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Sledge Hammer! is a satirical American television series broadcast on ABC in the United States. The series was created by Alan Spencer and stars David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer, [1] a preposterous caricature of the standard "cop on the edge" character. It was first broadcast on September 23, 1986 and ran until February 12, 1988, after just two seasons. The series has received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Many of the episode titles are parodies of film and TV show titles.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Under the Gun" | Martha Coolidge | Alan Spencer | September 23, 1986 | |
The mayor's daughter is abducted and is held for ransom of a million dollars. The mayor calls for Sledge Hammer, a police inspector known for confronting situations with gun violence or massive destruction wherever he goes, to take the case and to partner with a woman police detective Dori Doreau. This pilot episode places Sledge and the police department in San Francisco, and is the only episode to feature a laugh track. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Hammer Gets Nailed" | Chuck Braverman | Mike Reiss & Al Jean | September 26, 1986 | |
Sledge and Dori give a local television reporter and his cameraman a ride-along, but when he gets injured, he gives a negative review, resulting in Captain Trunk having to lay off Sledge and half of his department. Sledge ends up working as a crossing guard until he hears about a nearby bomb threat. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Witless" | Jackie Cooper | Alan Spencer | October 3, 1986 | |
A crime boss places a million dollar hit on Sledge. Although he luckily makes it to work, he is ordered by Captain Trunk to leave town and lay low. Sledge ends up in a remote farmland run by a "Maninote" and his attractive daughter. The title is a reference of the 1985 film Witness ; creator Alan Spencer said the episode wasn't a parody of that film but more about putting Sledge in a similar setting. [2] | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "They Shoot Hammers, Don't They?" | David Wechter | S : Diana Ayers, Susan Sebastian S/T : Mert Rich, Brian Pollack, Alan Spencer | October 17, 1986 | |
Convict John Kogan takes over a prison bus, going on a destruction spree over multiple towns. He challenges his former police partner and best friend Sledge to a gunfighting duel. Sledge tries to get suspended so he can accept the duel. The title is a reference to the film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? . | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Dori Day Afternoon" | James Sheldon | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | October 24, 1986 | |
After the ATM denies Sledge any funds, Sledge and Dori visit the bank but end up being hostages of a bank robbery. The robber leader seems to be his doppelganger. A spoof of the hostage bank robbery movie Dog Day Afternoon . | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "To Sledge, with Love" | David Wechter | Jim Fisher & Jim Staahl | October 31, 1986 | |
Sledge is charged to reform some high school delinquents who would rather follow a crime boss in stealing car parts. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "All Shook Up" | Jackie Cooper | Alan Spencer | November 6, 1986 | |
Elvis impersonators around town have been serially murdered at their cars by someone using a golden microphone. Sledge enrolls in the Elvis school and enters some contests to bait the murderer. The title is a reference to Elvis's song of the same name. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Over My Dead Bodyguard" | Charles S. Dubin | Mike Reiss & Al Jean | November 14, 1986 | |
As Captain Trunk is scheduled to testify against a crime syndicate, Sledge is assigned by the city commissioner to be his personal bodyguard. He saves Trunk from several attacks but causes more physical damage while Trunk tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Magnum Farce" | Chuck Braverman | Jim Fisher & Jim Staahl | November 22, 1986 | |
A group of police officers have been killing off recently acquitted criminal defendants. The police department have to work with a new district attorney. Sledge stages an altercation with Captain Trunk in order to lure the corrupt officers into recruiting him. A spoof of the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force . | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "If I Had a Little Hammer" | Kim Manners | Deborah Raznick & Daniel Benton | November 29, 1986 | |
Newborns have been abducted from a hospital. As the infants are to be sold in an illegal adoption racket, Sledge and Dori pretend to be a rich couple looking to adopt. The title is a reference to the song "If I Had a Hammer". | ||||||
| 11 | 11 | "To Live and Die on TV" | Daniel Attias | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | December 13, 1986 | |
A quiz show contestant who was going for the grand prize on The Million Dollar Question is found dead in his newly won car submerged in the river. Sledge learns from the coroner that there was no alcohol found in his body. He volunteers to go on the show in an attempt to prove the host (Peter Marshall) was responsible for the murder. | ||||||
