A follow-up to the 1967 movie of the same name, this 1988 police drama finds visiting officer Virgil Tibbs (now played by Howard Rollins), who helped solve a murder case in Sparta, MS 'a few years' earlier, accepting an offer to be the new Chief of Detectives. Carol O'Connor played his boss, police chief Gillespie. The series had its share of behind-the-scenes issues. O'Connor missed several episodes for surgery (Joe Don Baker spelled him); Howard Rollins took six weeks off during season three to deal with substance abuse. When it came time to film season seven, Rollins was nowhere to be found, possibly because there were warrants out for his arrest. He did eventually make a few guest appearances in the final season, which featured Carl Weathers as Chief of Police and O'Connor as the new Sheriff. O'Connor's son Hugh, cast member from season two onward, also had substance abuse issues and committed suicide after the last follow-up tv movie. The theme song was written for the original film by Quincy Jones with Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Ray Charles performed it in the movie; Bill Champlin did the honors for the tv series.
00:00 Opening titles, season one.
01:00 Opening titles, season four.
02:01 Opening titles, season seven.
03:01 End credits, season four.
