'Wiseguy' Returns article

Prolific A-Team creator
one of TV's wiser guys

'WISEGUY' RETURNS, 5F
By ROBIN DOUGHERTY
Herald Television Critic
Mr. T, meet Jim Profit. Neither T's Mohawk haircut not Profit's Brooks Brothers suits entirely define the fervid imagination of TV impresario Stephen J. Cannell, who fathered both characters.
Television's answer to Charles Dickens, he has created, produced or written more than his share of potboilers, from classics (Mission Impossible, The Rockford Files) to lowbrow hits (The A-Team, 21 Jump Street) to crowd-pleasers (The Commish, Hunter) and cult phenomena (Wiseguy). To say nothing of such short-lived wonders as Missing Persons, Sonny Spoon and The Hat Squad, or the cable-based adult crime series Silk Stalkings.
Cannell's latest -- a sharp contrast to his campy '70's hit The A-Team -- is Profit, which chronicles the misadventures of an executive at a Fortune 100 company. It was just launched as a midseason replacement on Fox, where its ratings haven't been as high as the buzz on it: It's about a guy who grew up inside a large cardboard box to become a scheming businessman and an executive's worst nightmare.
Meanwhile one of Cannell's most celebrated shows, Wiseguy

DEEP WELL OF CREATIVITY:
Stephen J. Cannell.

-- which also explored the darker corners of male bonding -- returns as a TV movie tonight.
En route to a meeting in Los Angeles, Cannell talked on his car phone about why he's bringing back Wiseguy and how, with Profit, he came to produce a TV show centered around a sociopath.
"What happened in the case of Wiseguy, Ken Wahl came by my office one day and said 'If you ever want to do Wiseguy as a movie....' CBS [which originally aired the series from 1987
PLEASE SEE CANNELL, 5F

CANNELL, FROM 1F

to 1990] was lukewarm. The second place we went to was ABC. [Entertainment president] Ted Harbert and others were big fans of the show when Wiseguy was on the air. So we pitched it and they said, 'Yeah, absolutely.'"
Behind the idea in reviving the show
is Cannell's wish that 'Wiseguy' become a
regularly appearing TV movie, along the lines
of 'The Rockford Files.'
nie Terranova. I'm not saying we would want to do a militia plot, but certainly infliltrating a militia is something a federal agent might do."
In the meantime, in addition to producing Profit, Cannell has finished writing his second novel -- not a bad year for a guy who's ever, are some recent mumblings about Profit being anti-business. He appeared on CNBC just after the show premiered to discuss whether the show indulges in "executive-bashing." His response: "I don't think anyone thought it was a very legitimate complaint.

Thus Vinnie Terranova returns to the TV screen, where tonight he infiltrates an unsavory high-tech company. In case you're wondering whether Cannell thinks Wiseguy's savvy fans will buy comeback when Terrano- va's character was supposedly killed off, Cannell says, "He was never really dead. We left it where you could think that -- or think it was part of his cover."
Project to grow
Whatever you think, Cannell is hoping you watch. Behind the idea in reviving the show is Cannell's wish that Wiseguy become a regularly appearing TV movie, along the lines of The Rockford Files. Although tonight's project was written by Cannell lieutenant Joel Surnow, the producer says, "I would love to write one."
The critical problem is how to get Vinnie into the '90s. One of the show's charms was its uncanny ability to pinpoint a real-life social or political phenomenon almost minutes before it actually happened.
"Off the top of my head," says Cannell, "I haven't got [another storyline]. We would sit down and explore what would be an interesting place to go with Vin- dyslexic. (A cyberthriller called Final Victim, it will be published by William Morrow in July.) And he's got two more drama pilots in the pipes, "one for UPN about aliens, and another drama for WB about a disabled police officer."

Love the weird
Cannell admits to a fascination with weird human behavior, but says the main appeal of Profit was the chance to "turn the story-telling convention upside down, to put the bad guy in the center and be rooting against him instead of for him.
"I'm fascinated by evil intent. Like a cobra in a basket, you're always waiting for him to strike."
What's biting Cannell, how- "These guys make a million dollars a year," Cannell says, "and they go and bawl about this. That's silly."

CANNELL, FROM 1F to 1990] was lukewarm. The second place we went to was ABC. [Entertainment president] Ted Harbert and others were big fans of the show when Wiseguy was on the air. So we pitched it and they said, 'Yeah, absolutely.'"	Behind the idea in reviving the show is Cannell's wish that 'Wiseguy' become a regularly appearing TV movie, along the lines of 'The Rockford Files.'		nie Terranova. I'm not saying we would want to do a militia plot, but certainly infliltrating a militia is something a federal agent might do." In the meantime, in addition to producing Profit, Cannell has finished writing his second novel -- not a bad year for a guy who's	ever, are some recent mumblings about Profit being anti-business. He appeared on CNBC just after the show premiered to discuss whether the show indulges in "executive-bashing." His response: "I don't think anyone thought it was a very legitimate complaint.
Thus Vinnie Terranova returns to the TV screen, where tonight he infiltrates an unsavory high-tech company. In case you're wondering whether Cannell thinks Wiseguy's savvy fans will buy comeback when Terrano-	va's character was supposedly killed off, Cannell says, "He was never really dead. We left it where you could think that -- or think it was part of his cover." Project to grow Whatever you think, Cannell is	hoping you watch. Behind the idea in reviving the show is Cannell's wish that Wiseguy become a regularly appearing TV movie, along the lines of The Rockford Files. Although tonight's project was written by Cannell lieutenant Joel Surnow, the producer says, "I would love to write one." The critical problem is how to get Vinnie into the '90s. One of the show's charms was its uncanny ability to pinpoint a real-life social or political phenomenon almost minutes before it actually happened. "Off the top of my head," says Cannell, "I haven't got [another storyline]. We would sit down and explore what would be an interesting place to go with Vin-	dyslexic. (A cyberthriller called Final Victim, it will be published by William Morrow in July.) And he's got two more drama pilots in the pipes, "one for UPN about aliens, and another drama for WB about a disabled police officer." Love the weird Cannell admits to a fascination with weird human behavior, but says the main appeal of Profit was the chance to "turn the story-telling convention upside down, to put the bad guy in the center and be rooting against him instead of for him. "I'm fascinated by evil intent. Like a cobra in a basket, you're always waiting for him to strike." What's biting Cannell, how-	"These guys make a million dollars a year," Cannell says, "and they go and bawl about this. That's silly."