5 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘In the Heat of the Night’

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, from left: Carl Weathers, Carroll O'Connor, 1988-95. — Tony Esparza/MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

30 years ago today, on May 16, 1995, In the Heat of the Night aired its final episode (well, actually a TV movie), capping of its eight season run — not a bad run for a show that was based on a film that was more than 20 years old when the series premiered.

In the original 1967 movie, Sidney Poitier starred as Virgil Tibbs, a gifted Philadelphia police detective who finds himself drawn into a murder investigation in Sparta, Mississippi, where he must work alongside a racist police force and citizenry. The show began with the same premise, with Howard Rollins cast as Mr. Tibbs, and Carroll O’Connor appearing as local Police Chief Bill Gillespie, a role originated by Rod Steiger. But over the course of its 147 episodes (plus several made-for-TV movies), the show sprawled in a number of directions, with episodes touching on modern issues like the AIDS epidemic, drugs and sexual harassment, while continuing to examine racism, corruption, and other problems explored in the original film.

The show, which airs on MeTV weekdays at 11 am EST, still packs a punch decades later. Read on to dive deep into the world of Sparta, Mississippi.

1 It was Carroll O’Connor’s return to TV

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, Carroll O'Connor, 1988-94

Everett Collection

O’Connor spent decades as a character actor, starring on Broadway but typically nabbing smaller parts in films and TV shows, before he landed his role of a life time: Archie Bunker, the boorish everyman at the heart of All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place. Between the two series combined, O’Connor spent 13 years playing Bunker — so America instantly associated him with the loud-mouthed New Yorker he’d devoted the better part of two decades to playing.

After a five year break, O’Connor returned as In the Heat of the Night‘s Gillespie — a small-town sheriff who was in many way’s Bunker’s opposite. O’Connor was particularly focused on the small-town part of the show — so much so that, in 1988, after the first season, he complained to The Washington Post that the show’s writers “were taking big-city stories and imposing them on a small town. It was like having ‘Miami Vice‘ plots forced into a little-town setting.”

O’Connor’s demands forced the original executive producer out, but he might have had the right idea — O’Connor eventually won an Emmy for his work on the show, and both Rollins and the show received NAACP Awards.

2 O’Connor often rewrote scripts (even after producers asked him not to)

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, from left: Howard E. Rolins Jr., Carroll O'Connor, 1988-1995,

MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

Speaking of O’Connor’s complaints about the scripts — the actor often decided that the best way to deal with script problems was to rewrite them himself. Though scripts often came to him with the phrase “No Rewrite” stamped on them by producers, O’Connor told the Washington Post that “I’d rewrite anyway, and they got furious. I didn’t care. We’re burning up the fax machines.” In fact, O’Connor was said to have written multiple episodes of the show, under the name Matt Harris.

3 A number of cast members struggled with their health on set

In the Heat of the Night Hugh O'Connor, 1988-1995

MGM/Everett Collection

In the second season, O’Connor began to feel fatigued while shooting; he ended up needing an emergency sextuple bypass, leading his character to be written off the show for a few episodes. His co-lead, Howard Rollins, struggled with substance issues throughout the show; at the start of the second season, he was arrested for drug possession, and the third season was short around the actor’s prolonged stay in rehab. Rollins was fired from the show after the end of season six; though attempts were made by the media to contact him, O’Connor was the only person known to be in touch with him. Rollins was replaced on the series by Carl Weathers.

Most tragically, O’Connor’s son, Hugh O’Connor, who appeared on the show as Lonnie Jamison on seasons 2-6, died by suicide during the show’s final season, after a long battle with drug abuse. He was 33.

4 The cast released … a Christmas album?

On a lighter note, the cast made the fun if surprising decision to release a Christmas album in 1991, Christmas Time’s A Comin’ . The album featured top bluegrass performers and, yes, the primary cast of the show on vocals, including O’Connor. The album raised money for drug-prevention charities, and, as you can see if you watch the above video to the end of , many musicians decided to participate just because they really liked the show.

5 Bubba Skinner almost got a spin-off

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, Alan Autry, 1988 - 1994.

MGM Television/ Courtesy: Everett Collection

Football player-turned-actor Alan Autry played fan favorite police officer Bubba Skinner on the series, and at one point, there was discussion of giving him his own show, where, as Autry explained at the time, “Bubba would go out to Los Angeles on a case — which he already did the past season — and find himself being asked to stay on in law enforcement on the West Coast.”

That show never materialized, but things still turned out alright for Autry — he appeared on two seasons of Grace Under Fire, and at the start of the 2000s, served two terms as the mayor of Fresno, California.