| 12 | 12 | "Miss of the Spider Woman" | Chuck Braverman | Mike Reiss & Al Jean | December 20, 1986 | |
Sledge inadvertently ingests snake venom and has less than eight hours before he dies to find the assassin and the antidote. He and Dori track a woman who slipped him the venom to a mud wrestling bar, and learn she went to the wrong apartment. With the help of Sledge's landlord, they eventually find the woman behind the entire ploy who was hoping to get her ex-lover to reunite with her. The title is a reference to Kiss of the Spider Woman which had a film adaptation released in 1985. | ||||||
| 13 | 13 | "The Old Man and the Sledge" | Chuck Braverman | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | January 3, 1987 | |
Sledge meets his idol Gil Yates, a former police officer who does not want to relocate to a retirement home. Sledge arranges for Gil to have a security job at a jewelry store, but trouble arises when robbers overpower Gil, and then later the robbers come back and are shot by the store owner. The title is a reference to the Ernest Hemingway novel The Old Man and the Sea . | ||||||
| 14 | 14 | "State of Sledge" | Dan Attias | Al Jean & Mike Reiss | January 10, 1987 | |
Captain Trunk tries to hide Sledge's files from an internal affairs officer who is auditing the precinct. When Sledge arrives with the arrest of a satanic cult leader named Slag, the officer tells Sledge to give him a phone call, which Slag uses to summon his gang to surround the police station. Dori also brings on-board a young police cadet.. | ||||||
| 15 | 15 | "Haven't Gun, Will Travel" | David Wechter | Gerald Gardner | January 17, 1987 | |
A leader of a struggling criminal group decides that Sledge must be destroyed. Sledge is required to take psychology sessions. One night, a thief breaks into his apartment and steals Sledge's Magnum, and this devastates Sledge. He has to use a tiny pistol, until he learns that his Magnum has been used in a new crime spree. The title uses the snowclone "Have X, will travel". | ||||||
| 16 | 16 | "The Color of Hammer" | Bruce Bilson | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | January 24, 1987 | |
Sledge has been admiring a strict judge; he and Dori go on a walk and meet him as he is enjoying lunch. A woman seduces the judge to a pool hall where she hustles him out of a lot of money. In order to make up the debt, he acquits the defendant related to the gang, but is later stabbed by the woman when he threatens to go public about the blackmail. Sledge, Dori, and Captain Trunk go to the pool hall to try to lure out the hustler, with Sledge trying to do some hustling of his own. A spoof of the 1986 film The Color of Money . | ||||||
| 17 | 17 | "Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?" | Chuck Braverman | Gerald Gardner | January 31, 1987 | |
A man who was arrested for breaking and entering claims to be Myles Hammer, Sledge's brother. He easily wins over everyone he interacts with, except for Sledge himself. When Dori goes on a date with Myles, she discovers he faked his identity. The title is based on the song title "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" | ||||||
| 18 | 18 | "Desperately Seeking Dori" | Bob Sweeney | Mike Reiss & Al Jean | February 7, 1987 | |
Dori pursues a counterfeit money operator, but he loosens a rope and a mobile artwork falls on her. When she recovers from the blow to the head, she seems to have adopted the excessively violent, aggressive personality and mannerisms of the person she is around every day: Sledge Hammer. A reference to the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan . | ||||||
| 19 | 19 | "Sledgepoo" | Thomas Schlamme | Alan Mandel | February 14, 1987 | |
Sledge investigates a beauty salon that is suspected to be a front for a cat burglar operation. While he gets his hair done by Sir Guy (Michael Des Barres), Sledge subtly remarks that he would like to participate in the operation as a "second-story man" (break into the second-story of a house). The title is a reference to the film Shampoo . | ||||||
| 20 | 20 | "Comrade Hammer" | Bruce Bilson | Dave Ketchum & Tony DiMarco | February 21, 1987 | |
Sledge and Dori must escort a Soviet-defecting scientist on a passenger train while evading KGB agents. | ||||||
| 21 | 21 | "Jagged Sledge" | Reza Badiyi | S : Doug Molitor S/T : Chris Ruppenthal | April 21, 1987 | |
Sledge becomes his own attorney in a murder trial of racketeer Hugo Victor (a clear word play with the author of 'Les Misérables' Victor Hugo). However, the witnesses and his own team seem to incriminate him even further. He is found guilty until he makes a last-minute observation. The title is a reference to the 1985 legal film Jagged Edge . | ||||||
| 22 | 22 | "The Spa Who Loved Me" | Jackie Cooper | Tino Insana & Robert Wuhl | April 28, 1987 | |
