Sledge Hammer!

Sledge Hammer! is a US television satirical sitcom that ran for two seasons on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The series was created by Alan Spencer and starred David Rasche and a .44 Magnum. Despite its brief run, it has gained a cult following.

Related Topics:
US - Television - Satirical - Sitcom - ABC - 1986 - 1988 - Alan Spencer - David Rasche - .44 Magnum - Cult

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Sledge Hammer! was a Get Smart-like spoof of the Dirty Harry series of movies. Its main character, Inspector Sledge Hammer of the San Francisco Police Department, was a violent, sadistic, insensitive detective who talked to his gun. Spencer's original script for the series was written after the third Dirty Harry film, The Enforcer, was released in 1976 but was widely rejected. However, eight years later, demand for a "renegade cop" parody arose after the release of the fourth Dirty Harry movie, Sudden Impact, in 1983, and the critical (but not commercial) success of the spoof police series Police Squad!. ABC produced a pilot episode of Sledge Hammer! after HBO rejected Spencer's pilot script.

Related Topics:
Get Smart - Spoof - Dirty Harry - Movie - San Francisco Police Department - Sadistic - The Enforcer - 1976 - Sudden Impact - 1983 - Police Squad! - Pilot episode - HBO

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Sledge Hammer's motto is:

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:"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

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Beside Hammer, the main characters are his partner, Detective Dori Doreau (played by Anne-Marie Martin), who is sensitive, intelligent and female (everything Sledge is not) and his migraine-suffering superior, Captain Trunk (played by Harrison Page). The theme music was written by Danny Elfman. Coincidentally, the pilot of Sledge Hammer! was completed at the same time as Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" became a hit.

Related Topics:
Anne-Marie Martin - Migraine - Harrison Page - Theme music - Danny Elfman - Peter Gabriel

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Marvel Comics also released a short-lived comic book based upon the series.

Related Topics:
Marvel Comics - Comic book

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Sledge Hammer poked fun at many other TV series and had a well-publicized "feud" with the contemporary sitcom, Mr. Belvedere. The show's own network wasn't spared either. One episode ended with an epilogue that was intentionally miscolored as a parody of the then-popular colorization trend; ABC received so many complaints from viewers thinking it was a transmission error that for a time callers to ABC's switchboard heard a recorded message explaining that it was all a joke.

Related Topics:
Mr. Belvedere - Epilogue - Colorization

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The series also produced entire episodes that parodied motion pictures such as "Witness," and "The Orient Express,".

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Because ABC intended to cancel the series, the last episode of the first season ended with an atomic bomb destroying the city. When ABC unexpectedly renewed the show -- due to the network moving the show to a better time that improved ratings for the final episode -- the first episode of the second season explained that it and following episodes were set "five years before" the explosion. However, the second season suffered from a reduced budget and lowered filming standard (down to 16 mm film from the previous season's 35 mm), and was not renewed for a third season.

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The first season of Sledge Hammer! was released on DVD in 2004, on which the laugh track, which the network had insisted on including on the pilot and first 12 episodes, has been removed. The DVD also includes an unaired version of the pilot that runs several minutes longer, has a different ending, and different theme music. An earthquake allegedly hit while Alan Spencer was recording commentary for one of the DVDs; the tape supposedly kept rolling during the event and was included on the DVD, leaving viewers wondering whether the earthquake was real. The second season was released on DVD on April 12, 2005; the commentary on the final episode ended with Spencer, again, being caught in an apparent earthquake.

Related Topics:
DVD - 2004 - Laugh track - Earthquake - April 12 - 2005

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