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 – June 29, 1990 |
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.
- John Ashton as Charlie "C.B." Battles
- Richard Tyson as Joe "Kaz" Kaczierowski
- John Pappas as Pappas
- Barney McFadden as Ballantine
The series was created by Robert Palm and executive produced by John Ashley and Frank Lupo.[1]
The series' theme song "Roll It Over", was written by Sylvester Levay, Mark Spiro, and Eddie Money. Money also performed the tune.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (December 2019). "A Hell of a Life: The Nine Lives of John Ashley". Diabolique Magazine.[permanent dead link]
- Hardball at IMDb
- Hardball at epguides.com