Robin Leach introduces this episode, stating it will be a filled with extra action and end in a cliffhanger. A military truck is stopped by a group of women in bikinis playing volleyball in the middle of the road, but the guys get knocked out by gas and get their cargo stolen. Sledge and Dori must find the terrorist leader who plans to blow up the city with a nuclear bomb unless they get a billion dollars. Going off descriptions, they visit the facility of a popular aerobics video instructor Jill Taylor. The title is a reference to the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me . | ||||||
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | "A Clockwork Hammer" | Reza Badiyi | S : Alan Spencer T : Chris Ruppenthal | September 17, 1987 | |
At the beginning of the episode, it is stated that the season takes place five years prior to the ending of the previous season. Sledge is abducted by a former television executive whose brainwashing operation reprograms its victim's minds through unrelenting and unmerciful exposure to television programming. A spoof of A Clockwork Orange | ||||||
| 24 | 2 | "Big Nazi on Campus" | Chuck Braverman | S : Alan Spencer T : Mert Rich, Brian Pollack | September 24, 1987 | |
Sledge and Dori investigate the murder of a history student who was studying Hitler's Third Reich. Suspects include her burly quarterback boyfriend and her kindly old history professor. Guest star Ray Walston as Professor/Nazi | ||||||
| 25 | 3 | "Play It Again, Sledge" | Bill Bixby | S : Alan Spencer T : David Ketchum, Tony DiMarco | October 1, 1987 | |
When Sledge gets suspended, he decides to try being a private investigator. A spoof of Play It Again Sam | ||||||
| 26 | 4 | "Wild About Hammer" | Gary Walkow | Alan Spencer | October 8, 1987 | |
A female cop with a sadomasochistic fetish falls for and kidnaps Sledge. | ||||||
| 27 | 5 | "Death of a Few Salesmen" | Bill Bixby | S : Brooke Kofford, Bret Kofford T : Mark Curtiss, Rod Ash | October 15, 1987 | |
Sledge poses as an Australian car magnate, Crocodile Bruce, to catch whoever has been killing used car dealers. A spoof of Death of a Salesman | ||||||
| 28 | 6 | "Vertical" | Reza Badiyi | David Ketchum & Tony DiMarco | October 29, 1987 | |
While suffering from vertigo, Sledge must protect the girlfriend of a mobster. A spoof of Vertigo | ||||||
| 29 | 7 | "Dressed to Call" | Jackie Cooper | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | November 5, 1987 | |
Sledge must discover who is making threatening calls to a radio psychologist. | ||||||
| 30 | 8 | "Hammer Hits the Rock" | Bill Bixby | Mark Curtiss & Rod Ash | November 12, 1987 | |
Sledge poses as an assassin to discover a mobster's secret hideout. | ||||||
| 31 | 9 | "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" | Bill Bixby | Alan Spencer | November 19, 1987 | |
An old-time actor who played vampires in the movies dies, but a vampire is then seen at two murders where the victims are drained of blood. | ||||||
| 32 | 10 | "Hammeroid" | Gary Walkow | Ron Friedman | November 26, 1987 | |
After breaking nearly all his bones, Sledge encases himself in a robotic suit to stop a robot. A spoof of RoboCop | ||||||
| 33 | 11 | "Sledge in Toyland" | Gary Walkow | Brian Pollack & Mert Rich | December 3, 1987 | |
Sledge is sent to investigate when a toy manufacturer is attacked by one of his own toys. A spoof of Babes in Toyland | ||||||
| 34 | 12 | "Icebreaker" | Bill Bixby | S : Chris Ruppenthal T : Mark Curtiss, Rod Ash | December 10, 1987 | |
Sledge finds himself competing with a British cop who later turns out to be an international terrorist known as "The Pelican". | ||||||
| 35 | 13 | "They Call Me Mr. Trunk" | Seymour Robbie | Mark Curtiss & Rod Ash | December 17, 1987 | |
Trunk must solve the puzzle of why the army has surrounded the entire precinct before the entire staff dies. A spoof of They Call Me Mr. Tibbs | ||||||
| 36 | 14 | "Model Dearest" | Dick Martin | David Ketchum & Tony DiMarco | January 7, 1988 | |
Dori poses as a model to get the dirt on a white slavery ring. | ||||||
| 37 | 15 | "Sledge, Rattle & Roll" | Bill Bixby | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | January 15, 1988 | |
Hammer investigates the mysterious deaths of a heavy metal group and their manager. | ||||||
| 38 | 16 | "Suppose They Gave a War & Sledge Came?" | Dick Martin | Chris Ruppenthal | January 22, 1988 | |
To investigate the death of a prominent businessman, Sledge joins a weekend paintball tournament organization. | ||||||
| 39 | 17 | "The Secret of My Excess" | Dick Martin | Alicia Marie Schudt | January 29, 1988 | |
The governor assigns Sledge to find his missing daughter, but Sledge also has to keep the assignment a secret. | ||||||
| 40 | 18 | "It Happened What Night?" | Bill Bixby | Mark Curtiss & Rod Ash | February 5, 1988 | |
The precinct thinks that Sledge and Dori have slept together when all that appears on a surveillance tape is them drunk and in bed. | ||||||
| 41 | 19 | "Here's to You, Mrs. Hammer" | Bill Bixby | Mert Rich & Brian Pollack | February 12, 1988 | |
Sledge's ex-wife Susan Hilton (named in homage to Agent 99 from Get Smart ) marries his best high school friend and forces Sledge to think about his lifestyle. A spoof of The Graduate song "Mrs. Robinson". His ex-wife is played by David Rasche's real-life wife, Heather Lupton. | ||||||