After his partner was murdered, veteran plainclothes Detective Thomas "T.J." Hooker (William Shatner) reverted to his former role as Sergeant, and returned to the beat to rid the streets of the type of criminals responsible for his partner's death. Back in uniform, Hooker was assigned to train the academy recruits, and was partnered with brash, sometimes hot-headed young rookie Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed). With Romano much his junior, Hooker acted as his trainer and mentor on both a professional and social level. The age difference generally being the key hook of the partnership, the pair quickly became fast friends and a good team.

Outside of his work, Hooker was divorced as a result of his work putting a strain on his marriage, but was still friendly with his ex-wife, nurse Fran. Hooker was a ladies' man, but was still trying to adjust to being single once again. Lee Bryant was the original actress to portray Fran; the part was reprised by a different actress later on.

Hooker's tough, no-nonsense demeanor saw him often clashing with station Captain Sheridan (Richard Herd), but he always got the job done and was highly respected as a result. Introduced at the start of the second season was attractive Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear), the daughter of Captain Sheridan and Hooker's and Corrigan's younger partner-in-command, who attended the police academy. Initially brought in to fill Officer Vicky Taylor's shoes, by the end of the season she had progressed to patrolling with Jim Corrigan (James Darren), another veteran cop much in the mold of Hooker.

From the second season onward, Hooker and Romano (Unit 4-Adam-30), and Stacy and Corrigan (4-Adam-16, later changed to 4-Zebra-16), usually worked closely together to tackle cases. The addition of Corrigan and Sheridan's partnership added an extra dimension to the show, sometimes with whole plots revolving around one or both of them.

For the final season, the series moved from ABC to a late-night slot on CBS. Along with the move, Adrian Zmed chose to leave the series to pursue other projects, leaving Hooker to patrol alone or to generally work as more of a trio with Stacy and Jim.

With its blend of good humor mixed with "on the streets" grittiness, the show was, for a time, moderately popular. The first season was considered a hit, ranking 28th in the Nielsen ratings, but subsequent seasons failed to repeat that success.

Hooker was canceled by ABC in the summer of 1985, but the series survived when CBS picked up the show and produced new episodes that were longer than the normal 60-minute fare and were shown later at night (part of the CBS "Crime Time After Prime-Time" showcase during the late 80s/early 90s). Original shows finally were canceled in 1987, though the finale aired on May 28, 1986. Starting in 2005, the A&E Network re-broadcast the entire Hooker series, running one episode per weekday at 4 AM (A&E stopped showing T.J. Hooker before the end of 2005, however, and it has not been seen regularly since). It is also available in a shortened format on The Minisode Network.

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