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TV · 1986

Sledge Hammer!

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Sledge Hammer! is an American satirical police sitcom produced by New World Television that ran for two seasons on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The series was created by Alan Spencer and stars David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer, a preposterous caricature of the standard "cop on the edge" character. Al Jean and Mike Reiss, best known for their work on The Simpsons, wrote for the show and worked as story editors.

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Cast & crew

Episodes

2 seasons · 41 episodes
Season 122 ep. · 1986–1987
  1. Episode 1: Under the Gun

    Sep 23, 1986

    Sledge Hammer is a no-nonsense cop whose best friend is his .44 Magnum, and who just loves to use excessive force to collar criminals. In the opener, the mayor's daughter is kidnapped, and Hammer vows to bring her back -- "dead or alive."

  2. Episode 2: Hammer Gets Nailed

    Sep 26, 1986

    A reporter spends a day with Hammer and gets more than he bargained for, and Hammer gets fired. Guest Stars Ronnie Schell as Phil Gumm

  3. Episode 3: Witless

    Oct 3, 1986

    After a mobster puts out a “one week only” million-dollar contract on Hammer, every killer in the city, and some financially strapped cops, tries to claim the prize. After an attempted hit takes place in Capt. Trunk' s office, Hammer is ordered to spend the week in a small "Hamish” village. Hammer proceeds to disrupt the lives of this pacifistic community. By the time the hired gunmen arrive, the formerly peaceful farmers, who Hammer corrupted into the ways of violence, assist him.

  4. Episode 4: They Shoot Hammers, Don't They?

    Oct 17, 1986

    An escaped convict wrecks havoc in the city, promising even more destruction unless Hammer agrees to meet him in an old west style showdown. The convict is John Kogan, Hammer's childhood rival as well as former partner in the police department. Kogan is also the only man faster on the draw than Hammer… a fact that Sledge is well aware of.

  5. Episode 5: Dori Day Afternoon

    Oct 24, 1986

    When Hammer and Dori make a trip to the bank they become involved in an armed robbery. The detectives are taken hostage and the robbers demand a plane to take them to Rio. Dori tries to convince Hammer to let her use her training in terrorist psychology and persuasion before he starts blowing everyone away.

  6. Episode 6: To Sledge, with Love

    Oct 31, 1986

    Hammer is asked to straighten out some young hoods that have taken over their high school. He discovers that the gang is working for a local car theft ring. Hammer convinces the teens to put their violent nature to good use by training them to become cops.

  7. Episode 7: All Shook Up

    Nov 6, 1986

    Hammer and Dori are assigned to locate a serial killer who is bumping off Elvis impersonators. In order to flush out the killer Hammer attends The Famous School For Elvis Impersonators where all the victims were once students. Complete with sequins and pompadour, Hammer enters an Elvis contest and sings The Battle Hymn of the Republic… setting himself up as bait.

  8. Episode 8: Over My Dead Bodyguard

    Nov 13, 1986

    When the press reveals that Capt. Trunk is scheduled to testify against a mob boss, Hammer is assigned as his bodyguard. In an attempt on his life Trunk is wounded and taken to the hospital. Sledge decides to make a bogus report that the captain’s been killed, but an assassin learns Trunk is still alive and infiltrates the tightly secured hospital posing as a physician.

  9. Episode 9: Magnum Farce

    Nov 22, 1986

    When a group of vigilante cops begin killing criminals who have gotten off due to legal technicalities, Hammer is assigned to infiltrate the group. To test his loyalty the rogues assign him the task of killing a female district attorney who is out to stop them. While this same D.A. tries to seduce Hammer in her home, Sledge learns that she is really the leader of the vigilantes and plans to kill him.

  10. Episode 10: If I Had a Little Hammer

    Nov 29, 1986

    Hammer and Dori pose as a couple wanting to adopt a baby in order to discover who is kidnapping infants from a hospital maternity ward. They learn that the hospital’s head nurse and her brother are behind the abductions, which lead to an incongruous shootout in a baby supply warehouse.

  11. Episode 11: To Live and Die on TV

    Dec 13, 1986

    After a winning game show contestant is murdered, Hammer investigates. He learns that the show’s host did the killing, obscuring the fact that he’d also embezzled the prize money. Hammer signs on as a contestant to make the host try to kill again.

  12. Episode 12: Miss of the Spider Woman

    Dec 20, 1986

    Hammer is poisoned by a mysterious woman and learns that he has only twelve hours to live. Hammer learns that the only cure for the poison is held by a group of monks in the Andes who have taken a vow of silence. Severely weakened, Hammer must hunt down the perpetrators before it’s too late… made worse by the fact that it’s also daylight savings time.

  13. Episode 13: The Old Man and the Sledge

    Jan 3, 1987

    Hammer gets to meet his idol, a retired police detective with a reputation for old school toughness, and gets him a job as a security guard at a local jewelry store. When the store is robbed, the old man is wounded and ends up at a retirement home. Hammer feels responsible for what happened and vows to get revenge on the thieves… not realizing he’s also giving the old man one last shot at glory.

  14. Episode 14: State of Sledge

    Jan 10, 1987

    When Hammer arrests the leader of a Satanic cult, Internal Affairs insists that the cultist be allowed his one phone call. Soon after the cultist makes the call, the precinct headquarters is surrounded by hundreds of demented devil worshippers. With communications to the outside cut off, Hammer devises a risky plan to lift the state of siege.

