Cop Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) is summoned by dispatch to the scene of a shooting death in the aisle of a supermarket. The dead man turns out be off-duty police Detective Phil Kenter - a long-time colleague and old friend of Hooker's. He left behind a wife (Julie Cobb) and young son.
Kenter's partner Sgt. Carey Dunston (Gary Lockwood) appears more perplexed than shocked at first. When Hooker looks in on Kenter's wife Dunston is immediately suspicious of Hooker's intentions. He lets it be known that he can look after his dead partner's family on his own and that Hooker should stay out of it.
The shooter - Carl Beeman (Frank Ashmore) is an ex-convict looking for revenge. Dunston and Kenter railroaded him in to prison. Meanwhile distraught prostitute Gayle Chortner (Pamela Jean Bryant) complains to the police that her friend Ginger Coleman - another working girl, has been murdered but that the cops don't care because she was a 'prosty'.
Somehow this all ties in together (too conveniently for the good of the story) and Dunston doesn't want anyone to connect the dots even as Beeman begins targeting him. Hooker checks up on it all anyway and some cross-referencing reveals pretty clearly what has happened.
The choice of guest stars in this episode bring it down that much more. Gary Lockwood had already guest-starred on this series as a completely different character less than two years earlier. Former Playboy Playmate and painter/illustrator Pamela Jean Bryant, much beloved for a lot of reasons by a lot of people, was not a very good actress and out of everything she ever did her performance in this is by far her worst.
The slang term 'prosty' as the short form of 'prostitute' evidently had to be used on this series in lieu of the term 'hooker' for obvious reasons. Series creator Rick Husky claimed to have named the title character after a civil war general. Why he chose 'Hooker' over Sherman, McLellan or Grant is open to conjecture.
Kenter's partner Sgt. Carey Dunston (Gary Lockwood) appears more perplexed than shocked at first. When Hooker looks in on Kenter's wife Dunston is immediately suspicious of Hooker's intentions. He lets it be known that he can look after his dead partner's family on his own and that Hooker should stay out of it.
The shooter - Carl Beeman (Frank Ashmore) is an ex-convict looking for revenge. Dunston and Kenter railroaded him in to prison. Meanwhile distraught prostitute Gayle Chortner (Pamela Jean Bryant) complains to the police that her friend Ginger Coleman - another working girl, has been murdered but that the cops don't care because she was a 'prosty'.
Somehow this all ties in together (too conveniently for the good of the story) and Dunston doesn't want anyone to connect the dots even as Beeman begins targeting him. Hooker checks up on it all anyway and some cross-referencing reveals pretty clearly what has happened.
The choice of guest stars in this episode bring it down that much more. Gary Lockwood had already guest-starred on this series as a completely different character less than two years earlier. Former Playboy Playmate and painter/illustrator Pamela Jean Bryant, much beloved for a lot of reasons by a lot of people, was not a very good actress and out of everything she ever did her performance in this is by far her worst.
The slang term 'prosty' as the short form of 'prostitute' evidently had to be used on this series in lieu of the term 'hooker' for obvious reasons. Series creator Rick Husky claimed to have named the title character after a civil war general. Why he chose 'Hooker' over Sherman, McLellan or Grant is open to conjecture.
