Hardcastle and McCormick (1983)
Hardcastle and McCormick is an American action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, shown on ABC from 1983 through 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. The series premise was somewhat recycled from a previous Cannell series, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.
- Stephen J. Cannell
- Carol Mendelsohn
- Patrick Hasburgh
Stars:
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Episode 1 - Outlaw Champion
Release Date: 1984-09-23Hardcastle and McCormick must help protect a famous race car driver who is in danger of losing his claim to fame as well as his life.
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Episode 2 - Ties My Father Sold Me
Release Date: 1984-09-30After breaking into the official records, Mark identifies his long-lost biological father as a lounge singer in Atlantic City and goes to see him. But the man turns out to be sought by a mobster who kidnaps Mark to force him to steal some incriminating tapes from a government safe.
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Episode 3 - You Would Cry Too, If It Happened to You
Release Date: 1984-10-07After telling his poker buddies to clean up the house before he gets back from the airport with the judge, McCormick returns with Hardcastle to discover that everything valuable on the estate has been stolen, including all of the judge's files on past cases.
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Episode 4 - D-Day
Release Date: 1984-10-14After finding his sister-in-law missing and her apartment ransacked, Hardcastle discovers that she had been secretly following her professor in hopes of earning extra credit in a police procedures course.
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Episode 5 - Never My Love
Release Date: 1984-10-28Mark attends the funeral of an old friend, only to be surprised later to receive a message from her on his answering machine. After searching for evidence to her supposed "death," Mark and the judge find political reasons may be to blame for her disappearance.
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Episode 6 - Whatever Happened to Guts?
Release Date: 1984-11-04When star of a television court show has to go into the hospital for surgery, he asks Hardcastle to fill in as the show's star. But, his enthusiasm for the show comes to a halt when the station's public relations person is murdered.
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Episode 7 - You and the Horse You Rode in On
Release Date: 1984-11-18Finally tired of how Hardcastle is treating him, Mark seeks another job with a water filter manufacturer. But after the director misleads a group of potential buyers during a presentation, Mark quits only to find out his boss is not yet willing to part ways, and kidnaps Hardcastle to keep Mark at the company.
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Episode 8 - One of the Girls from Accounting
Release Date: 1984-11-25While attending business downtown, Mark rushes to the aid of a woman being attacked by men in a mail truck. While he thinks he can find safety from the police officer reponding to their call, the woman informs him the officer is actually a member of an unofficial "underground" police and they are far from being safe.
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Episode 9 - It Coulda Been Worse...She Coulda Been a Welder
Release Date: 1984-12-02The proposed destruction of a popular college bar brings Hardcastle's niece in the spotlight. With her protests making him upset, he must put aside their differences when she narrowly avoids a kidnapping.
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Episode 10 - Hate the Picture, Love the Frame
Release Date: 1984-12-09Hardcastle is arrested after a woman whom he had prevously had a chance encounter earlier is found dead in his home. Thinking the judge was framed due to his ruling on his latest case, McCormick tries to help his friend get out of jail.
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Episode 11 - Pennies from a Dead Man's Eyes
Release Date: 1984-12-31Jesse Wingo, the former famous singer, is spotted by McCormick at a talent contest. But when approached about his past, the contestant reveals his name to be Sam Jones. Puzzled at the similarities, Mark investigates the man only to find that other people are looking for the man named Sam Jones, but want him dead.
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Episode 12 - There Goes the Neighborhood
Release Date: 1985-01-07Hardcastle's neighbors begin a Neighborhood Watch program after a series of local burglaries have them worried. After being overlooked by the organization for the selection of their Captain, the judge forgets about his displeasure when the thieves are caught only to be found dead later from a mysterious virus.
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Episode 13 - Too Rich and Too Thin
Release Date: 1985-01-14After investigating the suicide of a comic, Hardcastle relizes that it wasn't really suicide after he and McCormick prevent the attempted kidnapping of the comic's wife.
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Episode 14 - What's So Funny?
