21 Jump Street is an hour-long police drama television series that aired on the FOX Network from April 12, 1987 to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103episodes. The crime drama focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools and other teenage venues. Created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell, the series was produced by the studio Stephen J. Cannell Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The show was an early hit for the fledgling FOX Network, and was created to attract a younger audience. The final season aired in first-run syndication mainly on local FOX affiliates. It was later completed in rerun syndication on the FX cable network (a sister company to FOX) from 1996 to 1998. The series provided a spark to Johnny Depp's nascent acting career, garnering him national recognition as a teen idol. Depp found this status an irritant, but he continued on the series under his contract, from which he was released after the fourth season. A spin-off series, Booker, was produced for the character of Dennis Booker (Richard Grieco); it ran one season, from September 1989 to June 1990.