The Best Episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick Season 1

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   7.9/10(84 votes)

   #1 - Rolling Thunder (1)

   S1:E19/18/1983

   As the series begins, ex-race car driver Mark McCormick accepts a job driving the Coyote X, an experimental car designed by a friend of his named Flip Johnson. Mark loses his job, however, after Flip is killed in a car accident and ownership of the car is granted to industrialist Martin Cody. Eventually, Mark is brought before Hardcastle, who is presiding over his last case, Mark is given a choice: help the judge round-up two hundred men who walked out of the judge's courtroom on technicalities or go back to prison.

   Director:Roger Young

   Writers:Patrick Hasburgh, Stephen J. Cannell

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   Director:Roger Young

   Writers:Patrick Hasburgh, Stephen J. Cannell
2. 

   7.9/10(68 votes)

   #2 - Rolling Thunder (2)

   S1:E29/18/1983

   See Part One

   Director:Roger Young

   Writers:Patrick Hasburgh, Stephen J. Cannell

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   Director:Roger Young

   Writers:Patrick Hasburgh, Stephen J. Cannell
3. 

   7.0/10(57 votes)

   #3 - Man in a Glass House

   S1:E39/25/1983

   Hardcastle is quite upset when he is criticized in “Without Sin,” the autobiography of retired mobster Joseph Cadillac. Figuring that the mob, also the subject of Cadillac's criticism, will be angered as well, Hardcastle has Mark follow the author. Later, Hardcastle is surprised when Cadillac comes to him for help.

   Director:Guy Magar

   Writer:Stephen J. Cannell

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   Director:Guy Magar

   Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
4. 

   7.5/10(53 votes)

   #4 - The Crystal Duck

   S1:E410/2/1983

   Teddy, McCormick's cellmate in prison, is out on parole. He has been staying with Mark in the guesthouse, without Hardcastle's knowledge or permission. Now, his parole officer, Quinlan, informs him that due to a minor infraction, he has the power to send him back to prison, unless he pays him a thousand dollars a week.

   Director:Bruce Kessler

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Bruce Kessler

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

   7.6/10(47 votes)

   #5 - Goin' Nowhere Fast

   S1:E510/9/1983

   A convict who has been having an affair with the warden's wife, escapes with her help. He then calls Hardcastle, which agitates him. He and McCormick go out to find him. Eventually, it's revealed that before Hardcastle chose McCormick, he gave this guy a try—and he proved Hardcastle wrong.

   Director:Guy Magar

   Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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   Director:Guy Magar

   Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
6. 

   7.4/10(48 votes)

   #6 - The Black Widow

   S1:E610/16/1983

   Hardcastle wants to investigate a woman named Tina Grey. When Hardcastle goes to the police for info, a Captain Filapiano, who doesn't like Hardcastle, asks him to leave. Hardcastle then tells McCormick to get close to her. As they get closer, a gangster named Joe Beiber, whom she has been seeing, and who is insanely jealous abducts them.

   Director:Richard Compton

   Writer:Stephen J. Cannell

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   Director:Richard Compton

   Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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7. 

   7.0/10(47 votes)

   #7 - The Boxer

   S1:E710/23/1983

   Boxer Kid Calico is told to throw a fight in order to keep his kidnapped father alive.

   Director:Tony Mordente

   Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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   Director:Tony Mordente

   Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
8. 

   7.0/10(47 votes)

   #8 - Once Again with Vigorish

   S1:E810/30/1983

   Hardcastle & McCormick set out to assist a lawyer, who is an old friend of Hardcastle's, convict a mobster who is running stolen property in semi-trucks.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
9. 

   7.4/10(51 votes)

   #9 - Killer B's

   S1:E911/6/1983

   Hardcastle persuades an old friend, played by Buddy Ebsen, to obtain a role in a movie in which the movie producer is using his films to cover up his drug smuggling operation.

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

    7.2/10(44 votes)

    #10 - The Prince of Fat City

    S1:E1011/13/1983

    A gang member is remanded into the judge's custody only to stay in the guest house with Mark, while the judge and Mark go after a psychiatrist who has been taping private sessions with clients revealing vital damaging information.

