SH! Review in TV Guide

November 14, 1987

Review By Don Merrill

The pilot episode of ABC's Sledge Hammer! was funny. Here was this off-the-wall cop who talked to his gun, had a bumper sticker reading "I ♥ Violence," fired warning shots at jaywalkers and made a purse-snatcher punch himself unconscious. He gets a sniper by destroying a 16-story building. His favorite charity is Toy Guns for Tots. All in all, as the proud mayor of his city declares, Sledge (David Rasche) is a man "who makes Rambo look like Pee-wee Herman."

The mayor's daughter was kidnapped in that first episode. [Under The Gun] Turns out she was part of terrorist gang whose ransom note, demanding a million dollars for her return, ended with "Have a nice day." Seems she's in love with the terrorist leader, whose "family was so certain to turn out rotten they put him up for adoption three years before he was born."

It was a sendup of every police show ever made, and the executive producer, Alan Spencer, seemed willing to try anything. Trouble was that the premise was too wild, Sledge too broad a character. Attempts in succeeding episodes to elaborate on the one joke -- Sledge as the ultimate in violence -- didn't work. They even tried a parody of the hit movie "Witness," which dragged because Sledge had to act normal part of the time. [Witless]

Another was based on Elvis Presley impersonation contests and a killer who disposed of all the winners. [All Shook Up] This one failed because Sledge had to get out of his character to impersonate Presley, and the result was a shambles.

One-joke shows can work. Have a hillbilly family strike oil, move them to Beverly Hills and, with clever writing, you can find a hundred ways to use the joke about them adapting -- or not adapting -- to their new culture. But how many variations are there on the theme of a ridiculously violent cop?

David Rasche, playing Sledge, is fine in the role, and he is well-complemented by Anne-Marie Martin as Dori Doreau, his karate-expert partner. There's also a choice part for Harrison Page, playing Sledge's exasperated boss, Caption Trunk, who each week runs the gamut from frustration to hysteria. Competent as they are, though, there just isn't enough for them to work with.

[picture of Sledge in review by Merrill]

Dori (to kidnapped girl): Are you all right?

Girl: I haven't eaten in a day and a half, and I missed last night's Dynasty. [Under The Gun]

Such tripe is what ABC scheduled to run opposite NBC's The Cosby Show Thursday evenings. That's not the worst of it. With Sledge Hammer! and another meritless sitcom set for 8-9 P.M. on Thursday, the network has dropped Our World, which was far and away the best show ABC had to offer last season. Opposite Cosby and Family Ties, it rated only 2.6 points below Sledge Hammer! early last summer, when Sledge was competing with a bunch of pilots that didn't sell on CBS and Stingray on NBC. Most programmers would have kept Our World, if only for the prestige that fine show brought to the network. ABC thought otherwise.

Go figure.