THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 8, 1996 TAG: 9604060059
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
WHAT'S A COUCH potato's greatest joy? Discovering a good, offbeat, quirky little series before everybody else hears about it.
Something like ``The X-Files.''
Or ``Northern Exposure.''
Or ``Twin Peaks.''
Or ``Seinfeld,'' even.
Be the first in your potato patch to find ``Profit'' when it signs on tonight at 8 on Fox. I predict that by the time the second episode airs next week, ``Profit'' will have a cult following, including cyberfreaks who will be burning up the Internet discussing Jim Profit.
The creepy Adrian Pasdar plays Profit, newly hired junior vice president of acquisitions at the 15th largest corporation in the world. In a deep, seductive off-camera voice, Profit takes the viewer along with him in every shadowy adventure at a company where, in his words, ``there is plenty of room for corporate advances.''
To move up, Profit relies on blackmail and seduction. He lies, cheats, uses people and then discards them like paper towels in the executive washroom. He may even be a murderer.
``When Profit comes into your life,'' said executive producer David Greenwalt to the TV press in Los Angeles not long ago, ``he will find your greatest weaknesses and your greatest strengths, and he will test you and purify you.''
What we have here is villain as hero - an anti-hero, and not a cuddly good ol' boy J.R. Ewing bad guy. Think of ``Profit'' as an adventure out of a very dark adult comic book, say the show's producers, who include Stephen J. Cannell.
If Oliver Stone were producing TV shows, he'd do something like ``Profit.''
This series, said co-executive producer John McNamara, is based on two words: ``I want.'' It's about wanting power, wealth, a certain girl, a promotion. And Profit is willing to do anything to get what he wants.
``Profit doesn't always win,'' said Pasdar.
True. Even in tonight's two-hour premiere, Profit comes close to being exposed by the company's security chief, played by Lisa Zane. Profit isn't who he says he is, and deep in his past are secrets he wants hidden from his colleagues, including this one: He learned everything about life from watching television because as a boy . . .
If I say more, it will spoil some of the surprises in ``Profit.'' The two-hour pilot has the feel of film noir, and it will hold your attention from beginning to end. I've also screened the second and third episodes, and while they don't have the same rich look or suspense of the premiere, they have enough twists and turns to keep you interested.
``While he gets away with a lot in the first episode, Profit will experience the depths as well as the heights in future episodes,'' said McNamara. ``His life will be life on a roller coaster, with the audience along for the ride.''
Pasdar is a compelling figure, as compelling and as totally unknown to viewers as David Duchovny before ``The X-Files.'' As Profit, he's the devil who never raises his voice, the force of evil who stands next to you on the elevator dressed in expensive suits, complimenting you on your cologne.
So cool.
``He sees his life as a chess game. There are no wasted moves. There is no excess of activity. He controls every aspect of his life,'' Pasdar said of Profit. And when somebody such as a co-worker or a stepmother from his dark past threatens to disrupt his chess game, Profit makes a chilling move.
``When faced with a dilemma, he takes the low road to escape,'' said Pasdar. As Jim Profit, he is about to become the man you love to hate on Monday nights. Or the man you hate to love. (Starting April 15, ``Profit'' airs at 9 p.m.)
Fox will show seven episodes of ``Profit'' before deciding if it will be on next fall's schedule. Tell me what you think of ``Profit'' by calling Infoline 640-5555 and pressing 2486. by CNB