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Hunter is a police drama television series starring Fred Dryer which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1991. The titular character, Sgt. Rick Hunter, was a wily, physically imposing, and often rule-breaking homicide detective (badge# 089 in the early seasons, badge# 378 in later seasons) with the Los Angeles Police Department. Stepfanie Kramer co-starred in the first six of the series' seven seasons as Hunter's female partner Sgt. Dee Dee McCall.

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For its second season, Cannell brought in his mentor, Roy Huggins, best known for his work on Maverick and The Rockford Files, to refine the show. As the new executive producer, Huggins toned down the violence, softened the main character's fractious relationship with his superiors, dropped a backstory concerning Hunter's family ties to the mob, and played up the chemistry between Hunter and McCall. Huggins also moved the show's setting out of the back streets and into the more desirable areas of Los Angeles. Emboldened, Dryer and Kramer frequently toyed with the scripts by ad-libbing, and the Hunter character broke the fourth wall for the first time with an aside to viewers at the end of the two-parter "The Beautiful And The Dead". Viewers responded to the changes, and the show's second season ended in 38th place in the Nielsen Ratings. Hunter continued this progress to become a mainstay of NBC's Saturday night schedule.

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Just before work on the third season began, Dryer threatened to walk out unless his salary, reportedly US$21,000 per episode, was raised and creative changes were made. Cannell hit back with a US$20 million breach-of-contract suit. A compromise was reached, with Dryer reportedly landing a new deal worth US$50,000 per episode. The third season, again helmed by Huggins, saw the arrivals of Charles Hallahan as Captain Charlie Devane and Garrett Morris as police informant and street hustler Arnold "Sporty" James. When Hunter went missing, Dee Dee teamed with Columbo-like Detective Kitty O'Hearn (Shelley Taylor Morgan) (Shades episode #22). This was the show's first season in the top 30, coming in at 25th.