In the Heat of the Night (TV Series)
| In the Heat of the Night | |
|---|---|
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|
| Created by | John Ball |
| Developed by | James Lee Barrett |
| Written by | Mark Rodgers Ed Deblasio |
| Starring |
Carroll O'Connor Howard Rollins (seasons 1–6, guest star on season 7) Carl Weathers (seasons 7-8) Alan Autry Anne-Marie Johnson (seasons 1–6) Lois Nettleton (season 2) David Hart Geoffrey Thorne (seasons 2–6) Hugh O'Connor Randall Franks (seasons 2–6) Crystal R. Fox (seasons 3–8) Denise Nicholas (seasons 3–8) Christian LeBlanc (season 1) |
| Theme music composer |
Quincy Jones Alan and Marilyn Bergman |
| Opening theme | Performed by Bill Champlin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 142 + 4 TV movies (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Fred Silverman, Juanita Bartlett, David Moessinger, and Carroll O'Connor |
| Running time | 60 minutes (with commercials) |
| Production company(s) | The Fred Silverman Company Juanita Bartlett Productions (Jadda Productions for season 1 until name change) MGM/UA Television (1988–93) MGM Television (1993–95) |
| Release | |
| Original network |
NBC (1988–1992) CBS (1992–1995) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDT) |
| Original release | March 6, 1988 – May 16, 1995 |
In the Heat of the Night is an American drama television series based on the 1967 film and the 1965 novel of the same title. It starred Carroll O'Connor as white police chief William Gillespie, and Howard Rollins as black police detective Virgil Tibbs. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, then on CBS until May 1995. Its executive producers were Fred Silverman, Juanita Bartlett and Carroll O'Connor.
In the premiere episode Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs has returned to the fictional Sparta, Mississippi, for his mother's funeral. By virtue of his relationship with Gillespie from a previous murder investigation in which he assisted, Tibbs is persuaded to remain in Sparta as Chief of Detectives as part of an effort to help overcome the local squad's reputation of being racist and underskilled. Although the team experiences friction over Tibbs' dissatisfaction with the department's limited resources and racial attitudes while Gillespie is annoyed at Tibbs' condescending suspicion of his hometown, they prove highly effective in enforcing the law.
Eventually becoming a lawyer, Tibbs took a leave of absence moving to Jackson, Mississippi, to complete his law degree on a compressed schedule. Upon his return to Sparta, Althea and Virgil had separated, and later divorced. She moved back to Philadelphia with the twins to be near her parents. Through the hard work and pure intimidation of Harriet Delong, Virgil was able to keep his city pension even though he was two months shy of the qualifying period. Virgil began practicing law when he accepted a position in Ben Taylor's law office. Rollins' final appearance on the series was February 2, 1994. Meanwhile, Gillespie was dismissed as Police Chief by the Sparta city council and replaced by Hampton Forbes (Carl Weathers), the town's first African-American in that position. Gillespie finds a new post of equivalent authority as County Sheriff, and the two senior police officers find they get along in excellent fashion both in the professional and personal spheres.
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