| Genre: | Crime drama |
| Composer: | Barry DeVorzon Joseph Conlan |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 6 (+ pilot) |
| Editor: | John F. Link (pilot) |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Network: | ABC |
The Renegades is an American action crime drama television series about a street gang that becomes a special police undercover unit in order to avoid jail time.[1] The show starred Patrick Swayze as "Bandit", the leader of the gang.[2]
The two-hour television movie backdoor pilot for this series aired on August 11, 1982.
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. Roger Spottiswoode directed the TV movie pilot that premiered on August 11, 1982 and a six-episode series was broadcast in Spring 1983. It had weak ratings and ABC cancelled the show.