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	Police procedural Crime drama Mystery
Based on	Characters created by John Ball
Developed by	James Lee Barrett
Starring	Carroll O'Connor Howard Rollins Alan Autry Anne-Marie Johnson David Hart Christian LeBlanc Lois Nettleton Geoffrey Thorne Hugh O'Connor Carl Weathers Crystal R. Fox Denise Nicholas Randall Franks
Theme music composer	Quincy Jones (music), Alan and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) Christopher Page (arranger)
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 origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	142 + 4 TV movies (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Fred Silverman Juanita Bartlett David Moessinger Carroll O'Connor
Running time	44–48 minutes (without commercials)
Production companies	The Fred Silverman Company Juanita Bartlett Productions MGM/UA Television Productions MGM Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	March 6, 1988 (1988-03-06) – May 19, 1992 (1992-05-19)
Network	CBS
Release	October 28, 1992 (1992-10-28) – May 16, 1995 (1995-05-16)

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.

The show is a sequel to the 1967 film, whose events are said to have occurred "a few years ago" despite the show being set in the late 1980s–1990s, contemporary to its original broadcast. The show became known for the chemistry between the two lead actors, its engaging crime stories, and social commentary on issues that still carry relevance today. It was presumed that most people already knew the theme of the show based on the popularity of the original motion picture, with three of the major characters from the film brought to the series: Virgil Tibbs, Chief Gillespie and Courtney, who was renamed Parker.

To develop it as a weekly series, there were obvious changes that would have to justify Virgil Tibbs returning to Sparta. In the original film, he was from the North and had no connection to this small Southern town aside from passing through it on the way back home from visiting his mother. Neither he or Chief William "Bill" Gillespie were married in the film. In the series, Tibbs is married and an original Sparta native before he moved away after high school graduation. He has become fully acclimated to being a Northerner over the years and sees his hometown as backwards and slow. Gillespie, a World War II veteran, is a widower who lost both his Italian war bride and infant son within days of each other years before during childbirth.

In the pilot episode, the meticulous African-American Philadelphia homicide detective and criminal profiler Virgil Tibbs (Rollins) has returned to his hometown of Sparta, Mississippi for his mother's funeral. He is persuaded by Mayor James Findlay to remain in Sparta as Chief of Detectives, ranking right under the blustery older "good old boy" Bill Gillespie (O'Connor), the police chief with whom he fostered a relationship during a previous murder investigation. Gillespie is not pleased; he assumes the hiring of Tibbs is part of an attempt to oust him as chief. Findlay's motive for hiring Virgil is partially political: he wants to run for Congress, and hiring Tibbs to integrate the all-white Sparta police department would improve his record on civil rights. Tibbs' appointment as Chief of Detectives will also help to overcome the local squad's reputation of being racist, regressive and underskilled.

Another reason for Findlay to hire Tibbs is the detective's reputation as being one of the finest homicide cops in Philadelphia. Findlay doesn't have much confidence in Chief Gillespie solving the slaying of a popular young Sparta woman on his own. As a result, Gillespie and Tibbs are forced to team up to solve the crime. An innocent black man is framed for her death and jailed, and later he's found lynched in his cell. Gillespie is quick to call it a suicide and close the case, but Tibbs isn't convinced. The evidence from the murders of the young woman and innocent prisoner leads to the son of the rich prominent cotton mill owner in Sparta, who has been covering up his son's misdeeds.

Although the team suffers friction over Tibbs' dissatisfaction with the department's limited resources and racial attitudes and Gillespie is annoyed at the detective's condescending remarks about his hometown, the two men prove highly effective in enforcing the law. Over time, they develop a close friendship and become almost familial.

The show dealt with a variety of relevant issues over the seasons, including racism, police brutality, interracial relationships, rape, hate crimes, drug trafficking, drug addiction, teen pregnancy, adultery, alcoholism, AIDS, environmental crimes, incest, child abuse, sexual harassment, illegal immigration, euthanasia, anti-Semitism, labor strikes, political corruption, prostitution, domestic violence, mental disorders, dysfunctional families, suicide, capital punishment, poverty and drunk driving.

The series debuted as a midseason replacement for the NBC series J.J. Starbuck, premiering on Sunday, March 6, 1988, before moving into its regular time slot on Tuesday nights. The series ran on the network until May 19, 1992, when it moved to CBS and aired until May 16, 1995.

The first season was filmed on location in Hammond, Louisiana. Hammond was selected by James Lee Barrett, who wrote the pilot and was also the executive consultant for the show, to represent the small southern town of Sparta, Mississippi. The producers had difficulty finding usable filming locations, because other, more modern structures were close enough to be picked up in the images.^[1] Eight episodes were filmed—the two-hour pilot movie and six regular one-hour episodes. The series premiered on March 6, 1988, with the season finale airing on May 3.

Many conflicts arose between Juanita Bartlett and Carroll O'Connor over the writing of the series. At first, Bartlett allowed O'Connor to consult on the series per his contract. After the pilot, however, she ordered scripts from her writers. O'Connor described these as "recycled material from other crime shows". He was disappointed in the scripts, feeling that the writers were taking big-city stories and imposing them on a small town. He believed that the key to this show's success was to express its small-town locale and characters through the stories.^[2] Scripts would be given to him marked "FINAL: NO REWRITES", but O'Connor often rewrote scripts anyway, angering the production staff members, who felt they were burning up fax machines with the changes.^[2] O'Connor described Bartlett as a very arrogant person.^[1] If the show was going to be renewed, then O'Connor was not interested and threatened to quit the show unless the writing improved and Bartlett was replaced as executive producer.^[2] The early episodes were gritty, raw and considered groundbreaking for that time^{[citation needed]}. There was an emphasis on grisly murders or other crimes, rather than the lives of the New South-era characters, for which the series later became known.

First season ratings of Heat were good enough for NBC to give the series a second season spot on their fall schedule. Season 2 premiered on Sunday, December 4, 1988 due to the Writers Guild of America strike; like the pilot, it aired on Sunday, then went back to its regular prime time slot on Tuesdays. The season introduced a new look, cast changes and a new set of executive producers, Jeri Taylor and her husband David Moessinger, with on-location shooting moved from Hammond, Louisiana to Covington, Georgia, which remained as the primary filming location of the show for the duration of the series.^[3]

The season premiere was aired as a two-hour TV movie originally entitled "The Voodoo Murders", now known in syndication as "Don't Look Back". The plot revolved around copycat murders of one that Gillespie had investigated 20 years earlier, and he himself is also one of the targets for the unknown killer.^[4] Also, the Sparta city council was pushing Virgil Tibbs to run as a possible candidate for Chief of Police to replace Gillespie, but he showed little interest in doing so. Regardless, a rumor surfaces that Tibbs is after Gillespie's job, adding to the existing dissension between the two men and leads to a bitter blow up between them. Virgil also bumps heads with Parker and Bubba, making an already uncomfortable atmosphere even more so. Althea Tibbs, who was a stay-at-home wife in the first season, is offered a position as a teacher and guidance counselor at local Sparta High School by city Councilman Ted Marcus (Thom Gossom Jr.).

Gone was Christian LeBlanc, who portrayed Officer Junior Abernathy in the first season^[5]and in his place, Hugh O'Connor's role as Officer Lonnie Jamison was expanded. Added were two new regular characters—Joanne St. John (Lois Nettleton), the chief's sometime girlfriend and owner of the local diner, The Magnolia Cafe; and a cocky, young rookie officer, Willson Sweet (Geoffrey Thorne), fresh out of the police academy and the second black officer hired to serve on Sparta's police force.

The season also introduced the first of several new recurring characters, including general practitioner / county coroner Dr. Frank Robb (Dan Biggers). "The Creek" saw the introduction of the second prominent Georgia performer to claim a regular role on the series, Officer Randy Goode (1988-1993) played by Randall Franks, who was cast following the show's move to Covington. "Gunshot", where Virgil experiences guilt and mental distress after he shoots and kills a female robbery suspect, introduces a character with a criminal past who later becomes invaluable as an informant to Gillespie and the Sparta P.D., Jimmy Dawes (Afemo Omilami).

Other plots in this season included a minister promoting the racial integration of his church congregation suddenly ends up dead; Bubba accused of rape; Virgil has in-law blues when Althea's parents come to visit. Gillespie's girlfriend Joanne has a mysterious connection to an escaped felon; and Gillespie witnessing the execution of a now remorseful man (Paul Benjamin) whom he arrested years ago for his role in a bank robbery where two people were killed, a compelling episode that O'Connor wrote himself under the pseudonym Matt Harris ("A Trip Upstate").

During the filming of the episode "Walkout" in early 1989, O'Connor began to experience fatigue. After a medical examination, it was discovered that he needed sextuple heart bypass surgery, due to years of heavy smoking. The operation was scheduled almost immediately.^[6] For the last four episodes of the season, actor Joe Don Baker was brought in as retired police captain Tom Dugan, a temporary substitute for Chief Gillespie, who was said to be away at a police training conference at Quantico. The episodes where Gillespie was away were "Fifteen Forever", "Ladybug, Ladybug", "The Pig Woman of Sparta" and "Missing" (Gillespie appears briefly in the latter episode to announce his return). Dugan was appointed acting chief by Councilwoman White, but he was actually working as an FBI informant for two reasons: to get his teenage godson out of a white supremacist group that he joined, and an attempt to stop the assassination of a civil rights leader by that same group during his upcoming visit to Sparta (that is not revealed until the Season 3 episode "Anniversary").

The season finale "Missing" has the chief being kidnapped upon his return to Sparta by men in masks, and the police and the FBI are trying to locate him and those responsible. Virgil and Bubba suspect that Dugan is somehow involved, but find out otherwise; Dugan is murdered at the end. O'Connor wanted the chief to undergo heart surgery in the storyline, but Taylor and Moessinger came up with the Quantico / kidnapping plot instead. He also disliked the Dugan character being killed.

