| Great Season, But Poor DVD Remastering |
This 1985-86 Season of Hunter was actually a cool season as well as a definite upgrade from Hunter's First Season, but I was terribly disappointed with the way the remastered the Second Season on DVD, since the episodes from this season weren't remastered to be shown the way they were originally shown on their original air dates when they were on NBC back in the Fall of 1985 thru the Spring of 1986.
Therefore, the episodes on this Hunter-Season 2 DVD were shown like they were on TV Land like in syndication or something instead of showing each episode with the proper introductions with the way they should've been shown when Hunter was in it's Second Season on NBC, plus none of the songs that were actually played in each episode of Hunter were the same either, because the people who remastered each episode on this DVD revised all the songs that were originally played in each episode, which really sucks, because some of the songs that were originally played in each episode on NBC that had a song were some of my favorites, but I didn't like any of the songs that the DVD makers replaced them with and I think anybody who was dissatisfied with this Hunter-Season Two DVD would agree with me on this.
So I thought this was kind of a rip off and that Hunter's Second Season should be remastered all over again to be shown the way each episode was originally shown on NBC with their original air dates.
Overall, in general Hunter's Second Season was actually a cool season and a definite upgrade from Hunter's First Season, since this is the season when Capt. Wyler(Bruce Davison) replaces Hunter & McCall's former Capt.Dolan(John Amos) and when Lt. Ambrose Finn(John Shearin) joins the cast and crew of Hunter helping Hunter and McCall on their assignments along with the fact that Capt. Wyler was a more likeable and easier to work with captain than Capt. Dolan was and Lt. Finn was a much more likeable and easier guy and fellow officer to work with than Hunter & McCall's annoying fellow officer Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger(James Whitmore, Jr.) was, plus Lt. Finn was a lot smarter and a lot wiser than Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger ever was either, which also made it easier for Capt. Wyler and Capt. Devane to work with as well.
Fortunately, goofy Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger didn't come out in Hunter's 1985-86 Season very often and only co-starred in 5 episodes, especially a lot less often than Bernie was shown in the 1984-85 Season of Hunter, since Bernie was no longer working homicide investigations and had so-called been transferred to Internal Affairs in the Second Season and was eventually got promoted to lieutenant.
Therefore, I noticed that James Whitmore, Jr. started directing a lot more episodes in the Second and Third Seasons of Hunter, instead of continuing as a co-star on Hunter, which made it kind of intriguing knowing that the guy who was directing some of the episodes of Hunter in the first 3 seasons was the guy who played the insensitive not so bright Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger.
It's just too bad that they couldn't have Capt. Wyler and Lt. Finn in more episodes together since there were only 4 episodes when Lt. Finn and Capt. Wyler co-starred in the same episode.
Something else I've noticed about Hunter's 1985-86 Season was Capt. Wyler was shown a lot more often in the first half of the 2nd Season with no Lt. Finn since Lt. Finn didn't even join the cast and crew of Hunter till the second half of the Second Season and that once Lt. Finn was added to this show, they showed a lot more of Lt. Finn and a lot less of Capt. Wyler and Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger.
Therefore, it was like Capt. Wyler was dominating the co-starring cast of Hunter in the first half of the 2nd Season and that Lt. Finn was dominating the co-starring cast in the second half of Hunter's 1985-86 Season, since Lt. Finn was shown more than Capt. Wyler was even in the episodes that Capt. Wyler and Lt. Finn co-starred in together like the episodes "Blow-Up", "The Set Up", "Fagin 1986", and "The Beautiful & The Dead", but I thought Lt. Finn was probably the best cop they ever worked with besides Capt. Devane and that it would've been cool if Lt. Finn would've eventually got promoted to Capt. Finn and possibly became Hunter and McCall's captain eventually.
It was also interesting seeing
-Don Stroud playing a crooked Sheriff in "The Biggest Man In Town" episode before his Capt. Lussen days on THE NEW DRAGNET.
-Jack Colvin in "The Set-Up" episode after his Jack McGee days on THE INCREDIBLE HULK.
-Dan Lauria in "The Beautiful & The Dead" episode before his WONDER YEARS days.
-John Shearin as Lt. Finn before his days on LOVING.
-Gary Graham in the "Killer In A Halloween Mask" episode before his ALIEN NATION days.
-Robert Davi in the "Million Dollar Misunderstanding" episode before his PROFILER days.
-Mills Watson in "The Big Fall" episode after his Deputy Perkins days on SHERIFF LOBO; etc. |
2 Rating
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| A terrific series from the era when TV was fun to watch |
Hunter was not a great TV series but, compared to most of what's available now, it was terrific. Hunter, an honest but maverick cop from a criminal background, was adeptly played by former football star Fred Dryer (the only player in NFL history to score two safeties in one game). His partner Dee Dee McCall was played by beautiful and spunky Stepfanie Kramer. Together they broke every rule in the book but always got the bad guys, no matter how the odds were stacked against them. Hunter wasn't an accurate portrayal of police work, and it definitely wasn't politically correct, but it was a lot of fun. I'm glad that it's now available on DVD. |
4 Rating
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