WISEGUY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
Mill Creek Entertainment
Back in the 1980’s Movie stars came from television, not like these days where the opposite seems to be true. Wiseguy is a show that if made today would be filled with box office heavyweights. The cool thing about this show is that these actors and actresses were perfect for this show. Ken Wahl as the undercover agent was great, his boss was played by Jonathan Banks in one of his few turns as a good guy. And his handler was played by Jim Byrnes, a terrific Canadian actor who has been in a number of shows over the years including Highlander and the newer show, Sanctuary. Guest stars a plenty also filled out the cast. Kevin Spacey as bad guy extraordinaire Mel Profit, Joan Severance as his crazy sister. Later plot lines brought in Jerry Lewis as a great villain and Stanley Tucci who is always a joy to watch.
The first season of Wiseguy was split into two cases. Sonny Steelgrave was ten episodes putting Vinnie (Ken Wahl) in with a mob boss in Atlantic City. This first arc includes Annette Benning in an early role. The second story arc is Mel Profitt, putting Vinnie under to try and bring down a drug empire run byKevin Spacey as Mel Profitt.
The beauty of this show is in Wahl’s portrayal of a man conflicted and troubled by his work undercover. Sometimes forgetting who he really is and getting a bit too into the role. Other times he gets a bit too close and ends up conflicted about taking certain people down, though in the end it sometimes has to be a “Baby out with the wash water” situation as if you take down one, you need to take down all of them.
Ruth and I both watched this when is was originally on way back before we met. It was entertaining then, and still is. Plus I love not having to wait till next week to see what happens next.
The show was on Disc before, but they were sold in individual story arcs, now you can get them all in order as they aired.
17 and a half hours that originally aired in 1987-1988 on 4 discs for only $14.98. No frills, but at that price, who cares!
Jon