Although the ratings that season were impressive and would turn out to be the highest of the show's run, all was not well. The season finale didn't sit well with O'Connor and it was the final straw in a long line of complaints against Taylor and Moessinger, who were fired at the end of the season. O'Connor then became one of the executive producers for the duration of the series.^[1] When Taylor and Moessinger decided to do the show, Taylor was quoted, "I was one of those in the '60s that was out marching for civil rights...I was one of those who thought the major work had all been done. When we decided to do the show, we took research trips to the South and we saw that there had been an enormous amount of change. We came back with a renewed vigor but also with the realization that there is still a lot more to be done. There is still deeply entrenched racism. And addressing that became a much larger element in our thinking about the show."

Moessinger was quoted, "What makes race relations a constant in our show is the two lead characters-- one is white and one is black. Whether they are angry at each other, whether they're happy or sad, we're showing the interaction of two men who are trying to do the best in life. If we never put one race issue into it, if we never said one word about it, the message is there because it's showing how people ought to interrelate, how they ought to work together, how they ought to get along."^[7]

Season 3 premiered October 24, 1989 and by this time, O'Connor had taken complete control of the show as a scriptwriter and executive producer after firing Taylor and Moessinger. From that point on, he brought aboard writers and showrunners who shared his vision of where he wanted the series to go.

Althea Tibbs deals with the effects and aftermath of rape in the explosive season premiere. Upon returning home from the grocery store one afternoon after school, she is ambushed and sexually assaulted in her kitchen by Sparta High School's new music teacher, Stephen Ainslee (Ken Marshall). Althea had a strained relationship with him from the beginning because he objected to her authority and it culminated in the attack. The episode shows the Tibbs' and the Sparta police's exasperating attempts to bring the teacher to justice, with Althea having great difficulty coping afterwards.

The second part of the Season 2 finale, "Missing", is resumed in the third season's sixth episode, "Anniversary", where the Chief is freed by his captors after Dugan's murder; he recounts his experience after returning to Sparta and the story continues from there. It was supposed to be the original Season 3 premiere — the decision made by O'Connor to delay it displeased NBC because those episodes were not shown in chronological order. With the displacement of the episodes, it took longer for the audience to find out what the outcome of the finale was, or wondering if it was going to be addressed at all. O'Connor selected the "Rape" episode to kick off Season 3 instead because he felt it was more powerful and would attract higher ratings.

The crack cocaine epidemic takes hold amongst the youth of Sparta in the nightmarish "Crackdown", but Gillespie is in denial about how serious it really is, dismissing it as a big city problem. In this heartbreaking episode, Sweet risks his career to try to save the life of a 13-year-old addict, against Gillespie's orders. A young Vietnamese refugee arrives in town right before Christmas, claiming to be the son of a Sparta resident who was killed during the war. Bubba becomes a target of a backwoods family after he shoots and kills one of their brothers while they are robbing a store. Parker is upset when a woman he's interested in is a suspect in the death of a private investigator from New York who comes to Sparta looking for her.

The character of Joanne St. John was eliminated to make room for Sparta city Councilwoman Harriet DeLong as Chief Gillespie's future love interest, first as a recurring character, then later as a main cast member in Season 6. Her character was introduced in the episode "First Girl" as a city council member very critical of the police. An attractive and younger African–American divorcée, Harriet was a college graduate, outspoken and brimming with attitude, which was a turn-off to Gillespie and the two of them did not get along.

In "First Girl", Gillespie hires Christine "Chris" Rankin, Sparta's first black policewoman, who is later killed during her first day on duty in a shootout with a drug dealer and murder suspect, causing Gillespie despair and guilt. As a result, he is temporarily suspended from his duties as chief of police pending an investigation of the incident and the Sparta P.D. itself by the city council. Feeling responsible for what happened, he becomes intent on seeking out Rankin's killer. Her replacement was Officer LuAnn Corbin (Crystal R. Fox), who would remain a prominent character throughout the rest of the series, although Fox was listed in the ending credits as a guest star until Season 7 where she finally appeared in the opening credits. Hiring LuAnn opens the door for more policewomen to join the force; Officer Dee Shepard (Dee Shaw) is hired later in the season.

In the two-part season finale, "Citizen Trundel" (written by O'Connor, Cynthia Deming and William J. Royce), Harriet DeLong's younger sister, Natalie, is murdered by order of the married father of her nine-year-old son, a white multi-millionaire businessman, V.J. "Vidge" Trundel. The situation causes Harriet extreme anguish, rage and frustration, not only because of Natalie's death but because Chief Gillespie is reluctant to pursue the powerful Trundel as a suspect, which infuriates Harriet. Although others are eventually arrested for being complicit in the actual deed, she is determined to have the millionaire himself brought to justice. (The near-epilogue to the Trundel storyline picks up in Season 5's "Trundel's Will Be Done".)

These are the first episodes in which we see Bill and Harriet begin to form a connection beyond them always being in disagreement. During this period, he is able to see beyond her hardened exterior and finds a vulnerable and sensitive woman beneath it; she discovers his compassionate side. From this point on, a camaraderie is formed between the two. Their slow burning relationship gradually becomes a major storyline in the series, especially in the later seasons.

