SYNOPSIS

The most popular of fledgling Fox Broadcasting's first-season shows was this teen-oriented police series.

The four youthful officers featured were members of a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department that fought crime in the schools. Hanson, Penhall, Hoffs, and Ioki could all pass as students, and went undercover every week in local high schools to deal with drug trafficking, extortion, school gangs, teenage prostitution, murders, and other "typical" teenage problems.

The building in which the special unit was based was an abandoned Chapel at 21 Jump Street, hence the show's title. Captain Jenko, an eccentric nonconformist, was the original supervisor of the group. He was killed by a drunk hit-and-run driver and was replaced by Adam Fuller, who preferred to do things by the book.

Most episodes ended with one of the cast members doing a public service announcement suggesting agencies or counseling services that were available to teens facing the problems dramatized in that week's story.

Officers Penhall and Hanson had their romantic problems during the 1988-1989 season. Penhall's live-in girlfriend, Dorothy, dumped him, while Hanson had a terminal fight with his steady, Jackie Garrett, who worked in the D.A.'s office. It was also during this season that streetwise Dennis Booker joined the Jump Street team (he left in 1989 for his own series, Booker), as did Blowfish, a well-meaning but nerdy klutz who did maintenance work at the Jump Street precinct.

When Fox dropped 21 Jump Street from its schedule in 1990, the series continued in first-run syndication. Two new officers were added to replace the departed Hanson and Ioki, Mac McCann and Doug Penhall's younger brother, Joey. Doug, who had been caring for his orphaned nephew Clavo, was still around, as was Judy Hoffs, the only original member of the team to have passed the test for promotion from officer to Detective.

In December 1990, after surviving a near-fatal shooting, Doug quit the force to become part owner of a bowling alley, not because of fear for himself, but to raise Clavo in a more stable environment.

21 Jump Street was filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia.