Is comedy making a comeback? After Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson’s The Naked Gun made $28M+ at the box office, the market for procedural comedies is looking up. According to Deadline, Netflix is eager to capitalize on comedy’s upswing by giving a green light to a T.J. Hooker film, based on the ’80s prime time procedural starring William Shatner.
Netflix’s T.J. Hooker film project finds Jarrad Paul and Andy Mogel writing the script, with Sophie Cassidy and Matt Crespy producing for 2.0 Entertainment, Adrian Askarieh for Prime Universe Films, and Alex Westmore for Vali Vista Films.
Old heads will remember the original series, which premiered on ABC in March 1982. The cop drama ended after five seasons (91 episodes), with the final season airing on CBS. The show focuses on the weekly adventures of tough-as-nails veteran police officer Sgt. T.J. Hooker, who rides the beat with his rookie partner Vince Romano, played by Adrian Zmed. With a reputation for being non-nonsense, T.J. Hooker is recovering from a divorce and the loss of his partner in the line of duty. He’s determined to get his life and career back on track and put away criminal scum in the process. Heather Locklear stars alongside Shatner and Zmed as Officer Stacy Sheridan, the daughter of Captain Dennis Sheridan (Richard Herd) and goddaughter of Hooker.
There’s no telling if William Shatner (who’s 94 years old) will return for a role in the film adaptation of his classic crime series. T.J. Hooker series creator Rick Husky serves as an executive producer for Netflix’s film.
The project’s writers, Jarrad Paul and Andy Mogel, are developing the comedy film Little Brother for Netflix. It will star John Cena (Peacemaker, F9: The Fast Saga, Ricky Stanicky), Eric André (Happy Gilmore 2, Bad Trip, The Righteous Gemstones), and Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Pixels). The film revolves around a famous real estate agent whose life is disrupted when his eccentric little brother unexpectedly reappears.
Are you a T.J. Hooker fan? Who should play the classic characters in Netflix’s upcoming film? Let us know in the comments section below.