Art imitated life for Denise Nicholas, as her real-life sister had been slain a decade earlier and the culprit had never been caught. When O'Connor approached Nicholas about the topic of these episodes, she was stunned. It had upset her greatly and she had to write him a note explaining the situation, as he was unaware of the circumstances. He offered to have her not appear in the episodes, but she chose to do so to bring closure for her and her family. She was able to channel her unresolved grief into the role. Only O'Connor and director Leo Penn knew the truth during filming.^[8]

During the back half of Season 3, Howard Rollins took six weeks off when he entered a drug and alcohol rehab program to battle his addiction issues.^[9] He missed five episodes: "King's Ransom", "Triangle", "Hello In There", "December Days" and "An Angry Woman". MGM worked around his rehab schedule. Episodes were not necessarily aired in the order they were filmed, which explains why Tibbs was present one week and not the next. To explain Rollins' absence, Tibbs was said to be in New Orleans working with the FBI. Rollins considered suicide shortly before Christmas 1989, prompting his stay in rehab.^[9] O'Connor threatened to sue a tabloid which published a story saying that MGM and O'Connor had fired Rollins for being absent from the set due to his problems, which was untrue. Having been very close to Rollins, O'Connor was resolved to stand by him as much as he could.^[9] Nicholas said, "Carroll set the standard for loyalty. If he liked you, he really liked you and would be there for you."^[10]

Cynthia Deming and William J. Royce were promoted to main story editors. The season opens with a two-part episode entitled "Brotherly Love", which storyline hints at a similar theme as a Clint Eastwood film, Magnum Force, and the birth of Virgil and Althea's twins, William and Sarah. Althea had revealed her pregnancy at the end of the third season.

While Althea is waiting to go into labor, Tibbs' friend and ex-colleague from the Philadelphia P.D. is found dead and it's at first labeled as a suicide. Tibbs heads up to the big city to attend his funeral, only to learn his friend's demise was not by his own hand, but a homicide. Tibbs soon finds out that his friend was framed for the murder of a drug dealer and that sparked a fraudulent internal affairs investigation against him. There is corruption going on within the IA division of the Philly police department, and in the process of trying to clear his friend's name, Tibbs first becomes a target, then framed for murder himself. Chief Gillespie travels north to Pennsylvania to get Virgil out of jail, help him solve the mystery of what happened to his friend and seek justice for him, expose the corrupt officers and make it back home to Sparta in time for the twins' birth. William and Sarah Tibbs were welcomed into the world on September 18, 1990. Virgil's aunt Etta Kibbee moves into the Tibbs' household to help Althea care for the new babies.

Other stories include a quiet and unassuming teacher wrongfully accused of the molestation of a student, which ends with tragic consequences. Virgil's younger cousin is the prime suspect in a rash of burglaries that go terribly wrong, and jeopardizes Virgil's attempts to reunite his extended family. Gillespie and Harriet's growing friendship gets complicated once her ex-husband Vic Glendon returns to Sparta and is arrested for his participation in a robbery with two other men that resulted in murder; Harriet's teenage son Eugene is somehow involved out of loyalty to his father, and his dislike for the chief doesn't make things any easier. (This storyline continues towards the end of the season with Glendon's trial, where he is found guilty of first degree murder and receives a death penalty sentence.)

Sweet is devastated when an elderly friend of his is found by her husband murdered in her bookstore; Parker falls for a blind woman who is the only 'ear'-witness to the disappearance and eventual murder of her next door neighbor. Gillespie becomes the guardian of a pre-teen black boy whose family is torn apart by death, drugs and prison. Bubba going to Los Angeles to extradite a Sparta resident for arson where two people died was actually the first of two backdoor pilots for a series that featured Alan Autry, but neither were picked up by the network.

The season closes out with Virgil's line of work as a police officer becoming increasingly more minacious and Althea is worried for him, that he won't be around for their kids. She asks Virgil to consider a career change, one less dangerous. That turns out to be something he had in mind as well — the following season he becomes a law student on a compressed schedule while still retaining his rank as Captain on the Sparta police force, but now the focus is upon becoming an attorney.

The fifth season begins with the revelation that Chief Gillespie has a 19-year-old daughter, Lana (Christine Elise, formerly of Beverly Hills, 90210), who is unaware of whom her biological father is. The chief still is quite smitten with her mother, Georgia Farren (Stella Stevens), a free-spirited and indiscriminate woman who is in town to settle some personal business over property. Gillespie is only happy to assist. Lana was conceived when her mother was estranged from her spouse and she and Gillespie had an affair. However, she was never divorced from her husband, Ken, and they've remained separated since. Ken has harbored a grudge ever since and is looking for the opportunity to settle a score by deadly means.

