The Renegades was a short-lived ABC TV show from 1982 about a gang that is given the option of going to jail for their crimes or becoming a special police undercover unit. The star of The Renegades, and leader of the gang, was The Bandit played by Patrick Swayze. The gang's police handler is Captain Scanlon played by Kurtwood Smith. Kurtwood Smith went on to play the father in the That '70s Show. In this drama, undercover investigators are recruited from the streets to prevent arms smugglers from getting their weapons to street gangs. After the success of the movie The Warriors, Hollywood... looked to take the youth gang concept and market it to TV. In 1981, Swayze did a TV show, Return of the Rebels, about an aging motorcycle gang who get together to help a friend who owns a popular campground that is being threatened by a band of arrogant groupies. However the show didn't catch on and was quickly canceled. Brother team Lawrence and Charles Gordon tried to market Swayze's rebel look, combine the gang concept with a police angle and came up with The Renegades. It too didn't do well and due to weak rating ABC pulled the show. The cancellation didn't hurt the people behind the camera.
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