In the mid-eighties TV show Hardcastle and McCormick, Brian Keith played cranky MILTON C. "HARDCASE" HARDCASTLE, a retired southern California judge who teams up with MARK "SKID" McCORMICK, an easy-going former race driver and semi-retired car thief (Daniel Hugh-Kelly), to nab criminals he felt had slipped through the legal system on technicalities.

The two originally met -- where else? -- in court, where Hardcastle presided over McCormick's trial.

Goofy, but likable. And there was a way-cool car called The Coyote in it, that seems to have almost as many fans as the show itself.

THE EVIDENCE

• "There's no plea bargain in Heaven."
  (slogan on one of Milton's favourite T-shirts)

TELEVISION

• HARDCASTLE AND McCORMICK
  (1983-86, ABC)
  65 60-minute episodes, 1 two-hour pilot
  Created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell
  Writers: Alan Cassidy, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Evan Lawrence, Scott Schneid, Steven L. Sears, Thomas E. Szollosi, Shel Willens
  Directors: Jimmy Giritlian, Michael Hiatt, Kim Manners, Roger Young
  Produced by Stephen J. Cannell, Lawrence Hertzog, Jo Swerling Jr.
  Theme by Pete Carpenter
  Starring Brian Keith as MILTON C. "HARDCASE" HARDCASTLE
  and Daniel Hugh-Kelly as MARK "SKID" McCORMICK
  Also starring John Hancock as Lt. Michael Delaney (1984-1985)
  Mary Jackson as Sarah Wicks (1983)
  and Joe Santos as Lt. Frank Harper (1985-1986)
  

• Season one ...Buy this season on DVD
• "Rolling Thunder" (September 18, 1983; two-hour pilot)
• "Man in a Glass House" (September 25, 1983)
• "The Crystal Duck" (October 2, 1983)
• "Goin' Nowhere Fast" (October 9, 1983)
• "The Black Widow" (October 16, 1983)
• "The Boxer" (October 23, 1983)
• "Once Again with Vigorish" (October 30, 1983)
• "Killer B's" (November 6, 1983)
• "The Prince of Fat City" (November 13, 1983)
• "Hotshoes" (November 27,1983)
• "Flying Down to Rio" (December 4, 1983)
• "Just Another Round of That Old Song" (December 11, 1983)
• "Third Down and Twenty Years to Life" (January 1, 1984)
• "Whistler's Pride" (January 8, 1984)
• "Mr. Hardcastle Goes to Washington" (January 15, 1984)
• "School for Scandal" (January 29, 1984)
• "The Georgia Street Motors" (February 5, 1984)
• "The Homecoming, Part One" (March 4, 1984)
• "The Homecoming, Part Two" (March 11, 1984)
• "Did You See the One That Got Away" (March 18, 1984)
• "Really Neat Cars and Guys with a Sense of Humor" (March 25, 1984)
• "Scared Stiff" (April 1, 1984)
  .
• Season two ...Buy this season on DVD
• "Outlaw Champion" (September 23, 1984)
• "Ties My Father Sold Me" (September 30, 1984)
• "You Would Cry, Too, If It Happened to You" (October 7, 1984)
• "D-Day" (October 14, 1984)
• "Never My Love" (October 28, 1984)
• "Whatever Happened to Guts4 November 4, 1984)
• "You and the Horse You Rode in On" (November 18, 1984)
• "One of the Girls From Accounting" (November 25, 1984)
• "It Coulda Been Worse...She Coulda Been a Welder" (December 2, 1984)
• "Hate the Picture...Love the Frame" (December 9, 1984)
• "Pennies From a Dead Man's Eyes" (December 31, 1984)
• "There Goes the Neighborhood" (January 7, 1985)
• "Too Rich and Too Thin" (January 14, 1985)
• "What's So Funny..?" (January 21, 1985)
• "Hardcastle, Hardcastle, Hardcastle and McCormick" (February 4, 1985)
• "The Long Ago Girl" (February 11, 1985)
• "You Don't Hear the One That Gets You" (February 18, 1985)
• "The Birthday Present" (February 25, 1985)
• "Surprise On Seagull Beach" (March 4, 1985)
• "Undercover McCormick" (March 11, 1985)
• "The Game You Learn From Your Father" (March 18, 1985)
• "Angie's Choice" (April 1, 1985)
  .
• Season three ...Buy this season on DVD
• "She May Not Be Deep, But She Sure Is Fast" (September 23, 1985)
• "Faster Hearts" (September 30, 1985)
• "The Yankee Clipper" (October 7, 1985)
• "Something's Going On On This Train" (October 14, 1985)
• "The Career Breaker" (October 28, 1985)
• "Do Not Go Gently" (November 4, 1985)
• "Games People Play" (November 11, 1985)
• "Strangle Hold" (November 18, 1985)
• "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're His" (November 25, 1985)
• "Mirage a Trois" (December 2, 1985)
• "Conventional Warfare" (December 9, 1985)
• "Duet for Two Wind Instruments" (December 16, 1985)
• "If You Could See What I See" (January 6, 1986)
• "Hardcastle for Mayor" (January 13, 1986)
• "When I Look Back On All the Things" (February 3, 1986)
• "Brother Can You Spare a Crime" (February 10, 1986)
• "Round Up the Old Gang" (February 17, 1986)
• "McCormick's Bar and Grill" (February 24, 1986)
• "Poker Night" (March 3, 1986)
• "In the Eye of the Beholder" (March 17, 1986)
• "The Day the Music Died" (March 31, 1986)
• "A Chip Off the Ol' Milt" (May 5, 1986)

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.