Hardcastle and McCormick

Hardcastle and McCormick
	Title screen
Genre	Crime drama; Action;
Created by	Stephen J. Cannell; Patrick Hasburgh;
Starring	Brian Keith; Daniel Hugh Kelly;
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	67
Production
Executive producer(s)	Stephen J. Cannell; Patrick Hasburgh;
Producer(s)	Lawrence Hertzog; Lee Sheldon;
Running time	60 minutes per episode
Production company(s)	Stephen J. Cannell Productions
Distributor	Colex Enterprises (1986-1987); Sony Pictures Television;
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Mono
Original release	September 18, 1983 –; May 5, 1986

Hardcastle and McCormick is an American action crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 18, 1983, through May 5, 1986. The series stars Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick.

During an interview in the 1980s, producer Stephen J. Cannell referred to the then-upcoming series as Rolling Thunder.

Premise

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Milton C. "Hardcase" Hardcastle, an eccentric judge notorious for being strict with the law in both his duties and towards defendants, is retiring. With file drawers filled with 200 people who escaped conviction due to legal technicalities, the judge, inspired by his childhood hero the Lone Ranger, desires to make the criminals answer for their crimes. Mark McCormick is a smart-mouthed, streetwise car thief. He faces a long incarceration for his latest theft, a prototype sports car called the Coyote X, designed by his murdered best friend. Together, the judge and the car thief strike a deal: Hardcastle helps McCormick catch the murderer; McCormick agrees to work 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

Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. "Hardcase" Hardcastle
Daniel Hugh Kelly as "Skid" Mark McCormick
Mary Jackson as Sarah Wicks (1983)
John Hancock as Lt. Michael Delaney (1984–1985)
Ed Bernard as Lt. Bill Giles (1984-1985)
Joe Santos as Lt. Frank Harper (1985–1986)

Episodes

Season 1 (1983–84)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1 2	1 2	"Rolling Thunder"	Roger Young	Patrick Hasburgh & Stephen J. Cannell	September 18, 1983 (1983-09-18)
3	3	"Man in a Glass House"	Guy Magar	Stephen J. Cannell	September 25, 1983 (1983-09-25)
4	4	"The Crystal Duck"	Bruce Kessler	Stephen Katz	October 2, 1983 (1983-10-02)
5	5	"Goin' Nowhere Fast"	Guy Magar	Patrick Hasburgh	October 9, 1983 (1983-10-09)
6	6	"The Black Widow"	Richard Compton	Stephen J. Cannell	October 16, 1983 (1983-10-16)
7	7	"The Boxer"	Tony Mordente	Patrick Hasburgh	October 23, 1983 (1983-10-23)
8	8	"Once Again with Vigorish"	Arnold Laven	Patrick Hasburgh	October 30, 1983 (1983-10-30)
9	9	"Killer B's"	Ron Satlof	Stephen Katz	November 6, 1983 (1983-11-06)
10	10	"The Prince of Fat City"	Tony Mordente	Patrick Hasburgh	November 13, 1983 (1983-11-13)
11	11	"Hotshoes"	Richard Compton	Patrick Hasburgh	November 27, 1983 (1983-11-27)
12	12	"Flying Down to Rio"	Tony Mordente	Stephen Katz	December 4, 1983 (1983-12-04)
13	13	"Just Another Round of That Old Song"	Allen Reisner	Patrick Hasburgh	December 11, 1983 (1983-12-11)
14	14	"Third Down and Twenty Years to Life"	Georg Stanford Brown	Evan Lawrence	January 1, 1984 (1984-01-01)
15	15	"Whistler's Pride"	Tony Mordente	Stephen Katz	January 8, 1984 (1984-01-08)
16	16	"Mr. Hardcastle Goes to Washington"	Arnold Laven	Patrick Hasburgh	January 15, 1984 (1984-01-15)
17	17	"School for Scandal"	Tony Mordente	Tom Blomquist	January 29, 1984 (1984-01-29)
18	18	"The Georgia Street Motors"	TBA	Shel Willens	February 5, 1984 (1984-02-05)
19	19	"The Homecoming: Part 1"	Tony Mordente	Patrick Hasburgh	March 4, 1984 (1984-03-04)
20	20	"The Homecoming: Part 2"	Bruce Kessler	Patrick Hasburgh	March 11, 1984 (1984-03-11)
21	21	"Did You See the One that Got Away?"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	March 18, 1984 (1984-03-18)
22	22	"Really Neat Cars and Guys with a Sense of Humor"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	March 25, 1984 (1984-03-25)
23	23	"Scared Stiff"	TBA	Tom Blomquist	April 1, 1984 (1984-04-01)