Throughout the past season there was a tacit and very modest attraction blossoming between Chief Gillespie and Harriet DeLong. However, in the episode "The More Things Change", it escalates when Gillespie summons the courage to finally reveal his affections and kisses her after he drives her home one night from a dance. They both lament the likelihood that an interracial / May—December love relationship between the two of them would be frowned upon by most in Sparta. While most of the viewing audience responded positively to the Gillespie / DeLong romantic arc, there were others who were not pleased with the direction the series was taking with it, and were quite vocal in making it known to the actors via fan mail. However, the interracial pairing was something O'Connor had pushed hard for, and won.^[11]

Other storylines include D.A. Darnelle's daughter being kidnapped; Virgil's estranged Aunt Ruda is the only witness who can clear Bubba's name in a police shooting; Sweet's quest to discover the truth about the racially motivated murder of his grandfather in 1948 and those responsible for it (a story loosely based on the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, "Sweet, Sweet Blues"^[12]) and racists sabotaging a celebration honoring a Sparta civil rights pioneer in "Odessa", the first of six episodes written by Denise Nicholas. Despite enjoying her role as Harriet, she was bothered by the fact that although the show featured many storylines about black people, it lacked any black writers on staff. She complained about it to O'Connor, who admitted that she was right. He asked Nicholas if she could come up with a script idea for an episode, he would consider it. When she completed and submitted it, O'Connor liked it so much that he helped and encouraged her to write others for the series.^[13]

In the two-part season finale "Sanctuary" and "The Law on Trial", an angry Sheriff McComb has Gillespie, Tibbs and a priest, Father Antonio DeMarco (Cesare Danova), charged with obstruction of justice and harboring a fugitive after an escaped prisoner—a Salvadoran immigrant seeking asylum but is scheduled for deportation—is given sanctuary in a monastery and Gillespie and Tibbs don't arrest him when he refuses to give himself up. McComb also threatens to have them both fired from the force, and the Father is also charged with helping the prisoner escape from the monastery when McComb and his deputies go there to take him into custody. The prisoner is later shot and killed in a tense standoff with the sheriff's department. Towards the trial's end, Father DeMarco's heartfelt summation to the jury contributes to the case, at the very least, ending in a mistrial and the district attorney chooses not to retry the case (though that is not disclosed until Season 6).

The conflict between Sheriff McComb and Chief Gillespie lingers throughout the following season, affecting every crossover dealing with subsequent interactions between McComb's deputies and Gillespie's officers. Gillespie continuously tries to smooth things over between them after, but it isn't until near of the end of the next season that the two mend their differences. The episode and the season end with Gillespie and Tibbs awaiting the verdict in their respective residences on the evening the case is given to the jury, uncertain of what their fates will be. Bill and Harriet reconnect and spend the night together for the first time.

At the end of the original and final broadcast episode on NBC, it was revealed onscreen in text that since the jury couldn't reach a verdict, a mistrial is declared and the charges against all three men are dropped. (This text isn't seen in syndication.) This was done with NBC's presumption that it would also be the series finale, which it wasn't but it was the last Heat episode shown on that network.

At the beginning of Season 6, In the Heat of the Night moved from NBC to CBS.^[14] It was not publicly known when filming for Season 5 ended whether or not the show would continue. Even though the series still had respectable ratings, viewership had slipped slightly and by then, it was considered to be "on the bubble" — a phrase that describes something that is uncertain or at risk of being eliminated. It was speculated that the network wanted to focus more on shows that appealed to a younger and more urban demographic à la Miami Vice, L. A. Law, Homicide: Life on the Street (which was still in development at this time), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Law & Order; much of Heat's viewing audience was older. NBC had been hesitant in renewing the series, while other programs on the network had already been given the green light to return. Fearing being dropped without a chance to give the series a proper finale, Heat producers began to negotiate elsewhere. NBC ultimately decided to cancel the show, but only after rumors that a deal with a competitive network was imminent turned out to be true. Originally, CBS opted to pick up the series for only a set of six two-hour movies, a format that had been popular with other crime dramas that had been on the air for a while. However, it was eventually picked up for a full 22-episode order.

The first two episodes of the season see the surreptitious romance between Gillespie and DeLong intensify. They frequently meet in a small apartment that doubles as Harriet's art studio. However, they fall out when Harriet's son, Eugene, who disapproves of his mother's relationship with the police chief, witnesses a drive-by shooting involving rival drug gangs that took the life of his best friend. At first, he is unwilling to cooperate with the authorities, but later changes his mind, which upsets Harriet.

Other highlights from the season include a faded country music singer (Robert Goulet) who ends up committing murder; Althea is on the brink of a nervous breakdown after witnessing a student's brutal suicide; Gillespie and his estranged daughter Lana reconcile and develop a close relationship; LuAnn's slacker ex-con brother comes to town; a law school friend of Virgil's (Jason Beghe) is suspected of being involved in the death of an ex-girlfriend. Sweet is accused of soliciting a bribe from two racist car salesmen during an arrest; Bubba experiences his own type of fatal attraction when a woman he helped during a carjacking becomes obsessed with him. A two-part episode directed by Larry Hagman (who directed several later season Heat episodes) involves a white supremacist politician whose visit to Sparta has a couple of ulterior motives, including aspirations for a presidential run ("The Leftover Man").

The season ends with a well-known prison bishop working with Eugene in hopes of getting his father Vic's death row conviction commuted, but the bishop becomes a target for someone looking for revenge. Meanwhile, Harriet is conflicted about what her role in all of this is, as she and Gillespie have fallen in love and are considering a possible future together. However, she can't ignore Eugene's dissatisfaction over their relationship. She does, however, agree to see Vic in prison, commits to helping in his defense by hiring an attorney and they part on good terms.

