ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604050071
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
It seems finally to have dawned on someone at the Fox network that adults watch television, too, and that everything doesn't have to be aimed at adolescents. ``Profit,'' one of the best Fox series in a long, long time, isn't about teen-agers and isn't about vampires and isn't about teen-age vampires. It's grown-up, gripping and very, very good.
The stylish, stylized drama series is named for its central character, Jim Profit, a ruthless but very cool executive who's definitely on his way up at Gracen & Gracen, a fictitious conglomerate that is supposedly the 18th largest corporation in the world. Profit will stop at nothing to get his way.
In the two-hour pilot airing Monday night at 8 on Fox (WJPR/WFXR, Channels 21 and 27 in Roanoke), we meet Profit as played with whispery menace by swarthy, slicked-back Adrian Pasdar. He certainly has that lean and hungry look that Julius Caesar worried about; Pasdar looks like Matt Lauer waiting around for Bryant Gumbel to leave the ``Today'' show.
Profit is sleek as a shark and can be just as deadly. But he never raises his voice and he never has to smack anybody in the chops. He devises clever, devious plans for eliminating the competition and clearing away obstacles. That's all his life is about: the care and feeding of his career. His amorality has a purity to it; it almost becomes a form of innocence.
And so, though he is on the surface heartless and despicable, you may actually find yourself rooting for him.
Gracen & Gracen, after all, is full of predators and carnivores. The big boss cheats on his wife and takes a new mistress each year. His brother is a drunk who suffers from ``chronic impotence.'' The firm is full of chilly heels with Achilles' heels.
Profit's chief ally is a secretary who seems earnest and decent, but who, it turns out, has been quietly embezzling from the company for years. His knowledge of that gives Profit the perfect weapon to keep her loyally in line.
We first meet Profit as a face among the fishes, peering through his aquarium. He likes to sit naked at his computer, poking around in corporate affairs, plotting double-crosses and booby traps. He does have his nemeses, however, among them a hopped-up stepmother and a dissolute father tucked away in a burn ward.
In addition, a wily head of security (well played by Lisa Blount) and one of Profit's executive victims (Scott Paulin) join forces to investigate his definitively shady past.
``Profit'' doesn't wallow in evil; it flits around in it. The show is a cross between ``How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,'' the Broadway musical, and ``House of Cards,'' the PBS import about ambitious politician Francis Urquhart. It has a deluxe visual shine. Even the spotless prettiness of Vancouver, where it's filmed, seems eerie and ominous.
Pasdar's most potent asset is his voice, a throaty murmur that sounds a bit like Martin Sheen on steroids. He narrates the show and offers philosophical asides on the soundtrack, such as: ``When you want somebody to love you, open your heart. When you want someone obsessed with you, close it.''
As written by co-producers John McNamara and David Greenwalt, ``Profit'' is full of agile twists and sneaky surprises. With the help of Pasdar, the writers get plenty of malevolence from lines as simple as ``Hi, Mom'' and ``Hi, Dad.'' In context, they're dark and witty. Director Robert Iscove keeps things tense and brittle. The executive producer is the ubiquitous and prolific Stephen J. Cannell, here aiming higher than usual.
A nagging question that arises from the drama: Is Gracen & Gracen a metaphor for American society, or at least American corporate society? That may become clearer as the weeks go on. Fox has only ordered seven episodes of ``Profit'' beyond the pilot, but if the quality stays high, the audience may demand more. So far, ``Profit'' is fascinating and scintillating and diabolically addictive.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB