinct possibility.
Adrian Zmed had left the show before the start of the fifth and final season. It had been cancelled by ABC in May 1985 but picked up by CBS and put on a lower budget. No word on whether much money was saved by the production as it did without him. Zmed had portrayed Hooker's young partner Vince Romano and delivered a young female audience for the show. After he left, Hooker drove alone mostly.
As a male viewer I never noticed a decline or an improvement in the quality of the series resulting from Zmed's departure. But sometimes when the audience becomes used to seeing a quartet of characters as the main cast the moment an actor leaves one of the remaining three can look like a third wheel. Since Shatner was the star of the show and young guys like me were understandably focused on Heather Locklear as Officer Stacy Sheridan the actor who got shortchanged was of course James Darren who played veteran cop Officer Jim Corrigan.
Had they cast an attractive young male actor in Zmed's place they might have staved off the dramatic decline in the ratings that set in during the third season and opened up story arcs consistent with the original concept for the show. Instead Corrigan was left to do the things that Romano would have done that Sheridan wasn't doing. It meant more screen time for Darren but his character wasn't doing much spectacular.
In this episode Hooker's ex-wife was portrayed by Leigh Christian instead of Lee Bryant who had played her in previous episodes dating back to the pilot episode. That is Jenny Beck portraying Chrissie Hooker - a role originated by Nicole Eggert. It also marks one of ten T.J.Hooker episodes directed by Shatner.
