Do You Remember: Super Force or Street Hawk

We’re going way back for this “Do You Remember” article.

First heading back to the 1980’s for a show called Street Hawk that came out on ABC. At the height of Knight Rider – which aired on NBC from 1982 to 1986 – ABC was looking for a similar show. In fact, Street Hawk was supposed to air in the fall of 1984; however it was held back until mid-season of 1985, debuting on January 4.

The central characters were created by Paul M. Belous and Robert Wolterstorff and the core format of the series was created by Bruce Lansbury. The main character Jesse Mach (played by Rex Smith) was an ex-motorcycle cop, who was injured in the line of duty. Now working as a police troubleshooter, he was recruited by Norman Tuttle (Joe Regalbuto) for a top secret government mission to ride Street Hawk: an all-terrain attack motorcycle designed to fight urban crime, capable of incredible speeds up to three hundred miles an hour, and immense firepower.

As the one season rolled out, Mach was leading a double life, working as a police public relations officer by day and a crimefighter by night, being seen as an embarrassment by commanding officer Captain Leo Altobelli (Richard Venture). Each episode dealt with a specific crime or mission, with no multi-episode story arcs.

Among the guest stars who appeared in the show there was NYPD Blue alum Dennis Franz; the one and only Christopher Lloyd; and, in one of his first TV appearances, George Clooney.

Here is a trailer for Street Hawk:

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Jump forward about five years to the action-adventure syndicated series Super Force, which aired from October 1990 to May 1992, focusing on Zachary Stone (Ken Olandt), a former astronaut turned cop who used a highly advanced powered exoskeleton (a Robo-Cop-inspired design) and motorcycle to fight crime in the city of Metroplex during the future year 2020. [NOTE: If only it had been known in 1990 how truly horrible 2020 would turn out to be, right?]

When Zach returned from a deep-space mission to Mars, he learned his father was dead and his brother Frank (Marshall R. Teague) – a police detective – was missing, presumed murdered and falsely accused of being a crooked cop because of fabricated computer evidence. Frustrated by the lack of concern displayed by authorities, Zach takes it upon himself to find those responsible and bring them to justice.

The cast of the series included Lisa Niemi (aka Mrs. Patrick Swayze), Revenge of the Nerds alum Larry B. Scott and the late, great Patrick Macnee (from the original The Avengers TV series). Among the show’s guest stars were Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Xander Berkeley (24), the late Richard Hatch (the original Battlestar Galactica), Superman alum Sarah Douglas and former MacGyver (the original series) bad guy Michael Des Barres.

Super Force ran for two seasons with a total of 48 episodes.

Here is a trailer for Super Force:

Do you remember Street Hawk or Super Force?