Pardon any inconsistencies between this translation and the original. I don't speak any French and using an online translation program was not entirely successful. "Acting is like playing football: one needs concentration and a solid team spirit" There are times when one wonders whether television producers take to us for a bunch of idiots. For example, when they give us for the thousand two hundred and seventeenth time cop working in the underworld of Los Angeles. Take Rick Hunter, this inflexible police officer who runs up against the inertia of his superiors, one has the impression to have already lived its adventures so much that one already knows all the cases. It is thus with an extreme surprise that one learns the immense success of Hunter. Are the viewers really a bunch of idiots? Before dropping the verdict one will leave them a last chance nevertheless. While wondering for example where the originality is which gives this series its specificity. Immediate answer: the charm. This old school charisma that allows an actor to win over a tired stereotype. And of charm, one can say that Fred Dryer has some to spare... AN INCREDIBLE PHYSICAL PRESENCE To contemplate his stature, it is quickly understood that a good part of his seduction comes from his incredible physical presence. Fred Dryer is built like an American football player. One will thus not be astonished to learn that during thirteen years he practiced this sport as a professional. Born forty one years ago in the small Californian city of Lawndale, he studied at the university of San Diego, and it is there that a recruiter from the New York Giants offered him contract after having appreciated his play as a defensive end in his college games. After two years, Dryer is traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Little by little, he becomes a genuine star. Not only because of his athletic abililites, but also because his behavior distinguishes him from the majority of the other players. He wears long hair to the shoulders and lives in a small Volkswagen bus in the great hippie tradition. A style which will make him popular with the youth, but that he will give up little by little as the dollars accumulate in its bank account. Dollars he will bank even more of when, after having noticing his perfect elocution and his great ease in front of the cameras, CBS offers a job as a sports commentator. Contrary to the majority of football players, Dryer has a solid future since a new field of activity opens in front of him. He is as convincing a journalist as an athlete. This is why, when it decides to give up professional football for good, NBC courts him to cover it full-time. Considering the gold bridge that once fled draws up, everyone waits to see him embracing this career, when with general amazement he announces his intention to become an actor! Moreover, for a few months he has taken secret acting lessons from Nina Foch, one of the best drama teachers in Los Angeles. He is unexpectedly encouraged by Joel Thurn, the man in charge of the creative department of NBC, which detected his real gifts as an actor. No matter what some say some, Fred Dryer is convinced in any case that the trade of actor is not so different from its preceding profession. "To act, it is almost like playing football, he says. You have to have tremendous concentration and show a solid team spirit." Casting directors seem convinced of its talent, since finishing his studies with Nina Foch he has starred in the miniseries Starmaker as well as half a dozen telefilms. He also appeared in episodes of Cheers, Laverne and Shirley, Lou Grant, and CHiPs, before trying his luck in the movies in Cannonball Run alongside Burt Reynolds. THE GREAT SOCIAL UPHEAVAL Three years after his departure from football stadiums, Dryer already has an honest career as an actor, but his prize list is slight compared to what awaits. Is the ex-football player really ready for the upheaval in his life that lies ahead? For now, he is content with Tracy Vaccaro, the young actress he has married and who is pregnant with their child. During this time a certain Stepfanie Kramer is making an honest career on the fringes of Hollywood, not guessing that her destiny will be linked to one of the more famous American football players. Born in Los Angeles thirty years ago, Stepfanie Kramer is almost a child of theatre. Her mother is a former model and was even a child prodigy at the age of eight, with her own country radio show. Her father was a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He will die regrettably when Stepfanie is twelve-years-old, but he had the time to communicate to his daughter an excessive love for music. In her adolescence, the girl is drawn to Joan Baez and The Rolling Stones, and while singing their songs, she wins several singing competitions. But since childhood, she's had another calling - acting, and enrolls in the American Academy of Arts, to study the dramatic arts. WHY STEPFANIE? It turns out she's good at it because in 1977, during her exit competition, she is noticed by one of the scouts at William Morris, the most famous talent agency in Hollywood. Some weeks later she is put under contract and makes her debut with two lines in Starsky and Hutch. She will appear in other series, among them Eight Is Enough before her name appears in the credits of the series Married: the First Year. By the way, what is the origin of curiously spelled first name? Answer: A do-it-yourself name change after the actress learned that her true name, Stephanie Kramer, was already used by another actress. No homonym on the other hand in the world of music where the young woman also decided to make her career. She writes and composes her own songs that she sings with the country group Doo-Wah Riders, and uses her double talent in musicals like Godspell, West Side Story, and the classics. On TV, we shall see her in Secret Empire, a science fiction mini-series, then in a multitude of series of like Dynasty, ?????????, Fantasy Island, The Devlin Connection, Vegas, Mike Hammer, and The A-Team. Tired of these occasional roles, she is delighted to get a co-starring role in We Got it Made, a sitcom in the purest American tradition, but for budgetary reasons her role is regrettably axed at the end of twenty episodes. THE PILOT OF RIPTIDE The actress will have no time to wallow, because two days later she is called by Stephen J. Cannell, the producer of Riptide for a new spinoff series which he has just created with his old collaborator Frank Lupo. The stakes are high. If the show is a success there is possiblity of it tunring into a regular series. Regrettably, her character will be cut from the series, and poor Stepfanie will once again see her hopes dashed. Even then, she will have no time to sink into depression because some weeks later Cannell shows that he did not forget her by calling her for a new series: HUNTER Do not confuse this Hunter with the other series of the same name created in 1977 by William Blinn, the creator of Starsky and Hutch. In that action series about espionage, the American public had notably been able to appreciate the return of a certain Linda Evans after a long time out of the business. This time, it is about the police force. And not of the slightest because Rick Hunter, the hero of the series, is the spiritual brother of Dirty Harry. A comparison that the critics