Future Looks Black for CBS' 'Hack'

Thu Sep 26, 4:34 AM ET

By Michael Speier

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - That CBS' hokey Hack tries to reproduce some of the style and tone of Taxi Driver is among the great foolish ventures in TV history.

Martin Scorsese's American classic is obviously the inspiration for this silly drama, a revenge fantasy wrecked by the notion that a deadbeat Philadelphia cabbie is the world's best crimesolver. The pairing of David Morse and Andre Braugher is certainly promising, but they're working with some very embarrassing material here.

Whether it's "paying homage" to the 1976 pic or simply ripping it off, Hack has major problems: Thomas Carter's wooden direction; writer-creator David Koepp's heavy-handed dialogue; and the cliched notion that professional drivers have more smarts and sophistication than the public thinks. All of this is wrapped into an outrageous narrative that, right off the bat, has more potholes than the grimy streets it features.

Morse is Mike Olshansky, a divorced father who left the police force in disgrace after stealing money from a bust. Now reduced to double shifts, bad food and a point-spread addiction, he has committed himself to catching pervs and killers.

This means, of course, that everybody who gets into the back seat will have some amazing dramatic history. No boring people allowed -- just folks who require the services of a rogue agent who will break the law in order to ensure justice.

Debut fare, for instance, is Paul Goodman (Conor O'Farrell), a verbally abusive minister who has arrived in the city to look for his abducted daughter. Seems she was lured over the Internet by a man who has presumably taken her as a sex hostage and, when the clergyman finds out that Olshansky can assist him, they bond via guns and violence.

Mike, meanwhile, is still linked to local officials, although in a roundabout way: Best friend Marcellus (Braugher) is an investigator and, though hesitant, becomes his biggest champion. Marcellus gathers information, provides moral support and gives him leads that bring down the city's sickos.

Besides the fact that there has to be an unusually high percentage of astonishingly complex felonies taking place, the mere idea that an ex-cop would be so vigilant without even showing up on the authorities' radar is a joke. He kicks in doors, busts windows and threatens people all over town, yet he asks his "clients" not to mention his name, and audiences are expected to believe that he'll get away with it.

The performances are fine, but that's really not much of a help. Morse, so solid as a supporting actor in everything from The Green Mile to Contact, sulks through some inflated exchanges (his attempt to get into a perp's home by speaking like a pimp is a lowlight), and Braugher is strangely absent from the pilot episode save for a short, five-minute appearance -- his role, apparently, will grow.

Tech credits are overblown, especially when lenser Ken Kelsch takes bleached-out side shots of the car in motion, a stunt better reserved for HBO's tacky "Taxicab Confessions" series.

Mike Olshansky .......... David Morse
Tom Grzelak ............. George Dzundza
Marcellus Washington .... Andre Braugher
With: Matthew Borish, Donna Murphy, Conor O'Farrell, Lee Tergesen.

Filmed in Philadelphia by Big Ticket Television in association with CBS Prods., Pariah and the Thomas Carter Co. Executive producers, David Koepp, Thomas Carter, Gavin Polone; producer, Nan Bernstein Freed; associate producer, Ron Binkowski; director, Carter; writer, Koepp; camera, Ken Kelsch; editors, Fritz Feick, John Axelrad; production designer, Michelle Minch; music, Danny Lux; casting, Pat McCorkle.