Rollins was ultimately dropped from the show for health reasons plus having done a short stint in jail for three outstanding traffic violations in Rockdale and Newton counties and the city of Covington, where the show was filmed.^[15] He was replaced in Season 7 by Carl Weathers playing a different role. Filming began on April 28, 1993. Rollins had not been seen on the set since January 1993, when Season 6 wrapped. Despite numerous attempts by the media to get in touch with Rollins, who was believed to be living in New York City, only O'Connor was in contact with Rollins during this period with the hope that he would get his legal and personal issues resolved and return to the series in time.

At the end of Season 6, both Anne-Marie Johnson and Geoffrey Thorne exited the series. Rollins had undergone another round of rehab, and was able to return as a special guest star in the following season. Johnson felt that her character in the series had gone as far as it could go,^[16] so she departed for a starring role on the final season of Fox's sketch comedy series In Living Color. Thorne, whose episode appearances had dwindled throughout that season, went on to pursue a career as a novelist, screenwriter and producer; the character of Sweet simply vanished from the series without any explanation.

Season 7 opens with a new beginning for all in Sparta. Bill Gillespie is forced out of office and former Memphis, Tennessee Police Department Inspector Hampton Forbes (Carl Weathers) is hired by the city council as Sparta's first black police chief. After nearly three decades on the Sparta police force, Gillespie does not receive a new contract from the council partly because his love affair with Harriet DeLong is now out in the open. He was also blocking an economic redevelopment plan in Sparta that many were in favor of, including corrupt investors, but it would not be beneficial to the small business community (this was discussed towards the end of Seasons 5 & 6). He seems to be accepting of the outcome, while Harriet doesn't hesitate to show her fury over the decision. She constantly asks the council to vote again, but her requests are rejected. Meanwhile, Gillespie looks to the future with the purchase of a new home.

The transition from Gillespie being in charge to Forbes taking over is slightly uneasy at the very start, but soon things smooth out. Gillespie's final case as Sparta's chief of police is a fatal shooting of a neighbor by a nine year old boy and it must be decided what is to be done with him.

However, Gillespie is soon appointed as the interim Sheriff of Newton County when Nathan McComb suffers a heart attack and is too ill to continue his duties. Gillespie's function was solely to finish out McComb's term. This new appointment for Gillespie angers his enemies on the city council. They want an investigation, which is upsetting and hurtful for Harriet. However, Gillespie and Forbes seem unbothered by the drama and find that they get along and work together well.

Other cases involve a nine-year-old girl being killed because of a drunk driver; Christine Elise, who had several guest spots during Season 6, makes one final appearance as Bill's daughter in the episode "A Love Lost", in which Gillespie must protect her from her on-again/off-again boyfriend involved in a gun-running scheme in Sparta. Forbes has to juggle mentoring a young boxing protégé who can't seem to stay out of trouble, and a fiancée from Memphis who has very different plans for their future together; Parker's oddball stepfather, Roy Eversole (Pat Hingle, first seen in Season 6) returns from Florida with his lady friend Miss Roda (Anne Meara) in a comedic episode; Gillespie must once again confront his bigoted past when a new synagogue moves into Sparta and is repeatedly vandalized. The rabbi (Jerry Stiller) detests Gillespie, who in the 1960s was serving as an officer on the all-white racist Sparta police force, and the police refused to investigate the arson of the city synagogue back then, despite knowing the identity of the felon.

In the episode "Ches and the Grand Lady", Bobby Short reprises his role as Ches Collins, the blues musician from "Sweet, Sweet Blues" in Season 5. The episode also guest stars Jean Simmons as a dying grand dame of Sparta who is Ches's old flame and the overbearing great-aunt of Lonnie Jamison. Bubba spends time in Atlanta to try to help his nephew, who is hospitalized due to a drug overdose. Harriet's son Eugene once again finds himself at odds with the police, endangering his parole trying to help a friend.

Virgil Tibbs returns from Jackson with his juris doctor — which explains his absence — in his new capacity as attorney in three episodes ("Virgil Tibbs: Attorney at Law", "Good Cop, Bad Cop", "Conspiracy of One"). At first, with Rollins' role reduced significantly and Johnson gone altogether, scripts were written to imply that the Tibbses were simply away or living in Jackson until Virgil completed his studies and graduated from law school. However, upon his return, he reveals to Gillespie in "Virgil Tibbs: Attorney at Law" that he and Althea are separated, and she chose to take their twins back home to Philadelphia, fed up with her life in Sparta and traumatized from all that had happened to her while living there. She didn't want to save the marriage so they later divorce. Virgil is heartbroken over the collapse of his marriage and being away from his kids, but he does not contest, although he has difficulty accepting his new status as a single man. The episode "Conspiracy of One", where Virgil is in danger of losing his police pension and also suspects that one of his law firm's clients orchestrated an "accident" which resulted in his spouse's death, marks Howard Rollins' final appearance on the show (February 2, 1994), and officially ends the Tibbs storyline in the series.

Finally, in "Dangerous Engagement", Chief Forbes serves as best man at the wedding of Gillespie and DeLong at the same church involved in the "Sanctuary" case from Season 5 on May 4, 1994,^[17] but not before a vengeful gunman hunting McComb mistakes Gillespie for the former sheriff and terrorizes the couple.

