Customer Reviews

Hunter - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Nominated for three Emmys, Hunter stands out as one of the premiere action police dramas of the 1980s. Just as Tom Selleck's on-camera charisma carried Magnum, P.I. through nine highly-rated seasons, Fred Dryer's knack for drawing an audience to his unique persona carried an otherwise lackluster series through much of the decade. The brainchild of Frank Lupo, creator of The A-Team (1982) and writer for such hit series as Battlestar Galactica (1978), Magnum, P.I. (1980), and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), Hunter is built on the clichéd concept of a rogue cop who breaks the rules and takes justice into his own hands. Dryer does well in his role as the Clint Eastwood of the small screen, yet the show's writers give him little to work with in terms of a highly developed character and, as the seasons pass, the plot becomes quite formulaic. Nevertheless, Hunter is pure mind-numbing police chase entertainment with the added element of nostalgia for those who long for the 1980s when Hunter ruled along with The A-Team, Magnum, Miami Vice, and Knight Rider, and I for one loved those shows...!

Hunter follows the life of Los Angeles Police Department detective Sgt. Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer), a renegade cop whose family has ties to organized crime. This family tree, coupled with a penchant for getting his partners injured and a propensity to bend the rules, make Hunter an unpopular guy within the department. Only two officers will even agree to partner with him - Bernie Terwilliger (James Whitmore Jr.), who's a total incompetent, and Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer), a stunning brunette with a rebellious streak of her own (and also disliked by her colleagues). Together, Hunter and McCall are a perfect fit as partners, breaking up crime rings, solving murders, and dealing with internal problems such as irate captains. In seasons one and two, Hunter's bosses are a thorn in his side. But both are soon replaced by Capt. Charles Devane (Charles Hallahan) who plays the role of Hunter's by-the-book, yet generally amiable authority figure for the remainder of the series. Meanwhile, original Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris plays a brilliant recurrent role as police informant Arnold "Sporty" James... Overall, Hunter is a solid and highly entertaining action/adventure police drama series, one indispensable to 1980s TV aficionados...


The Hunter (Season 1) DVD features a number of action-packed episodes including the two-hour series premiere in which the audience first meets Sgt. Rick Hunter, a mobster's son turned cop who is generally disliked within the LAPD. In this first episode, Hunter tries to investigate a murder, but the case is given to Bernie Terwilliger (the first cop to arrive on the scene), and Hunter is told to back off. With a by-the-book Captain hot on his heels, Hunter partners with feisty Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, and the duo work together to set a trap for the perpetrator... Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Pen Pals" in which Hunter takes the rap for a murder he did not commit, and Dee Dee and her new partner must track down the true culprit, and "Guilty" in which Hunter and Dee Dee disobey a direct order and go it alone to investigate the connection between two murders...

Below is a list of episodes included on the Hunter (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Pilot: Part 1)
Episode 2 (Pilot: Part 2)
Episode 3 (Hard Contract)
Episode 4 (The Hot Grounder)
Episode 5 (A Long Way from L.A.)
Episode 6 (Legacy)
Episode 7 (Flight on a Dead Pigeon)
Episode 8 (Pen Pals)
Episode 9 (Dead or Alive)
Episode 10 (High Bleacher Man)
Episode 11 (The Shooter)
Episode 12 (The Garbage Man)
Episode 13 (The Avenging Angel)
Episode 14 (The Snow Queen: Part 1)
Episode 15 (The Snow Queen: Part 2)
Episode 16 (The Beach Boy)
Episode 17 (Guilty)
Episode 18 (The Last Kill)
Episode 19 (Fire Man)
Episode 20 (Sniper)

The DVD Report

The original music for each season of Hunter has been removed and replaced with generic music. Many consumers buy old TV shows such as Hunter because of the nostalgia value. When totally generic music and bland vocals erupt where there was once the popular music of the era, the scene is completey ruined. The new soundtrack is quite horrible and ruins the mood and much of the nostalgia value of quite a few episodes.

These DVD sets are cheap, and it's fun to see the episodes with a high quality picture, but whoever was in charge of changing the soundtrack should be fired!

