In the Heat of the Night (TV series)

In the Heat of the Night
Foreground: Carroll O'Connor; left middle: Howard Rollins; back row left to right: Hugh O'Connor; David Hart; Geoffrey Thorne; Alan Autry
Genre
Based onCharacters created by John Ball
Developed byJames Lee Barrett
Starring
Theme music composer
Opening theme"In the Heat of the Night" performed by Bill Champlin
Ending theme"In the Heat of the Night" (instrumental; excluding the pilot)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes142 + 4 TV movies (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Running time44–48 minutes (without commercials)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseMarch 6, 1988 (1988-03-06) –
May 19, 1992 (1992-05-19)
NetworkCBS
ReleaseOctober 28, 1992 (1992-10-28) –
May 16, 1995 (1995-05-16)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

In the Heat of the Night is an American police procedural crime drama television series loosely based on the 1965 novel by John Ball and the 1967 film directed by Norman Jewison. The TV series starred Carroll O'Connor as police chief William "Bill" Gillespie and Howard Rollins as police detective Virgil Tibbs. The series was broadcast on NBC from March 6, 1988 to May 19, 1992, before moving to CBS, where it aired from October 28, 1992 to May 16, 1995. Its executive producers were O'Connor, Fred Silverman and Juanita Bartlett. This series marked O'Connor's return to a series for the first time since the All in the Family spinoff Archie Bunker's Place ended in 1983.