The season and the TV series wrapped up with a two-hour movie of the week, "Give Me Your Life", guest starring Peter Fonda as Marcantony Appfel, leader of a religious cult, the Celestials, in which the sexual abuse of children is rumored to have occurred. The newly married Gillespies go to New Orleans for their honeymoon but as the situation with the Celestials escalates, they soon return to Sparta. The story (by O'Connor and written by Cynthia Deming and William J. Royce) is loosely based on the real-life drama and Waco siege in Texas in 1993 with the cult leader David Koresh and his followers, the Branch Davidians. A series of articles was published in the Waco Tribune-Herald in early 1993 about Koresh being labeled "The Sinful Messiah" and the main topic of the Heat script stemmed from that, prior to the siege taking place.

Four made-for-television movies were produced for CBS during the 1994–95 season, continuing the series. Once released on DVD, these movies were considered the eighth and final season of the show.^[18] The movies were:

• A Matter of Justice (October 21, 1994)
• Who Was Geli Bendl? (December 9, 1994)
• By Duty Bound (February 17, 1995)
• Grow Old Along with Me (May 16, 1995)

Howard Rollins was not the only cast member who had struggled with addiction issues. O'Connor's son and Heat cast member Hugh O'Connor died by suicide nearly two months before the fourth film aired, having fought with substance abuse problems since his teen years and had been in and out of rehab numerous times.^[19] When the film was broadcast in its original, two-hour format, a black screen was added in between the intro tag and the opening title; it read "In memory of Hugh O'Connor: 1962–1995".

• Carroll O'Connor as Chief William O. "Bill" Gillespie
• Howard Rollins as Chief of Detectives Virgil Tibbs (seasons 1–6; guest season 7)
• Alan Autry as V. L. "Bubba" Skinner
• Anne-Marie Johnson as Althea Tibbs (seasons 1–6)
• David Hart as Parker Williams
• Christian LeBlanc as Junior Abernathy (season 1)
• Lois Nettleton as Joanne St. John (season 2)
• Geoffrey Thorne as Willson Sweet (seasons 2–6)
• Hugh O'Connor as Lonnie Jamison
• Carl Weathers as Chief Hampton Forbes (seasons 7–8)
• Crystal R. Fox as LuAnn Corbin (seasons 3–8)
• Denise Nicholas as Sparta City Councilwoman Harriet DeLong (seasons 3–8)
• Randall Franks as Randy Goode (seasons 2–6)
• C.C. Taylor as Charlie Peake (seasons 3–8)
• Dee Shaw as Dee Shepard (seasons 3–8)
• Harvey E. Lee Jr. as Ken Covey (seasons 6–8)
• Mark Johnson as Luke Everett (seasons 6–8)

• Thom Gossom Jr. as Sparta City Councilman Ted Marcus (seasons 2–8)
• Tonea Stewart as Etta Kibbee (season 4–7)
• Dan Biggers as Dr. Frank "Doc" Robb (seasons 2–8)
• Wilbur Fitzgerald as District Attorney Gerard Darnelle (seasons 3–8)
• Afemo Omilami as Jimmy Dawes (seasons 2–6)
• Rugg Williams as Eugene Glendon (seasons 4–7)
• John Wesley as Vic Glendon (seasons 4–6)
• Fran Bennett as Ruda Gibson (seasons 4–6)
• Christine Elise as Lana Farren (seasons 5–7)
• Ron Culbreth as Sheriff Nathan McComb (seasons 3-7)
• Burgess Meredith as Judge Cully (seasons 6–7)
• Joe Don Baker as retired Captain Tom Dugan (season 2)
• Pat Hingle as Roy Eversole (seasons 6–7)
• Jen Harper as Dr. Winona Day (seasons 5–7)
• Dennis Lipscomb as Mayor Jim Findlay (season 1)
• Bob Penny as Louis Alvin Epp (seasons 3–6)
• Scott Brian Higgs as Randy Calhoun (seasons 3–7)
• Wallace Merck as Earl "Holly" Colmer Sr. (seasons 5–8)
• Karen Carlson as Sarah Hallisey (seasons 5–7)
• Adair Simon as Emily Trundel (seasons 3 & 5)
• Christopher Allport as District Attorney Myron Dutton (season 2)
• Michael Burgess as Tyrell Gibson (seasons 4–6)
• Maureen Dowdell as Tracey Boggs (seasons 5–8)
• Christopher Lobban as Bobby Johnson (seasons 4–7)
• Barbara Lee–Belmonte as Deputy Christina Surillo (seasons 7–8)

• Carroll O'Connor (1989–1995) as Matt Harris
• Kathy McCormick (1988)
• Mark Rodgers (1989–1990)
• David Moessinger (1988–1989)
• Jeri Taylor (1988–1989)
• Edward Deblasio (1989–1990)
• Nancy Bond (1988–1990)
• William J. Royce (1989–1994)
• Cynthia Deming (1990–1994)
• Robert Bielak (1990–1991)
• Mitch Schneider (1990–1994)
• Joe Gannon (1991–1994)
• Denise Nicholas (1992–1994)
• Terri Erwin (1989–1991)
• Bill Taub (1991)

Both Carroll O'Connor and Howard Rollins received prestigious awards for their work on the show in 1989. O'Connor received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series^[20] , and was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. O'Connor is a part of an elite class of few actors who has ever won Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in both the comedy and drama categories. Howard Rollins' performance on the series earned him the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, his second.^[21] Anne-Marie Johnson was also nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Althea Tibbs that year,^[22] and also Lois Nettleton was an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.^[23]

In the Heat of the Night won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Drama Series (formally Outstanding Drama Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie), two years in a row, 1992 and 1993. The 1992 win was specifically for the Season 5 episode, "Sweet, Sweet Blues".

