"Works for me."

Every tough cop needs a catchphrase to regale the bad guys with, and this was Rick Hunter's. Taking his not-quite-by-the-book cues from the big screen's Dirty Harry, Hunter was a good cop…but gentle on the perps he was not. His imposing Magnum revolver, which he nicknamed Simon, saw the light of day quite a bit, and his long-suffering captains were always put out by how many rules he broke. But it was all in a day's work for L.A.'s gruff (but nicely-tanned) finest.

Stephen Cannell, one of the godfathers of crime fightin' TV (Saturday Night Live fame. For five years, the duo protected Los Angelenos from the dregs of society, a nice little run that ended when actress Stepfanie Kraemer (McCall) left the show. Her character quit the force to get married, a decision that tugged at the macho Hunter's heartstrings because he had always loved his trusty partner.

After McCall's departure, Hunter's new right hand woman was street cop Joanne Malinski, but Officer Malinski only lasted a few months, and then Hunter had at the streets alone-though he had a love interest in the form of comely sergeant Chris Novak. He was also transferred to the L.A.P.D.'s cream of the crop Metro Division, where his cases were more high profile than ever.

Hardworking, hard fighting, and hard talking, Hunter was good cop with a sense of humor and a great distaste for proper procedure. But when a copper collared as many nasties as Hunter did, rulebooks had a way of sitting in the back seat-nice, quiet, and typically unopened.