In the Heat of the Night

It was loosely based on the Academy Award -winning 1967 film of the same title directed by Norman Jewison, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger and was in turn inspired by the 1965 novel by John Ball.

The TV series starred O'Connor as Southern police chief William "Bill" Gillespie and Rollins as Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs. The series was broadcast on NBC from March 6, 1988, to May 19, 1992, then it moved to CBS 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 spin-off Archie Bunker's Place ended in 1983.