Like the original movie, the television series also took place in a fictionalized version of Sparta, Mississippi. While there is a real Sparta located in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, the version of Sparta shown on television is very different from the real town. For example, the TV Sparta is situated along Interstate 20 in Newton County, while the real town is nowhere near any interstate. During the first season, Hammond, Louisiana was the site of the show's production. In the second season, the show was moved to Georgia, to an area east of Atlanta and it remained there for the rest of its run. The principal area of Sparta was in fact downtown Covington, Georgia. Rural scenes were filmed in a wide surrounding area, in the Georgia counties of Newton (where Covington is located), Rockdale, Walton, Morgan, and Jasper. Decatur in Dekalb County was used as a stand-in for an episode as the Mississippi Capital city of Jackson, and Atlanta itself was used in one episode, in which Bubba worked on a case there. During the series' run, many of the cast members had homes in the area and were often spotted in local restaurants and retail stores. The cast members would also go around to local schools to speak to students.

TGG Direct released the first season on DVD in Region 1 on August 30, 2012.^[24] The eighth and final season was released on June 11, 2013.^[25]

On October 23, 2012, TGG Direct released an 8-disc best-of set entitled In the Heat of the Night – 24hr Television Marathon.^[26]

TGG Direct released seasons 4 and 5 onto DVD on December 10, 2013. However, due to licensing issues, the following episodes are missing from the box set: Brotherly Love, Shine On Sparta Moon, Sweet, Sweet Blues, Sanctuary, Law On Trial.^[27][28]

TGG Direct released seasons 2 & 3 in a single boxed set onto DVD on March 11, 2014. However, due to clearance issues, the following episodes are excluded – Season 2 Excluded Episodes: The Family Secret, The Hammer and the Glove, A Trip Upstate, Intruders, Sister Sister, Walkout; Season 3 Excluded Episodes: Fairest of Them All, Crackdown, Anniversary, My Name is Hank, King's Ransom, A Loss of Innocence, Home is Where the Heart Is, Indiscretions, Citizen Trundel Part 1 and Part 2

TGG Direct also released seasons 6 and 7 in individual boxed sets onto DVD on March 11, 2014. However, due to clearance issues, the following episode is excluded from Season 6: Random's Child and the following episodes are excluded from Season 7: Singin' The Blues, Every Man's Family, Maybelle Returns, Ches and the Grand Lady, Dangerous Engagement.

The series entered into syndication in early 1996, after its initial run ended on CBS in May, 1995. It was first available to be seen on the Atlanta-based basic cable network TNT (American TV network) from that time on and since then, it has never left the air. The reruns have remained popular over the years, gaining new viewers who didn't watch the series the first time around.

Heat airs in broadcast syndication on Ovation. Ovation airs the show every Monday and Tuesday afternoon for five hours from 2:00 PM ET to 7:00 PM ET back to back. WGN America previously aired the series every weekday morning starting at 11AM ET for 4 hours usually until 3PM ET Monday through Thursday. WGN aired the show Fridays, too, at the same time. Ovation now has moved the show to Monday mornings from 8 AM to 2 PM as part of their "Morning Mysteries" crime and mystery drama block, and Thursdays at 10 PM/9 PM ET/CT (or sometimes 11 PM/10 PM ET/CT.). The show also aired Tuesdays nights at 7PM ET, but was scaled down to just a Thursday airing starting December 7, 2020. MeTV also acquired the rights to the show and it began airing in around either 2018 or 2019, running it every weekday beginning at 11AM ET/10AM CT until 2025. The show previously aired on TNT from 1996 to 2005. The show has remained relatively strong in syndication to this day, particularly airing on some local stations. Bounce TV began airing reruns of the series starting September 13, 2021.

Paid streaming platforms Amazon Prime, MGM+, Apple TV (streaming service) and other free ad-supported platforms such as Tubi, Plex, The Roku Channel and Pluto TV also show the series on a regular basis or on demand.

The theme song, "In the Heat of the Night", was originally recorded by Quincy Jones, featuring Ray Charles on vocals and piano for the movie. It is usually paired with "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs" on albums. Bill Champlin of the band Chicago sang the opening theme song for the television series.

The original song itself is supposed to be from Virgil's point of view, being a stranger in a hostile environment. In the case of the TV series, the lyrics refer to both main characters fighting crime in the tiny town of Sparta.

Randall Franks and Alan Autry co-produced the cast CD Christmas Time's A Comin' for Sonlite and MGM/UA, featuring the entire cast and a host of music stars. It was released Christmas 1991 and 1992, and was among the top holiday recordings of those years around the South and Midwest.

• In the Heat of the Night at IMDb
• Crystal Reel Award