WHY oh WHY! was this great programme cancelled?! Such a shame to see this winner pulled from our TV screens . . .
I had heard of the US show only after I had come across it on previous UK TV broadcasts, when I caught only 1 or 2 episodes. And I always wanted to watch it from the start, to get the full effect, plus an introduction to the lead character & a background to the tale. So when it recently arrived on the Freeview TV schedule over here in the UK I gladly started watching it. I am currently still on series 1, but am an avid fan. As yes, I was not let down: it is great.
David Morse is engaging as the quietly cool lead: the taxi driver with a heart of gold. Very warm & reliable. OK, there is nothing new there re the Hero To The Rescue: after all, how many guys have we seen in TV dramas who regularly "save the day"?! And this hero is the ubiquitous "damaged" ex-cop, to boot! ,-) . . .
But any repetition in charactererisation seems negligible. The programme is so well put together as a character-plus-story that any typecasting doesn't matter.
And the concept of a taxi driver as the lead character - the cabbie who sees all sides of the world pass through his cab - is so fresh an idea, that it works a treat.
Plus there is a new angle in the portrayal of the lead as an erstwhile cop who DID slide down onto the dark side, to the detriment of his career. This is is a new - and brave for network TV - twist to the old idea of a damaged-&-divorced ex-cop. This type of lead protagonist is all too often written as wrongly! charged with a crime, who thus - at the back of each episode in their tale - has a running storyline of the character having to prove his or her innocence. In 'Hack' our hero 'Mike Olshansky' is different: he is not only flawed but it was not - in what is a change to the backstory of many TV leads - innocent in this; he did indeed take what wasn't his to take, leading to his Philadelphia police career taking a tumble. A nice fresh tilt for a mainstream US TV drama.
So I was disappointed to find out here at IMDb that the programme only went on for 2 series. After all, we have seen loads of shows produced that are centred on cops, forensic teams, hospital staff, etc., but have never (to my knowledge!) had a show like this, centred upon an ex-cop taxi driver. It was a original & good premise for a long-running show, & could have run & run.
I haven't seen any of series 2 yet, so I don't know if it carries on in its strength or - uh-oh!! - worsens (as, sadly, too many US TV shows now seem to do) but I shall enjoy it in the meantime . . .
And as for the show being cancelled - sigh!! - after changes in the production team led to the ethos of the programme changing after series 1 ended: I maintain the well-known mantra: if it ain't broke don't mend it. I am getting tired of seeing too many good US TV programmes go downhill after a change of horses mid-programme. Changing any TV drama mid-stream ruins the characterisation & continuity. It's like changing a playwright mid-play, so that the theatregoer returns after the interval only to find that he is watching a completely different style of play! ,-D
I am currently on episode 10 . . . right, straight onto episode 11 . . . popcorn at the ready!! :-D
I had heard of the US show only after I had come across it on previous UK TV broadcasts, when I caught only 1 or 2 episodes. And I always wanted to watch it from the start, to get the full effect, plus an introduction to the lead character & a background to the tale. So when it recently arrived on the Freeview TV schedule over here in the UK I gladly started watching it. I am currently still on series 1, but am an avid fan. As yes, I was not let down: it is great.
David Morse is engaging as the quietly cool lead: the taxi driver with a heart of gold. Very warm & reliable. OK, there is nothing new there re the Hero To The Rescue: after all, how many guys have we seen in TV dramas who regularly "save the day"?! And this hero is the ubiquitous "damaged" ex-cop, to boot! ,-) . . .
But any repetition in charactererisation seems negligible. The programme is so well put together as a character-plus-story that any typecasting doesn't matter.
And the concept of a taxi driver as the lead character - the cabbie who sees all sides of the world pass through his cab - is so fresh an idea, that it works a treat.
Plus there is a new angle in the portrayal of the lead as an erstwhile cop who DID slide down onto the dark side, to the detriment of his career. This is is a new - and brave for network TV - twist to the old idea of a damaged-&-divorced ex-cop. This type of lead protagonist is all too often written as wrongly! charged with a crime, who thus - at the back of each episode in their tale - has a running storyline of the character having to prove his or her innocence. In 'Hack' our hero 'Mike Olshansky' is different: he is not only flawed but it was not - in what is a change to the backstory of many TV leads - innocent in this; he did indeed take what wasn't his to take, leading to his Philadelphia police career taking a tumble. A nice fresh tilt for a mainstream US TV drama.
So I was disappointed to find out here at IMDb that the programme only went on for 2 series. After all, we have seen loads of shows produced that are centred on cops, forensic teams, hospital staff, etc., but have never (to my knowledge!) had a show like this, centred upon an ex-cop taxi driver. It was a original & good premise for a long-running show, & could have run & run.
I haven't seen any of series 2 yet, so I don't know if it carries on in its strength or - uh-oh!! - worsens (as, sadly, too many US TV shows now seem to do) but I shall enjoy it in the meantime . . .
And as for the show being cancelled - sigh!! - after changes in the production team led to the ethos of the programme changing after series 1 ended: I maintain the well-known mantra: if it ain't broke don't mend it. I am getting tired of seeing too many good US TV programmes go downhill after a change of horses mid-programme. Changing any TV drama mid-stream ruins the characterisation & continuity. It's like changing a playwright mid-play, so that the theatregoer returns after the interval only to find that he is watching a completely different style of play! ,-D
I am currently on episode 10 . . . right, straight onto episode 11 . . . popcorn at the ready!! :-D