Release Date: 1985-01-21Perplexed by the apparent suicide of ex-con Denny Frye, an up-and-coming comic, Hardcastle decides to investigate. Thanks to Mark, Hardcastle discovers that Denny was romantically involved with a woman named Pamela Bayer. The judge's earlier suspicions gain some validity when Hardcastle and McCormick see a group of men try to kidnap Pamela. After rescuing Pamela, Hardcastle and McCormick learn that the prospective kidnappers work for reputed mobster Sonny Austin, her ex-boyfriend. Realizing that Sonny, in an irrational attempt to win back his ex-girlfriend, has been assaulting all Pamela's dates, Hardcastle and McCormick try to find out who has been providing the mobster with her dating schedule. It turns out that Pamela has been primarily dating comedians employed at Boots Dikeman's club. Figuring that Leo Dikeman, Boots' main competitor, is probably encouraging Sonny, Hardcastle and McCormick decide to pay him a visit. Before they arrive, Sonny, realizing that he has been used, kills Leo. Facing a dead end in the case, the judge asks Mark to pose as one of Pamela's comedian boyfriends. Taking the bait, Sonny falls into the judge's trap.
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Episode 15 - Hardcastle, Hardcastle, Hardcastle and McCormick
Release Date: 1985-02-04Hardcase's two aunts help out during a nursing home jewelry heist.
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Episode 16 - The Long Ago Girl
Release Date: 1985-02-11Hardcastle cuts his fishing trip short when he receives word of the death of his old girlfriend's current husband. After deciding to check up on her, he is shot as he interrupts a burglar at her house, who looks like the deceased husband.
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Episode 17 - You Don't Hear the One That Gets You
Release Date: 1985-02-18Mark is thrilled when he wins $20,000 racing in the Arizona Modified. His joy quickly dissipates when thieves hold him up and steal his winnings as well as the Coyote. Based on Hardcastle and McCormick's description of the thieves, Deputy Sheriff Dan Johnson realizes that they were robbed by locals Arvin Lee and Melissa Kantwell. Complicating matters is the fact that Melissa is the wife of Billy Blackstone, the city's sheriff. After recovering the Coyote from a used car salesman, Hardcastle and McCormick begin to track the crooks. To their surprise, they catch up with Arvin Lee only to discover that he has been murdered. Putting the pieces together, they realize that Blackstone probably killed Arvin Lee. Taking their theory one step further, Hardcastle and McCormick speculate that Melissa only pretended to fall in love with Arvin Lee in order to trick him into stealing for her. With Johnson's help, the judge and Mark locate Blackstone and Melissa. With Blackstone unwilling to surrender, the deputies are forced to shoot and kill him. To Mark's regret, the shoot-out starts a fire that destroys his racing winnings.
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Episode 18 - The Birthday Present
Release Date: 1985-02-25With the judge's birthday coming up, Mark decides to unofficially help him close a cold case related to a soon-to-be-paroled crimial that Hardcastle put in jail for another crime. Unfortunately, the new trial winds up with Hardcastle being shot and the criminal escaping.
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Episode 19 - Surprise on Seagull Beach
Release Date: 1985-03-04After finding strange German bullets on the beach, Hardcastle gets involved in an underground treasure hunt for World War II gold at the beach. Meanwhile, McCormick also gets involved with the hunt by being kidnapped by WWII Germans attempting to recover the gold.
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Episode 20 - Undercover McCormick
Release Date: 1985-03-11Seeking Hardcastle's help on a case of corrupt cops, a young patrolman is killed before he or Hardcastle can seek higher help in the department. With the case dealing with bad cops who could recognize the investigators, McCormick is asked to go undercover to flush out the corrupt cops and find the patrolman's killer.
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Episode 21 - The Game You Learn From Your Father
Release Date: 1985-03-18A critically-wounded criminal admits to being paid to frame a former baseball player, Duke McGuire, for murder. Feeling responsible for his false incarceration since he was the presiding judge, Hardcastle tries to help McGuire become a baseball player once again. But his attempt at a comeback is threatened when drugs are found in his locker.
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Episode 22 - Angie's Choice
Release Date: 1985-04-01After seeing reputed mobster Stevie Ray kill a man named Tommy Chen, former prostitute Angie Bloom goes into hiding. Before disappearing, she decides to leave Nicky and Lindsey, her young children, with Hardcastle for safekeeping. While the kids initially refuse to tell the judge their name, the judge eventually realizes that they are Angie's children. Meanwhile, Hardcastle and McCormick discover something is amiss when some men unsuccessfully try to kidnap the kids. Following a hunch, Hardcastle pays a visit on a former madam named Dolores. The hunch pays off and the judge locates Angie. Convinced that Hardcastle has her best interests in mind, Angie tells the judge the whole story. Recognizing that the best way to protect Angie is to put Stevie in prison, Hardcastle arranges for her to testify. To his regret, the officers that pick up Angie are actually Stevie's men. Upon learning the truth, Hardcastle and McCormick "convince" one of Stevie's men to tell them where to find Angie. Following up on their lead, the two men capture Stevie and rescue Angie.