Hardball (1989 TV series)

Hardball is an American crime drama television series that ran on NBC from September 21, 1989, to June 29, 1990, during the 1989–90 television schedule.

Hardball
Genre	Action Crime drama
Created by	Robert Palm
Written by	Paul Bernbaum Chris Bunch Allan Cole Frank Lupo Robert Palm Burt Pearl
Directed by	Rob Bowman James Darren Francis Delia David Hemmings Bruce Kessler Guy Magar Larry Shaw Virgil W. Vogel
Starring	John Ashton Richard Tyson
Theme music composer	Sylvester Levay Eddie Money
Opening theme	"Roll Over It" performed by Eddie Money
Composer	Sylvester Levay
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	18
Production
Executive producers	John Ashley Frank Lupo
Producer	Paul Bernbaum
Cinematography	Rick Bota
Editors	Nathaniel Burr Smidt David Ramirez
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production companies	Columbia Pictures Television NBC Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 21, 1989 (1989-09-21) – June 29, 1990 (1990-06-29)

Synopsis

Hardball is a variation of the buddy cop genre that focused on two plainclothes L.A. cops, Charlie "C.B." Battles (John Ashton) and Joe "Kaz" Kaczierowski (Richard Tyson). Battles is a 45-year-old hard-nosed veteran officer who is forced to take a desk job or retire. Battles is soon assigned a new partner, the 25-year-old hotshot Kaczierowski who follows his own set of rules when dealing with criminals. The pair are soon at odds over their respective methods of law enforcement.

NBC President Brandon Tartikoff saw this series as inspired by the Lethal Weapon films and Battles was patterned after Pete Rose.

Cast

• John Ashton as Charlie "C.B." Battles
• Richard Tyson as Joe "Kaz" Kaczierowski
• John Pappas as Pappas
• Barney McFadden as Ballantine

Production notes

The series was created by Robert Palm and executive produced by John Ashley and Frank Lupo.

Theme song

The series' theme song "Roll It Over", was written by Sylvester Levay, Mark Spiro, and Eddie Money. Money also performed the tune.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Till Death Do Us Part"	David Hemmings	Frank Lupo	September 21, 1989 (1989-09-21)
2	"The Silver Scream"	Larry Shaw	Story by : Burt Pearl Teleplay by : Burt Pearl & Paul Bernbaum	September 28, 1989 (1989-09-28)
3	"The One Armed Bandit"	Guy Magar	Paul Bernbaum	October 13, 1989 (1989-10-13)
4	"Which Witch Is Which?"	Unknown	Unknown	October 27, 1989 (1989-10-27)
5	"The Cleveland Indian"	David Hemmings	Story by : Burt Pearl Teleplay by : Paul Bernbaum	November 3, 1989 (1989-11-03)
6	"The Fighting 52nd"	David Hemmings	Paul Bernbaum	November 10, 1989 (1989-11-10)
7	"Time Bomb"	Unknown	Unknown	November 17, 1989 (1989-11-17)
8	"Trying to Make a Living, and Doing the Best I Can"	Unknown	Unknown	November 24, 1989 (1989-11-24)
9	"The Out of Towner"	Unknown	Unknown	December 1, 1989 (1989-12-01)
10	"The Cool Katt"	Unknown	Unknown	April 20, 1990 (1990-04-20)
11	"The Angel of Death"	Unknown	Unknown	April 27, 1990 (1990-04-27)
12	"A Killer Date"	David Hemmings	Paul Bernbaum	May 4, 1990 (1990-05-04)
13	"A Death in the Family"	Unknown	Unknown	May 11, 1990 (1990-05-11)
14	"Sex, Cops, and Videotape"	Unknown	Unknown	May 18, 1990 (1990-05-18)
15	"Wedding Bell Blues"	Unknown	Unknown	June 1, 1990 (1990-06-01)
16	"Prescription for Murder"	Unknown	Unknown	June 8, 1990 (1990-06-08)
17	"Every Dog Has His Day"	Unknown	Unknown	June 22, 1990 (1990-06-22)
18	"The Hunt for Honus Wagner"	Unknown	Unknown	June 29, 1990 (1990-06-29)

External links

• Hardball at IMDb
• Hardball at epguides.com