will jump on when the series begins on NBC in September, 1984. And not always in a friendly way, because if the press often evokes the character created by Clint Eastwood it is mostly to regret the lack of Stephen's J. Cannell's imagination and especially of Frank Lupo, screenwriter of the pilot. HUNTER IS HUMAN Fred Dryer will not miss a chance to intervene to defend his character. " They say that Hunter is only a pale imitation of Harry, he will declare, but they have differences." Harry never makes in lace (??????), whereas Hunter can show a certain psychology. " And he makes a big plea to ease the attacks on his character: " Hunter is human," he adds, "he can make errors but he respects individuals, in particular those that he has the responsibility to protect." And he adds forcefully: " My character reflects the opinion of a good part of the population. He loathes crime in all its forms, in particular when it is committed by people who take advantage of certain positions to act with impunity." It is true that the series needed revamping in the first season, because for once the public seems to have agreed with some of the criticism of certain things that weighed down the series. For example the superiors whose only concerns seem to be to apply the regulation literally On this subject, this thankless job will be entrusted to several actors and different characters in the first episodes. But it will be the first one on the list, Captain Lester Cain, played by Michael Cavenaugh, that will get the honor and the advantage of sticking sergeant Dee Dee McCall with Rick Hunter... A TOUCH OF TENDERNESS A bad idea because instead of being a blow for the cop, this prickly accomplice, who possesses the features of Stepfanie Kramer, will turn out to be a follower of Hunter's philosophy. It is probably this character that will save the show. Because if the basic concept of the series doesn't raise much enthusiasm, the connection between the heroes brings a touch of tenderness which scores in this universe of violence. But in spite of this invaluable trump card, the series will have difficult days, so much that, by the middle of the season, the management of NBC is already talking cancellation. Then, on the Hunter team, a consensus is being established to raise a challenge: save the series. Nevertheless, the role is not easy because Dallas is siphoning off all the viewers. Leading this rescue, we find Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer, who agree to work more than fifteen hours a day to improve the quality of the episodes. Single, the actress playing Dee Dee McCall makes only the sacrifice for herself but, for Dryer who is the father of a young daughter, Caitlin, the psychological pressure is much stronger. Choosing between his private life and his professional life, he will opt finally for the second and will see his wife and his child leaving the family home, in which he is almost always absent... REAL HISTORIES The other point on which the series will try establish a reputation of quality will be to use real facts to supply the storylines. The screenwriters will search the files of the Los Angeles police force of Los Angeles and it will prove to be a true goldmine, and Dryer himself will soon be infected and dive himself with passion in the files that inspire the future adventures of his character. Attracted by this argument of realism, the public will reconsider its indifference, and, if the audiences remain light at the end of the season, the bar nevertheless will be sufficiently raised so that the series gets a second chance. In the second season, the team happily learns that its schedule of has changed. Without having to battle Dallas, Hunter will have more luck findind viewers and nobody wants to waste this chance. Facing again the infernal ratings that will decide their fate, during this second season the series does a true turnaround. For the second time in his life, Dryer becomes a superstar, while Stepfanie Kramer discovers with enjoyment this new status. Together, they form one of the foremost tandems on television, and, despite any logic, rumours are not going to delay running with their extra-professional relationship. A PRIESTHOOD (?????) With the vigor which characterizes their respective personalities Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer are going to deny at once the piece of information. Between them, there is only a robust relationship of friendship and complicity, following the example of the characters they play. Moreover a private life is a notion which became practically foreign since they entered priesthood with the series. "Some years ago I would have would have burst out laughing if someone had said to me that playing football was cushier than acting, declares Fred Dryer, but today I know that this is perfectly true." It is true that while filming twenty scenes a day and an episode a week, the Hunter team's performance deserves success. A triumph that will spread itself beyond the American screens since the series will penetrate little by little Into a good part of the countries of the world, of which France, where it is broadcast under the title Rick Hunter, Inspecteur Choc. But, even if he is happy to see his popularity soar, Fred Dryer begins feeling cramped in his role of TV star. Between two scenes, he paces like a caged lion in his luxurious lodging, and dreams of other activities. The realization for example, a domain that he will dread after convincing the production team to let him direct some episodes of Hunter. (Note: I have no idea what they're trying to say in the previous sentence!) To support his vague creative desires, he also invested a part of its earnings in a production company, and he awaits only to be available to do it full time. ATTENTION SHE SHOOTS! He says even that, during this season, the fourth one, he confided in secret his hope to see the series end An impossible wish, since the million dollars invested in each episode is a profitable investment considering the popularity of Hunter and his pretty sidekick. By the way, Stepfanie Kramer would have less tendency to spit in the soup, but it is necessary to say that the series is for her a better framework to blossom. As early as the beginnings of Hunter, her singing talents were taken seriously, and the episodes do not count any more where we see her exchanging her gun for a microphone. An exchange that she does not necessarily mind because with the series she confided an unsuspected passion for guns. It begins in the first season when she's handed a 44 Magnum to use in a scene. Without any training, she aims the cannon at the target and pulverizes the center while emptying her magazine. One understands therefore that after a course with an instructor at the LAPD, this gifted student became the pride of the Beverly Hills Gun Club, a shooting circle of which she is a full time member. Today, she does not leave without her 9 mm automatic Baretta since a stalker writes daily death threats to her. The price of fame for the one that all of America nicknamed "Step", and who had for the moment only two ambitions to feel perfectly happy: on one hand, put out the record that she's been working on for a long time with composer Mike Post (Hunter, A-Team, Hill Street Blues) and, on the other hand, succeed in convincing her idol Bruce Springsteen to appear in an episode of the series.