  15. Episode 15: Haven't Gun, Will Travel

    Jan 17, 1987

    A gang of silver thieves, working in cahoots with an unscrupulous police psychiatrist, destroys Hammer's psyche when they steal his beloved 44 Magnum… effectively crippling the crime fighter.

  16. Episode 16: The Color of Hammer

    Jan 24, 1987

    When Hammer's favorite hanging judge dismisses charges against a local mobster, Hammer investigates. The judge is found murdered with the only clue leading to a shady pool hall. Sledge poses as a pool shark to uncover the racketeer who has been blackmailing city officials.

  17. Episode 17: Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?

    Jan 31, 1987

    When a handsome jewel thief is arrested, he manages to convince Hammer that he’s his long-lost brother… enlisting Sledge’s aid in his rehabilitation.

  18. Episode 18: Desperately Seeking Dori

    Feb 7, 1987

    While pursuing a counterfeiter, Doreau gets knocked on the head. The results are a personality disorder that makes her behave in the same anti-social, violent manner as her partner Hammer.

  19. Episode 19: Sledgepoo

    Feb 14, 1987

    Hammer's search for a jewel thief leads to an upscale beauty salon, where henchmen rob the society matrons’ homes during their hair appointments. Hammer goes undercover as a hairdresser in order to stop the British thieves who are after the ladies' jewels.

  20. Episode 20: Comrade Hammer

    Feb 21, 1987

    Hammer is assigned to protect a Russian scientist who is being pursued by the KGB, leading to a cross country train journey fraught with peril.

  21. Episode 21: Jagged Sledge

    Apr 21, 1987

    Hammer goes on trial for the murder of the city's leading crime boss. Capt. Trunk and Dori are called upon to give damaging testimony against Hammer and everyone is convinced he’s guilty, including Hammer himself.

  22. Episode 22: The Spa Who Loved Me

    Apr 28, 1987

    Bodybuilding terrorists led by a female aerobics instructor steal a nuclear warhead from the military and threaten to destroy the entire country. Hammer and Dori are assigned to the case and are captured by the group. When Hammer gets control of the situation he tries to disarm the device. Seconds later, the bomb explodes.

Season 219 ep. · 1987–1988
  1. Episode 1: A Clockwork Hammer

    Sep 17, 1987

    Vile Video Concepts conditions cops not to testify against a mobster; Hammer meets a computerized version of himself.

  2. Episode 2: Big Nazi on Campus

    Sep 24, 1987

    Sledge and Dori investigate the death of a college coed.

  3. Episode 3: Play It Again, Sledge

    Oct 1, 1987

    When Sledge and Dori get suspended from the force, they open a private investigation firm with counseling from Bogart's ghost.

  4. Episode 4: Wild About Hammer

    Oct 8, 1987

    A female cop with a sadistic/ masochistic fetish falls for and kidnaps Sledge.

  5. Episode 5: The Death of a Few Salesmen

    Oct 15, 1987

    Sledge poses as an Australian car magnate, Crocodile Bruce, to catch the killer of used car dealers.

  6. Episode 6: Vertical

    Oct 29, 1987

    While suffering from vertigo, Sledge must protect the girlfriend of a mobster.

  7. Episode 7: Dressed to Call

    Nov 5, 1987

    Sledge must discover who's making threatening calls to a radio psychologist.

  8. Episode 8: Hammer Hits the Rock (a.k.a. Sledge on the Rock)

    Nov 12, 1987

    Sledge poses as an assassin to discover a mobster's secret hideout.

  9. Episode 9: Last of the Red Hot Vampires

    Nov 19, 1987

    An old time movie vampire is falsely accused of murdering his cast and crew.

  10. Episode 10: Hammeroid

    Nov 26, 1987

    After breaking nearly all his bones, Sledge encases himself in a robotic suit to stop a robot.

  11. Episode 11: Sledge in Toyland

    Dec 3, 1987

    Sledge is sent to investigate when a toy manufacturer is attacked by one of his own toys.

  12. Episode 12: Icebreaker

    Dec 10, 1987

    Sledge finds himself competing with a British cop.

  13. Episode 13: They Call Me Mr. Trunk

    Dec 17, 1987

    Trunk must solve the puzzle of why the army has surrounded the entire precinct before the entire staff dies.

  14. Episode 14: Model Dearest

    Jan 7, 1988

    Dori poses as a model to get the dirt on a white slavery ring.

  15. Episode 15: Sledge, Rattle 'n' Roll

    Jan 15, 1988

    Hammer investigates the mysterious deaths of a heavy metal group and their manager.

  16. Episode 16: Suppose They Gave a War and Sledge Came?

    Jan 22, 1988

    To investigate the death of a prominent businessman, Sledge joins a weekend war gaming organization.

  17. Episode 17: The Secret of My Excess

    Jan 29, 1988

    Sledge tracks down a yuppie's dirty deeds.

  18. Episode 18: It Happened What Night?

    Feb 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.

  19. Episode 19: Here's to You, Mrs. Hammer

    Feb 12, 1988

    Sledge's ex-wife marries his best high school friend & forces Sledge to think about his lifestyle.