Note:

It isn't a matter of COST for the studio to get the rights to the original music, it's a question of GREED concerning profit margins. VEI (an excellent company) released all THREE seasons of Hardcastle and McCormick (Another great Stephen J. Cannell TV series), quickly, and with all the original music. In comparison, Anchor Bay has RUINED every single Stephen J. Cannell release by horribly editing episodes and replacing the original music. You can't tell me that Hunter, 21 Jump Street, or the Greatest American Hero wouldn't sell well enough to cover the cost of obtaining the rights to the original music. If VEI could do it, that tells me that Anchor Bay just didn't care enough about the fans!

- JM

Hunter was probably my favourite cop show growing up in the 80s. It had a much grittier edge than a lot of it's contemporaries, and the interplay between Hunter and McCall was superb. I think it's great that companies are releasing seasons of these old shows, (Knight rider, quantumn leap, Miami Vice etc) and I can't thank Anchor Bay enough for picking this one up. Occasionally looking back on old 80s shows you tend to remember them as being a lot better than they actually are, and can get a bit disappointed when nostalgia induces you to buy an entire season of an old series - but Hunter (along with Tour of Duty, and Miami Vice) is one of those that wil totally live up to how you recall it. I remember havin the wildest crush of Stephanie Kramer too, and sitting through these hugely enjoyable shows again, I totally remembered why.. She's hotter than hot, the action is great, the scripts are fast paced and massively ientertaining. As for the music substitutions (I didn't even know this till I read other reviews), what's to complain about? If companies have to replace some tunes to keep royalties down, then who cares. The main thing is, we get the show - all episodes from the first season - sit back, remenisce, and enjoy!

I was only a casual fan of the show when it was first aired in the mid 80's. I enjoyed the first few seasons but as the years went bye I lost interest. When I came across this Season One DVD I looked at the price and thought "Why Not?" I'm sure glad I did. The stories all move at a quick pace and the chemistry between Hunter (Dryer) and McCall (Kramer)worked very well. I just wish actor John Amos had stuck around to portray their police captain during the following seasons. Perhaps the nicest thing about HUNTER is that it doesn't take itself to seriously. Some of the humor, such as Hunter always being assigned a wrecked car, is subtle but does a lot to lighten the mood. One of the cute things about this show was watching the attraction between Hunter and McCall build. Nothing to overt but always lurking underneath the surface.

I did notice the substituion of old soundtracks for the newer country soundtracks. It didn't bother me too much. Why shows just can't be seen & heard the way they aired is beyond me. It wouldn't surpirse me if someday they will be digitally removing actors, whose contracts have run out, from the shows and replacing them with substitute actors. Anyway, the price for this set of DVD's is good and the shows hold up pretty well considering they aired two decades ago. I guess I'm one of the few people who enjoyed the two interviews. It was kind of weird looking at Kramer without her big hair. Anyway, Season Two will be out in a few months and I'll be right there to pick one up.

First of all I'd like to say that is nice that 80's sitcoms and Tv series are all releasing in Dvd format.

Well,Hunter one of my fav 80's cops Tv shows arrives finally on Dvd by courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.

It presents the adventures of 2 Sgts. detectives from the Homicide division in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Police.

One is Rick Hunter(Dryer) a tough cop son of a mob lord who has its own rules and has SIMON(a S&W '45 gun).It's partner is Dee Dee McCall(Kramer) a female right and balanced whose father a cop was killed in the line of duty.

Together they solve the most various cases in LA.

The action and stunts used are the same used in The A Team and other Stephen J Cannell prods even the stunt coordinator is the same.Gunfight,fights and car chases are standard and very evident due to poor editing(you can see the driver and fight scenes stunts in every take).

The result is very pleaseant and nice to see.

The only flaw as all Anchor Bay releases is the lack of English subtitles.Yes it's CC(Closed Captioned) but only for NTSC Tv sets.I'm an International customer from Spain and my Tv can't enable that captions.The studio must think in the International customers and all the deaf and hard to hearing people.It's weird that other Anchor Bay releases(features) have subtitles while Tv series sets don't.And the prize is also a bit expensive compared with other studios.

That's why I give 4 stars instead of 5.

