Customer Reviews

Profiler:S1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Profiler: Season One
Loved this series, back when it first ran on TV, and was excited to find it available on DVD. Still love the characters, the actors, the horror, the ongoing mystery of Jack. But - over the years, I had forgotten the one thing that drove me crazy watching it originally on TV - the really horrible sound quality! The two main characters, Sam and Bailey, talk as if they had swollen tongues. The actors are desperately in need of speech lessons, and I was dismayed to find that there are no captions or subtitles! Even replaying most of the scenes over and over doesn't help. A great series spoiled by technical indifference.

As a precursor to the now standard "serial killer" procedural (i.e. CSI, Criminal Minds etc.), Profiler is still the best, with its inventive dark style, engaging camera work, and strong female lead. Admittedly, I had to wait a decade plus to get past the first few episodes (and the laughable over-the-top alpha males), but once the production gelled (disc 2), each episode added further creativity to an already great concept. Unfortunately, the dvd audio quality is poor, requiring intermittent volume adjustments (and no closed captions), but as bonus features there are two commentaries on the pilot, plus some minimal bios and a worthwhile episode of American Justice (Profiles of Evil: Inside the Criminal Mind).

I have to take issue with Amazon's Editorial reviewer Jeff Shannon, and his review of Profiler Season I.

Mr. Shannon attempts to review not the DVD itself, but what he *thinks* are the behind-the-scenes truths of the Profiler production. One, he refers to the DVD commentary of Ally Walker - suggesting that she is in fact giving the reason why she left after only "two" seasons. (Psssst, Jeff... it was after THREE seasons - not to mention she headlines the opener of the fourth season).

Then he gives more of his "insight" when he suggests that NBC was troubled by the "miscasting" of Ally Walker. Well, not that I believe Mr. Shannon has any reliable inside information, but what does that have to do with reviewing this DVD? I tend to think that Shannon was insinuating his own feelings about Walker, and trying to use the NBC network - based on rumor - as a way to reinforce them. A more candid review would have read, "I wasn't terribly impressed with Walker, and felt she was miscast in the role."

But that probably wouldn't have held-up against the enormous fan-following of Walker on this show (or as Shannon understated in his review, "growing popularity"), nor would it have stood up well against the fact that after Walker left and was replaced by Jamie Luner, the ratings pretty much tanked.

Make no mistake about it: this is a GREAT show. You will esecially enjoy this Season I DVD. The isolated, episodic stories are each fantastic in their own right, and the Jack thread is very addictive. Ally Walker's performance is compelling, and she leads a solid cast - notably Robert Davi, Peter Frechette, Julian McMahon, and Roma Maffia. You'll watch Season I, and you will RUN to grab Season II.

I was not a viewer when Profiler was first run on network television but now I've seen the first season and I can see both strengths and weaknesses.

Things I liked:

1. Samantha's character and her relationship with her friend Angel in the first couple of episodes. Ally Walker did a great job with this character.

2. Some of the cinematography-- the way the pilot was shot was very good.

3. The way Samantha's flashes of insight where dealt with in the story.

4. The sexual zing between Samantha and Coop, especially when they first met on the series.

Things I found distracting or unfortunate:

1. A lot of scenes are played out in the dark but with glints of light off eyeballs and teeth. The watcher may not know what else is going on but is never in doubt as to where the eyeballs and teeth are in these scenes.

2. Angel was shoved from an artist who created metal sculpture with a blow torch to a baby sitter-- ok, she was teaching art to inner city kids or something, but she was seen most of th time watching Samantha's kid. Really a waste of a good character.

3. Icky saliva sounds that went with all of the love scenes.

Just as a side note the commentaries from Ally Walker and Robert Davi on the pilot are unintentionally hilarious. Unlike a lot of these tracks, these were recorded separately so there is no intereaction between the commentors. Ally tells us things like Robert Davi's infatuation with hair spray and a stetson hat. Robert Davi seems really upset that the series didn't last longer or at least that they didn't do a made for TV movie spin off because NBC owned the whole package.

My final impression was that this was a good idea, that it had some good characters involved but all of the really good ideas were used early or muted down for one reason or another.

I'm so glad to find out this gem of a show is out on DVD (and season 2 is coming soon). When this show premiered, I was only 13, but loved it...I really loved the way a woman was portrayed as not just a damsel in distress. The 90s brought about great female characters like Dana Scully, Buffy, Xena, and Sam Waters...which were great role models for me as a pre teen. Before shows like theirs, men ruled everything, and women were relegated to partners being raped or shot or mamed (like on Hunter), but these women started a new trend, that shows like Alias and Dark Angel took a page from. Kudos for recognizing true genius in ground breaking shows like Profiler.

Very good if you liked the series, and a must have for anyone who wishes the series still played. I Can't wait for the rest of the seasons to complete my collection.

As I become more experienced in boxed DVD sets, tipically 2 problems arise with many of these: irritating visuals and awful sound. This is an all too typical example of both. As all too many show, it is simply unwatchable in dayligh, unless you are in as sealedm dark room. And the sound, specifically dialogue, is all too often unintelligible. At least some DVDs compensate the second with subtitle/closed captiones options. This one does not. I find it frustrating that such good material cannot be presented better. Am I the only complainant here? As it is I will have to watch it only at nights, even in the weekends. And the 3 stars are only because this was a good, suspenseful program.

This is the show which made me look over my shoulder when taking the trash out at night! Even with episode 4 missing - it's worth it for the super cinematography and cool audio visual elements. A forerunner to '24'-style storytelling.

Shame on A and E for not including episode #4. Felicity just changed the music in order to relese the epiosde. I hope I can catch this episode on Court TV but it maybe the same problem. Other than that this is a great set and I can't wait for season 2.

This set is missing Episode #4 "I'll be missing you". I contacted A & E about it and was told that the cost to include a Sting song was too prohibitive and therefore, they did not include it on the set.