Season 2 (1984–85)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
24	1	"Outlaw Champion"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	September 23, 1984 (1984-09-23)
25	2	"Ties My Father Sold Me"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	September 30, 1984 (1984-09-30)
26	3	"You Would Cry, Too, If It Happened to You"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	October 7, 1984 (1984-10-07)
27	4	"D-Day"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	October 14, 1984 (1984-10-14)
28	5	"Never My Love"	TBA	Thomas E. Szollosi & Richard Christian Matheson	October 28, 1984 (1984-10-28)
29	6	"Whatever Happened to Guts"	Michael Hiatt	Thomas E. Szollosi & Richard Christian Matheson	November 4, 1984 (1984-11-04)
30	7	"You and the Horse You Rode in On"	Patrick Hasburgh	Patrick Hasburgh	November 18, 1984 (1984-11-18)
31	8	"One of the Girls from Accounting"	Bruce Kessler	Stephen J. Cannell	November 25, 1984 (1984-11-25)
32	9	"It Coulda Been Worse, She Coulda Been a Welder"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	December 2, 1984 (1984-12-02)
33	10	"Hate the Picture, Love the Frame"	TBA	Erica Byrne	December 9, 1984 (1984-12-09)
34	11	"Pennies from a Dead Man's Eyes"	TBA	Marianne Clarkson	December 31, 1984 (1984-12-31)
35	12	"There Goes the Neighborhood"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	January 7, 1985 (1985-01-07)
36	13	"Too Rich and Too Thin"	TBA	Teleplay by: Thomas E. Szollosi & Richard Christian Matheson & Ross Thomas Story by: Richard Christian Matheson & Thomas E. Szollosi	January 14, 1985 (1985-01-14)
37	14	"What's So Funny?"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	January 21, 1985 (1985-01-21)
38	15	"Hardcastle, Hardcastle, Hardcastle and McCormick"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	February 4, 1985 (1985-02-04)
39	16	"The Long Ago Girl"	TBA	Stephen J. Cannell	February 11, 1985 (1985-02-11)
40	17	"You Don't Hear the One that Gets You"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	February 18, 1985 (1985-02-18)
41	18	"The Birthday Present"	TBA	Stephen J. Cannell	February 25, 1985 (1985-02-25)
42	19	"Surprise on Seagull Beach"	Michael O'Herilhy	TBA	March 4, 1985 (1985-03-04)
43	20	"Undercover McCormick"	TBA	Marianne Clarkson	March 11, 1985 (1985-03-11)
44	21	"The Game You Learn from Your Father"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	March 18, 1985 (1985-03-18)
45	22	"Angie's Choice"	Bruce Kessler	Thomas E. Szollosi & Richard Christian Matheson	April 1, 1985 (1985-04-01)

Season 3 (1985–86)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
46	1	"She Ain't Deep, But She Sure Runs Fast"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	September 23, 1985 (1985-09-23)
47	2	"Faster Hearts"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	September 30, 1985 (1985-09-30)
48	3	"The Yankee Clipper"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	October 7, 1985 (1985-10-07)
49	4	"Something's Going On on This Train"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	October 14, 1985 (1985-10-14)
50	5	"The Career Breaker"	TBA	Stephen J. Cannell	October 28, 1985 (1985-10-28)
51	6	"Do Not Go Gently"	TBA	Patrick Hasburgh	November 4, 1985 (1985-11-04)
52	7	"Games People Play"	TBA	Teleplay by: Carol Mendelsohn & Larry Forrester Story by: Tony Michelman & Scott J. Schneid	November 11, 1985 (1985-11-11)
53	8	"Strangle Hold"	TBA	Marianne Clarkson	November 18, 1985 (1985-11-18)
54	9	"You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're His"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	November 25, 1985 (1985-11-25)
55	10	"Mirage a Trois"	TBA	Marianne Clarkson	December 2, 1985 (1985-12-02)
56	11	"Conventional Warfare"	TBA	Steven L. Sears & Burt Pearl	December 9, 1985 (1985-12-09)
57	12	"Duet for Two Wind Instruments"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	December 16, 1985 (1985-12-16)
58	13	"If You Could See What I See"	TBA	Carol Mendelsohn	January 6, 1986 (1986-01-06)
59	14	"Hardcastle for Mayor"	TBA	Alan Cassidy	January 13, 1986 (1986-01-13)
60	15	"When I Look Back on All the Things"	TBA	Lawrence Hertzog	February 3, 1986 (1986-02-03)
61	16	"Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?"	James L. Conway	Donald Ross	February 10, 1986 (1986-02-10)
62	17	"Round Up the Old Gang"	TBA	Stephen Katz	February 17, 1986 (1986-02-17)
63	18	"McCormick's Bar and Grill"	TBA	Jeff Ray	February 24, 1986 (1986-02-24)
64	19	"Poker Night"	TBA	Marianne Clarkson	March 3, 1986 (1986-03-03)
65	20	"In the Eye of the Beholder"	TBA	Daniel Hugh Kelly	March 17, 1986 (1986-03-17)
66	21	"The Day the Music Died"	TBA	Tom Blomquist	March 31, 1986 (1986-03-31)
67	22	"A Chip Off the Ol' Mill"	TBA	Carol Mendelsohn & Marianne Clarkson	May 5, 1986 (1986-05-05)