This DVD set showcases the first season of the Show, when Action was more to the forefront than Crime Detection and it's more than obvious that the series came from the same stable as The A-Team (with cars frequently flying through the air, etc.)
What is in place from the get-go, however, is the remarkable on-air chemistry of series stars Dryer & Kramer, as well as a considerable amount of good character writing and clever balanced team-work.
Hunter & McCall are a team. The characters love and respect for one another starts to appear from early on, and the writers and performers cleverly kept this to the forefront as the series progressed.
Yes, there are a few mis-steps. One or two stories portray him as the Hero and her as the Side-kick, and one or two plots(particularly towards the end) are dumb shoot-em-ups with very little to engage the brain.
But overall the quality is really high. The show would get better in later seasons, but this first season is a perfect example of an intelligent Action Cop Show. Most of the stories are told with clever touches here and there, showing that it wasn't being churned out, but that it was actually being put together with care and attention. The cops don't behave like TV Cops. They don't miss obvious clues and annoy the viewer, instead they reason things out and progress through each case in a way that makes sense and is great fun to watch.
Fans of the show will know what to expect. And will love it.
Others out there with more vague memories who are tempted to buy this set should know: Hunter is the best of it's kind. Far superior to other 80s action fare. Very strong male and female leads, with teamwork and mutual respect/affection being the order of the day. This being Season One there are some dumb plots. But every episode is handled and played with considerable flair. And the set contains several genuinely brilliant episodes.

Oh, those magical 80s. Cop shows had their own flavor then. Hunter was more of an exception. Originally dismissed as a "Dirty Harry" rip-off, this violent show was an instant hit for NBC. Formal Football player Fred Dryer is Dectective Hunter, a no holds barred throw away the book kind of cop. He always got his man, and of course--the l a d i e s. Dee Dee was his sexy sidekick who kicked boo-ty in high heels. Season one features guest appearances by Dennis Ferina and Dennis Franz just to name a few. I love this show for its quick one liners, and non stop action.

The Hunter Season one set is excellent. It would get five stars BUT:
My only problem, as was pointed out in another review,
one of the episodes, "The Beach Boy," was defective/incorrect. All the other episodes were very nice; excellent transfers/mastering, decent sound. But "The Beach Boy" had some sort of defect or a problem when it was transfered. The entire episode is basically un-watchable because it flickers/strobes-especially noticable when there is movement on the screen (camera movements, action shots) throughout; looks like there was a problem in the transfer/mastering possibly. I don't know all the terminology/technical terms, but "The Beach Boy" episode is, to me, unwatchable and I returned it to my local Borders twice. They said it could be that the batch I got the two copies from through Borders were the same: both were stocked at the same time from the same shipment. Anyhow, be aware of the possibility of having to return this DVD if you get a bad one too. I did an exchange with mine (through Borders) for another DVD set. I would love to own Hunter:Season One, but after two bad copies, I'm a bit uncomfortable ordering it. If you had the same problem, write a review and let people know so everyone else is aware if they are considering this item for purchase, and the company that puts it out can perhaps rectify the problem if it is a widespread defect and not just isolated incidents.

"Hunter" is one of those classic over-the-top action cop shows from the 1980's, the days before more toned down dramatic cop shows of the 1990's like "NYPD Blue", "Law and Order", and "Homicide: Life on the Streets". In its debut season, NBC picked up high ratings from the action adventures of LAPD detectives Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) and DeeDee McCall (Stephanie Kramer). The episodes are not overly dramatic, though they are packed with car chases, shootouts, fist fights, etc.

This is a truly great season to watch, since the material is still fresh here. The lead characters are developing a working relationship that quickly evolves into a well-developed friendship. In later seasons, the material became tired, though in the final season, the producers tried to inject new life into the show by giving Hunter two new partners: first Joanne Molenski (Darlanne Fluegel) and later Christine Novak (Lauren Lane).

The extras are slim on this DVD set, though it is interesting to listen to Steven Cannell and Stephanie Kramer recall filming the television series. The real treasure is found in these classic episodes. Sit down, pop in a disc, and enjoy some 1980's nostalgia!

My wife and I used to enjoy Hunter at dinner in reruns during the 80's. When I saw it on DVD we had to have it. I have to admit our memories of this old TV series was better than what we actually see on the DVD but it is still great fun and we will be purchasing the second season. The kids enjoy it too, especially the car chase scenes for my 11 year old son. The music substitution is all too obvious and I wish they had left the original music track in. The substituted music is sometimes inappropriate for the scene and it often just a bit too loud.