    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
11. 

    7.3/10(43 votes)

    #11 - Hotshoes

    S1:E1111/27/1983

    Mark is thrilled when he gets a shot at racing in big leagues—only to learn that his sponsor's auto parts business gets their inventory from stolen cars.

    Director:Richard Compton

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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    Director:Richard Compton

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
12. 

    7.3/10(45 votes)

    #12 - Flying Down to Rio

    S1:E1212/4/1983

    Hardcastle & McCormick travel to Rio to track down a drug runner.

    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Unknown
13. 

    8.0/10(49 votes)

    #13 - Just Another Round of That Old Song

    S1:E1312/11/1983

    Keenan Wynn guest stars as an old bank robber, just released from prison, who attempts to locate the cash stored in an armored car that he robbed in the '40s.

    Director:Allen Reisner

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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    Director:Allen Reisner

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
14. 

    7.7/10(45 votes)

    #14 - Third Down and Twenty Years to Life

    S1:E141/1/1984

    A law student at a local college claims that her brother, who was sent to prison for 20 years by Judge Hardcastle, was framed for murder. He ignores her, but when someone tries to kidnap her, he reviews the case and sends Mark on an undercover investigation to the school as a football player.

    Director:Georg Stanford Brown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Georg Stanford Brown

    Writer:Unknown
15. 

    7.7/10(43 votes)

    #15 - Whistler's Pride

    S1:E151/8/1984

    The judge inherits a rather short race horse.

    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Unknown
16. 

    7.7/10(42 votes)

    #16 - Mr. Hardcastle Goes to Washington

    S1:E161/15/1984

    Hardcastle is up for a spot on the Supreme Court bench but some people don't want him to be chosen.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
17. 

    7.1/10(42 votes)

    #17 - School for Scandal

    S1:E171/29/1984

    Robert Culp guest stars as Arthur Farnel, an ex-con who runs a school leading and teaching their students how to break the law. Mark decides to go undercover in order to gather enough evidence to put him away.

    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Tom Blomquist

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    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Tom Blomquist
18. 

    7.3/10(41 votes)

    #18 - The Georgia Street Motors

    S1:E182/5/1984

    A group of retired judges decide to take the law into their own hands by delivering their own verdicts to criminals who slipped through the system or were given lesser sentences based on technicalities or lack of evidence.

    Director:Joseph Manduke

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Joseph Manduke

    Writer:Unknown
19. 

    7.9/10(44 votes)

    #19 - The Homecoming (1)

    S1:E193/5/1984

    Hardcastle returns to his hometown in Arkansas for a high school reunion, only to learn from an old friend that people are being swindled out of their farms. After the friend is murdered, and his daughter asks the judge for help, Hardcastle enlists McCormick to burglarize the local land office.

    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
20. 

    8.2/10(51 votes)

    #20 - The Homecoming (2)

    S1:E203/11/1984

    Hardcastle hides out with another old friend, recovering from his injuries, while he tries to figure out how to retrieve the evidence against the town officials. Meanwhile, Mark and Christy take refuge in an abandoned cabin.

    Director:Bruce Kessler

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh

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    Director:Bruce Kessler

    Writer:Patrick Hasburgh
21. 

    7.0/10(43 votes)

    #21 - Did You See the One That Got Away?

    S1:E213/18/1984

    Hardcastle visits a man he sent to prison for life only to find that the man never made it there.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Lawrence Hertzog

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Lawrence Hertzog
22. 

    7.1/10(41 votes)

    #22 - Really Neat Cars and Guys with a Sense of Humor

    S1:E223/25/1984

    Hardcastle & McCormick go undercover at a computerized dating service in order to find out why wealthy clients are turning up dead.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Lawrence Hertzog

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Lawrence Hertzog
23. 

    6.7/10(44 votes)

    #23 - Scared Stiff

    S1:E234/1/1984

    Mark and Hardcastle take a group of misfit kids to a local prison in order to scare them straight; but while they are there, they are taken hostages by prisoners who are frustrated because of the repeated abuse from the guards and the warden.

    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Tom Blomquist

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    Director:Tony Mordente

    Writer:Tom Blomquist