Production

Development

The series premise was somewhat recycled from a previous Cannell series, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe. It was created by Patrick Hasburgh 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 entitled "Drive". It was composed by Mike Post and Stephen Geyer 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 (who also sang Post and Geyer's theme for The Greatest American Hero). Public demand, however, resulted in the "Drive" theme being reinstated in episode 13 and kept through season three. Post and Pete 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.[1] 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 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 cars of the time, the car uses a chassis from a Volkswagen Beetle and its engine from a Porsche 914.[2][3] For the second and third seasons, producers used a different Coyote which was based on a DMC DeLorean, as Brian Keith had difficulty getting in and out of the original Coyote.[4]

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. The stunt/skid car (used in all three seasons) was reconfigured for the Knight Rider 2000 television pilot,[5] then consequently turned into Jay Ohrberg's show car "Taz-Mobile".[6] 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 Married... with Children.

Season-one car owned by a private collector in NY
Season-one Coyote at NJ home in 2008 and now in New York(2019)
Season-one car rear quarter
Season-one car front

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 (13.90 rating)[7]

Home media

Visual Entertainment 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.[8] As of March 2016, the complete DVD set was available on Amazon.com.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
The Complete First Season	22	February 14, 2006	Includes 2-hour pilot, "Rolling Thunder"
The Complete Second Season	22	August 15, 2006	All Original Music
The Complete Third and Final Season	22	October 30, 2007	Photo Gallery All Original Music
The Complete Series	66	September 3, 2008

gollark: We're arguing about IRC.

gollark: _searches past chat for "IRC"_

gollark: I may be in the minority, but I don't consider IPs sensitive.

gollark: That's not an IRC-protocol thing, just what most servers do.

gollark: IP: not important; country: derivable from IP; client name: not sure.

References

"Hardcastle and McCormick - The Manta Montage". The Amazo Effect. June 15, 2011.
"The car-star of Hardcastle & McCormick". Archived from the original on November 15, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
"Coyote Version I (The Original)". September 23, 2005.
"Pete's Manta Montage (McLaren M6BGT): History, Coyote". Archived from the original on September 3, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
"Knight Rider 2000 - Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars". www.jayohrberg.com.
Jay Ohrberg. "Taz-mobile - Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars".
TVTango.com ratings archive
David Lambert (August 31, 2008). "Hardcastle and McCormick - VEI Planning a Complete Series 15-DVD Release!". Archived from the original on July 15, 2015.

External links

Hardcastle and McCormick on IMDb
Hardcastle and McCormick at TV.com
TVTDB.com - Hardcastle & McCormick Transcripts at the Wayback Machine (archived July 25, 2010)
The car-star of Hardcastle & McCormick at the Wayback Machine (archived November 15, 2010)
"Hardcastle and McCormick: Virtual Season Four".

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Hardcastle and McCormick - The Manta Montage". The Amazo Effect. June 15, 2011.

[2] "The car-star of Hardcastle & McCormick". Archived from the original on November 15, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)

[3] "Coyote Version I (The Original)". September 23, 2005.

[4] "Pete's Manta Montage (McLaren M6BGT): History, Coyote". Archived from the original on September 3, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)

[5] "Knight Rider 2000 - Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars". www.jayohrberg.com.

[6] Jay Ohrberg. "Taz-mobile - Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars".

[7] TVTango.com ratings archive

[8] David Lambert (August 31, 2008). "Hardcastle and McCormick - VEI Planning a Complete Series 15-DVD Release!". Archived from the original on July 15, 2015.