Offered as a spy thriller about a super-secret and utterly ruthless American intelligence agency capable of operating anywhere in the world, the series featured a secondary story line about a seemingly average middle class family with relationship issues-- clearly meant to rope in the ladies. With the action lurching uneasily from one to the other, the two story lines didn't quite marry up.
The casual violence of the major plot was bound to turn off women viewers far more than they would be attracted by the domestic scenes featuring white bread blonde Madchen Amick. Many also would not "get" the references to major international issues that concern this shadowy and sinister Agency. These also put a date-stamp on the series.
Christian Slater is a Jack Nicholson sound-alike who also has Nicholson's sharp, worldly cynicism. Add the gritty physical intensity of a young Robert Blake, whom Slater generally resembles, and you have a great talent. There are some steamy love scenes between the 5'8" Slater and stunning English model turned actress Saffron Burrows--six feet tall and an avowed lesbian off-screen--who plays a psychiatrist on the staff the Agency. This match-up looks ludicrous on paper yet in action it is convincing. In the ironic intelligence of the writing and in its tribute to classic British fiction of the nineteenth century this series owes a debt to "House", the hit medical series on Fox Network.
The casual violence of the major plot was bound to turn off women viewers far more than they would be attracted by the domestic scenes featuring white bread blonde Madchen Amick. Many also would not "get" the references to major international issues that concern this shadowy and sinister Agency. These also put a date-stamp on the series.
Christian Slater is a Jack Nicholson sound-alike who also has Nicholson's sharp, worldly cynicism. Add the gritty physical intensity of a young Robert Blake, whom Slater generally resembles, and you have a great talent. There are some steamy love scenes between the 5'8" Slater and stunning English model turned actress Saffron Burrows--six feet tall and an avowed lesbian off-screen--who plays a psychiatrist on the staff the Agency. This match-up looks ludicrous on paper yet in action it is convincing. In the ironic intelligence of the writing and in its tribute to classic British fiction of the nineteenth century this series owes a debt to "House", the hit medical series on Fox Network.