Estelle Getty

"Sledge Hammer!"

David Rasche played Inspector Mike "Sledge" Hammer in this half-hour comedy from ABC. His best friend and sidekick was a .44 Magnum, a la Dirty Harry, on whom the show was based. It is remembered by many as a hit, but doth two seasons a hit series make? If Peter Gabriel... more's song "Sledgehammer" wasn't being played on every radio station across the country the very year the series debuted methinks the show would've had the same "Cop Rock" velocity. Yet, marketing Sledge and his gun as a team was fairly amusing at the time, particularly while Stallone was doing his umpteenth buddy movie, be it with Kurt Russell or Estelle Getty.