About this season
In the Heat of the Night is an American television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name starring Carroll O'Connor as the white police chief William Gillespie, and Howard Rollins as the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995. Its executive producers were Fred Silverman, Juanita Bartlett and Carroll O'Connor. TGG Direct released the first season of the series to DVD on August 28, 2012.
Episodes (22)
1. Don't Look Back (1)
8.0Aired 4 December 1988 • 48 min
A copycat recreates a shocking unsolved murder from the past.Gillespie feels threatened after Ted Marcus suggests that Virgil should become the Chief.The situation becomes more tense after Virgil criticizes Parker and Bubba's actions.
2. Don't Look Back (2)
8.0Aired 4 December 1988 • 48 min
Tibbs,Gillespie and Bubba pursue different leads in a bizarre murder case and the Chief realizes that the killer has plans for him.
3. Family Secret
8.0Aired 6 December 1988 • 48 min
The murder of well respected man turns up a shocking secret about his family.
4. The Hammer and the Glove
9.0Aired 13 December 1988 • 48 min
Virgil is delighted when Matthew his former partner from Philidelphia comes to visit.But he soon learns his friend has another purpose for coming to Sparta.Althea is uncomfortable because she and Matthew were romantically involved before she met Virgil and she realizes that he is unwilling to accept the fact that she chose Virgil over him.Meanwhile the F.B.I. enlist Sparta P.D.'s aid in hiding a witness.
5. Prisoners
8.0Aired 20 December 1988 • 48 min
Sweet risks his life to prove that the Sheriff of a neighboring county is guilty of the racially motivated murder of a young man that Sweet was friends with in high school.
6. Hot Nights
7.0Aired 27 December 1988 • 48 min
Bubba is seduced by an alluring writer who has more on her mind than romance.Bill and Virgil worry that he is in over his head.Bubba tries to protect her from her estranged husband, but things get complicated after she shoots someone.
7. Gunshots
8.0Aired 3 January 1989 • 48 min
Virgil is forced to shoot a suspect in an armed robbery.He has trouble dealing with the consequences of his actions, after he realizes the person he shot was a teenaged girl - and no one can locate the gun he believed she was pointing at him.
8. Country Mouse, City Mouse
8.0Aired 10 January 1989 • 48 min
Virgil's visiting niece and Bubba's nephew team up in an effort to escape the boredom of small town life.But they get more excitement than they bargained for when they cross paths with a dangerous parolee.
9. Stranger in Town
8.0Aired 17 January 1989 • 48 min
Gillespie suspects that JoAnn's new cook is connected to the murder of a young prostitute.But Virgil suspects the culprit maybe a local pimp who has been intimidating the women.
10. Tear Down the Walls
9.0Aired 31 January 1989 • 48 min
A minister who was integrating his church(by inviting Virgil and Althea to attend services)is poisoned.
11. A Trip Upstate
10.0Aired 7 February 1989 • 47 min
In this thought provoking episode.Gillespie is surprised when a man he arrested asks to see him on the eve of his execution.He must confront his feelings about the death penalty when the prisoner asks him to witness his death.
12. A.k.a Kelly Kay
8.0Aired 14 February 1989 • 48 min
The past comes back to haunt JoAnn in the form of an escaped convict.
13. These Things Take Time
7.0Aired 21 February 1989 • 48 min
14. Intruders
8.0Aired 7 March 1989 • 48 min
The police search for a burglar who preys on elderly women.And the prime suspect is the son of a city councilwoman.
15. The Creek
8.0Aired 14 March 1989 • 47 min
The investigation of a possible assault brings back nightmarish and confusing childhood memories for Virgil.
16. Sister, Sister
8.0Aired 21 March 1989 • 48 min
A vivacious socialites return to Sparta delights her ailing father and childhood friend Virgil, but her sister is less than thrilled at her homecoming.After their father is poisoned the jealous siblings become suspects in his murder.
17. Walkout
8.0Aired 28 March 1989 • 48 min
A bitter strike leads to a murder investigation on a snowy day in Sparta.
18. Accused
8.0Aired 4 April 1989 • 48 min
Bubba tries to rescue a woman from a rapist, but she mistakes him for her attacker.Gillespie tangles with an ambitious district attorney who plans to use the case to further his career.
19. Fifteen, Forever
8.0Aired 25 April 1989 • 48 min
Sparta grieves after a drunk driver causes a fatal crash with high school cheerleaders on their way home from a game.While the officers try to find other driver, Althea tries to help the victim's families deal with their loss. The accident brings back painful memories for retired officer Tom Dugan.Meanwhile, district attorney Dutton accuses the department of being inadequate.
20. Ladybug, Ladybug
8.0Aired 2 May 1989 • 48 min
With the Chief in Quantico Bubba and Virgil try to catch a serial arsonist.Things get complicated after a man dies in one of the fires.And Councilwoman White stirs things up by appointing Tom Dugan acting chief of police in Gillespie's absence.
21. The Pig Woman of Sparta
9.0Aired 9 May 1989 • 48 min
It seems that a serial killer has been burying his victims in a wooded area owned by a wealthy hermit that Virgil refers to as ""Sparta's Howard Hughes"". Suspicion immediately falls on an eccentric woman who lives in the woods with her pigs and chases away trespassers with a shotgun.The officers ask the landowner's disturbed son for help and Bubba is surprised to find that a woman he attended high school with is working as the man's ""nurse"".Also Parker and Sweet compete with one another to solve the case.
22. Missing
10.0Aired 16 May 1989 • 48 min