[3] Hatch began working in television in 1970 when he starred as Philip Brent in the daytime soap opera All My Children, a role he played for two years.

In the following years, he made guest appearances in prime time series such as Cannon; Nakia; Barnaby Jones; The Rookies, Hawaii Five-O; and The Waltons; as well as appearing in several made-for-TV movies such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (1974) with Susan Sarandon;The Hatfields and the McCoys (1975) with Jack Palance; Addie and the King of Hearts (1976) with Jason Robards; and the 1978 television movie Deadman's Curve, in which he portrayed Jan Berry of the musical duo Jan and Dean, alongside Bruce Davison as Dean Torrence.

In 1978, Hatch gained a starring role in Glen A. Larson's sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica (1978), which aired for a single season before its high cost motivated its cancellation by ABC-TV.

[5][6] However, because Hatch held out for more money in the series' toy merchandising with Mattel, his character was conspicuously absent in its action figure line, although Apollo would appear in subsequent revival Battlestar Galactica toylines over the decades.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hatch made guest appearances on such series as Hotel; Murder, She Wrote; The Love Boat (romantically opposite 20-year-old Teri Hatcher in her first on-screen speaking role); Fantasy Island; Baywatch; Dynasty; and MacGyver.

Hatch made several low-key theatrical film releases, including Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)[9] and Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983).

Original actors John Colicos (Baltar), Terry Carter (Colonel Tigh) and Jack Stauffer (Bojay) appeared in the trailer with Hatch.

Hatch, who had reportedly remortgaged his own house to produce the trailer, was bitterly disappointed by this turn of events and was highly critical of the prospective new series.

I had, over the past several years, bonded deeply with the original characters and story... writing the novels and the comic books and really campaigning to bring back the show.

"[15] Alongside his attempts to revive the original Battlestar Galactica, Hatch created a trailer for his own space opera entitled The Great War of Magellan.