Airing for seven seasons on NBC from 1984-1991, Hunter teamed football-star-turned-actor, Fred Dryer, with actress Stepfanie Kramer.  The series marked the first major starring roles for each actor (Ms. Kramer was only 28 when the series began), and, while it was not an immediate hit, it soon grew into one of the more memorable 80s action series.  Dryer's character, Detective Sergeant Rick Hunter, was seemingly modeled after Dirty Harry, although after Season 1, his violent tendencies were toned way down.  Kramer portrayed Detective Sergeant Dee Dee McCall, at first nicknamed "the Brass Cupcake."  Hunter was created by Frank Lupo, and produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions, whose long roster of (mostly action-oriented) television hits includes: 21 Jump Street, The Greatest American Hero, Cobra, The Commish, Renegade, Riptide, Silk Stalkings, Stingray, Wiseguy, and many others, including The A-Team.

Despite coming from the world of sports, Fred Dryer made an easy transition into acting and displayed a natural comfort and charisma in front of the camera.  In fact, a few years before the premiere of Hunter, he was one of the few actors to be considered for the part of Sam Malone on Cheers that eventually went to Ted Danson.  His on-screen chemistry with Stepfanie Kramer was instrumental to the success of the series and made it a fan favorite throughout the mid-to-late 1980s.  Scripts were generally of good quality, and the relationship between Hunter and McCall was allowed to develop and deepen over the seasons.    Hunter was a top 30 staple for four of its seven seasons (Seasons 3 through 6), and achieved its highest ratings in Season 5.  Kramer left the series after Season 6 in order to pursue other acting opportunities and a music career and seemingly got out of Dodge in the nick of time.  The absence of Kramer in Season 7 coupled with a timeslot change to Wednesday from its usual Saturday night perch doomed the series even though it was up against ratings-anemic forgettables such as the one-season wonders WIOU on CBS and the dreaded Cop Rock on ABC.

Now, Mill Creek Entertainment brings together all 152 episodes of Hunter into one 28-disc box set, Hunter: The Complete Series. They were kind enough to send us a copy for review in advance of its street date of Tuesday, July 27 and to join us on our Internet Radio Show today at 2pm Eastern.

Our impressions of the set are as follows: