A Rookies Reboot

Initially, ’T.J. Hooker’ was planned to be a reboot of ‘The Rookies’.

Rick Husky, who had worked on that show from 1972 to 1976, intended to create a new series that focused on three young police officers working for the fictional Southern California Police Department.

Producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg looked at bringing back the series in the early ‘80s, and filmed the pilot episode for the show, initially called ‘The Protectors’. However, after watching it back, the pair decided to focus the show around William Shatner, and thus, ’T.J. Hooker’ was born.