Hammer Gets Nailed

Episode aired Sep 26, 1986

7.9/10

S1.E2

A local TV newscaster creates bitter public feeling toward the police department when he reports and editorializes adversely on what he sees during a day-long ride with Sledge and Dori.A local TV newscaster creates bitter public feeling toward the police department when he reports and editorializes adversely on what he sees during a day-long ride with Sledge and Dori.A local TV newscaster creates bitter public feeling toward the police department when he reports and editorializes adversely on what he sees during a day-long ride with Sledge and Dori.

7.9/10

137

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1User review

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Anne-Marie Martin in Sledge Hammer! (1986)

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Local television reporter Phil Gumm is a biased and frequent critic of the police department on his "Gumm In the Streets" segment, but he is reluctantly given permission to spend a day riding with Sledge and Dori. Gumm is appalled by Sledge's predilection toward the use of violence and he is injured during a car chase in which Sledge directs a student driver to engage in a high-speed pursuit. Gumm's highly critical report and editorial result in bitter public feeling toward the police department and half of the force (including Sledge) is laid off. The public's feelings change, however, after both men's true colors are put on display. When would-be extortionists plant a powerful bomb in the downtown business district, Sledge courageously attempts to disarm the bomb while the disdainful Gumm makes every effort to suppress a live broadcast of the incident. —Sam Spear

Genres
- Action
- Comedy
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
Extortionist bombers demand, among other things, 'an end to The Star Wars Program' ; Sledge responds, "Yeah, well, three movies were enough". This episode aired during year two of the Strategic Defense Initiative, sarcastically nicknamed Star Wars Defense. Some folks objected to SDI because they opposed new advanced weapons, others opposed wasting money on fantasy based science fiction systems. None of the SDI programs developed into working systems.

Quotes
bystanders: [standing outside clock shop while Hammer defuses a bomb] Go! Hammer, Go! Go! Hammer, Go!
Officers: [watching TV at precinct] Go! Hammer, Go! Go! Hammer, Go!
Captain Trunk: [watching TV in office] Go! Bomb, Go!

Connections
References T.J. Hooker (1982)

Top review

9/10

Grade-A Sledge

Hammer doesn't just get nailed, he gets drummed off of the force and winds up pulling crossing guard duty. If I had to pick a favorite episode, it'd be this one. And it's not every day that one of a show's best episodes comes so early in its run. My My fondness is partially due to the imagery (Hammer grudgingly helping school kids cross the road), but it's mostly the main character at his essence: oblivious. Sure, he's a fascist with a hand-cannon, but he's really an overgrown adolescent; a man who's governed by his firepower instead of reason, yet lovable in his own way. The one-liners and sight gags are first-rate, and to me, this is emblematic of the show itself.

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