Hardcastle and McCormick

[KENJI]

Does anyone remember this show?
It reminds a bit of MPI.....red sports car, solving cases,car chases, juvenile adult who lives at a grumpy old man's mansion.........I think Pete did the music for this show as well. If you look at the speedometer in the Coyote it appears to be a Ferrari symbol there....more connections to our show. Any thoughts?

[Kevster]

Loved the show, but it doesn't get much buzz on the net. Good show, but it didn't have the depth of MPI in acting, characters, or writing. It didn't last too long. Different style, but it kind of ranks with Riptide, which is another one I would watch at the time.

Brian Keith was the reason I kept watching the show.

I miss the style of these shows... Humor, drama, action. Everything now is a CSI or Law and Order rip-off, a bad sit-com (well not TOO many sit-coms now), or a reality show. My take: manure with graphics, T&A, or dysfunction...

[Mr. Greene]

loved it the car was awesome and Brian Kieth was one of my favorites, he played a good judge. I love how he wore shorts and a shoulder holster under his judge robe

[Pedicab Driver]

A great show. I watched it all the time when I was little.

[KENJI]

The judge would wear the odd hawaiian shirt and sport a Yankee hat (not the Tigers) on occasion....a few more close connections to our show. Even some of the close ups of the gear shift being used look like the that of a Ferrari.

[J.J. Walters]

Havn't seen this show since it went off the air. Would absolutely love to see it again! For that matter, I'd love to see Family Affair again, too! Who doesn't love Brian Keith. What a presence he had. The ultimate father figure.

[Seaver41]

watched this myself as well as a lead in to Monday Night Football on ABC. Good show, but as someone posted, little depth to the characters. Mindless entertainment.

[Mrs. Higgins]

OK, I was a die-hard fan of this show. So much so that I attended the posthumous Walk of Fame ceremony for Brian Keith in 2008. A bunch of us got to meet Daniel Hugh Kelly, Joe Santos, Stephen J. Cannell and others. As a bonus, we rented a van a toured the Gulls Way estate (which at the time was HQ for Dick Clark Productions), and the Malibu dock where many Rockford scenes were filmed. Here's a few photos..

Sorry for the size!!!!

Gulls Way front door


The patio


The former location of the pool (now filled in)


Johnny Whittaker, Victoria Keith, Joe Santos, Shelley Fabares, Daniel Hugh-Kelly, Kathy Garver


Stephen J Cannell and Daniel Hugh Kelly


I had my picture taken with most of these people and even enjoyed a lengthy conversation with DHK as he is from NJ too. Joe's wife is from NJ as well. I was in my bloated pre-gym years and wont be posting them here....

All in all it was a fun trip. I would have loved to visit Pahonu, but I seriously doubt that would ever happen. The current condition would probably bring me to tears.

[marlboro]

Cool pics. I should give this show a watch. I haven't seen it since it originally aired.

[jno]

Thanks for posting these pics and your experiences.

I love Hardcastle & McCormick (have been covering these in depth on my own forum - apologies for the inadvertant blatant plug). What's great about this show is the friendship angle - like Starsky & Hutch and many other great shows these guys are essentially just looking out for one another. The stunts are superb and this is a real treat for lovers of all 80s TV in my opinion. I got each series for an incredibly low 9.99 EUR each in Austria recently (German with English soundtrack), which is about 11 USD each. What a treat and loved it as a kid.

The pilot episode was first shown in the UK on Sunday 16th October 1983 ... it sadly never really had the repeats that other US shows did though, so unless you were about to catch it first time around you probably missed out on it in the UK. I believe it was very popular in Germany and Austria though.

Here's a cutting from the British TV TIMES magazine introducing us to the pilot episode back in 1983:

[Little Garwood]

Hardcastle and McCormick is yet another series I only watched fleetingly, though I liked the little bit I saw. My grandfather often watched it, as he no doubt shared Brian Keith's "crusty" attitude and sense of humor. The show was fun, and as someone already pointed out, was more akin to Riptide
or perhaps The Fall Guy in terms of its "depth."

I watched theH&M series pilot recently, and really enjoyed it! Like Magnum and Simon & Simon, the show's strength resides in the tremendous chemistry between its lead characters. Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly, makes it all worthwhile, no matter how silly an episode might be.

On a personal note, when watching the pilot movie, and not having seen an episode since its first run, I was taken aback at how much Judge Hardcastle reminded me of my best friend's father; the voice inflections were uncanny, as was the overall ebullient personality.

In my online trawlings, it was strange seeing so much H&M merchandise! I'll bet it had almost as much as Magnum (which admittedly wasn't much, but still...).

Here's an ad for the April 21,1986 episode of the show:


youtu.be/epiwc7P4pzM

McCormick: "I feel like I'm lost somewhere between Rick Springfield and Lawrence Welk."

Hardcastle: "Rick who?

[KingKC]

I enjoyed the show, and it was fun, but agree that there was little depth or substance to the show. But then again, a lot of TV is pure escapism.

[Little Garwood]

Hardcastle & McCormick has a small, but loyal fanbase. This site features a "What if?" fourth season of what might have happened had the series not been canceled after the 1985-86 season.

There's also a book, Hardcastle & McCormick: A Complete Viewer's Guide to the Classic Eighties Action Series. Series co-creators Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh "heartily" endorsed it.