User reviews

I remember this show fondly... it's one of my all-time favourites. I still have the entire series on Beta (recorded off-air during a bad thunderstorm, but what can you do?) I agree with the other posters about it probably being "too smart" to be successful, but I think it was further harmed by the writers' strike that year. The network kept repeating the only 7 episodes (I assume) because there was nothing else in the can. By the time the dispute was resolved, the damage of endless repeats had been done. Too bad. I was in high school when the series debuted, and I loved the fact that the show made me look things up. It really made me want to understand the topics being featured. (And it was a lot harder to look things up back then... no internet!)

I remember this show very well and have been looking for anyone or anyplace I can either buy or download the episodes. It was a show "ahead of its time" and had some very well-researched writing behind it. It is a shame that ABC apparently did not receive the ratings to keep it in production. From what I can remember, the dialog contained pretty good whit. The main character seemed so different to me than what was the "norm" in other crime-fighting/detective shows up to that time. I have not seen it since it first aired, and I would very much like to watch the show again.

Does anyone know where I can get the episodes?

This show is another entry in the "Under the Radar" series and another entry in the "Almost Classics" series. I remember seeing this show on the "Sci-Fi Channel" when I was about 11, the channel had this program where each month they would show a Sci-Fi show that had a limited life cycle, and this show was one of them. It's too bad as this show unfortunately became like the project in a science fair which has plenty of potential to offer but has been completely overlooked.

This show was slightly ahead of it's time as this was one of the first shows where science was incorporated into the detective genre. It makes sense doing that as detective work is sort of a science, let alone the fact they have scientific departments to help solve their cases. The show also sort of predates the show "Scorpion" which incorporated science into sticky situations but also had characters that were outsiders from the norm. Though also recent detective shows like "CSI" and "NCIS" that have the science element incorporated.

I like the mysteries which are all thought provoking and a little outside the norm. Yeah, some would say they're not totally realistic but same can be said about most other detective stories or episodes in those shows. But there's nothing wrong with that because like with any good detective story it's more concerned about being a good story. Also, the fact the cases are a little outside the norm is part of the show's edge as it gives the show an unpredictability factor keeping things fresh and interesting; and avoids cookie cutter plotlines which most detective shows fundamentally suffer from. But their also thought provoking as there is real science that is applied to solving the case along with getting out of the sticky situation both characters inadvertently get into, and I like that showing how useful science truly is.

The duo is solid, I like the chemistry between both of them, their not the romantic thriller couple their actually more of a buddy cop duo which is cool, it was something slightly different as it slightly broke that cliche of protagonists of the opposite sex in a detective/thriller show always have to be lovers which I never felt was true. It makes sense both these characters would be just friends as we see from that intro and the pilot both have next to nothing in common as both are literally from two different worlds. It's just fun and funny seeing both butt heads together but at the same time are able to work together which is part of what good chemistry is.

The partnership between them reminds me more of "Doctor Who" where the "Doctor" is always paired off with an outsider. Michelle Crow (Ashley Castle) is sort of like Jo Grant in "Doctor Who" though even a bit of Paige from "Scorpion" who is smart but a little ditzy and a little out of her depth. However, despite not on the same I. Q. level as Austin nor ever will be, she has a great degree of common sense, street smarts, and better experience with the outside world which makes her all the more useful to Austin who never operated much or at all from the outside.

Austin James played well by Parker Stevenson whom of course I remember from "The Hardy Boys" show as Frank Hardy, so he's an alumnus to the mystery genre, but is also a perfect fit for the role as Frank was the brainy type. Anyway, Austin you could say could almost be another incarnation of "The Doctor" wouldn't be surprised if he was; though also he's a bit like Walter from "Scorpion.

Like both those characters both are genius, but both beat to a different drummer which is something I can relate to because I'm both those things too. His character can be childlike as he is constantly using his brain, he is always doing things and exploring, there is never a moment when he's never doing something as each episode starts off with him sometimes doing a project.

Though if the character had an Achilles heel is like Walter, he can be a little guilty of antisocial behavior, where sometimes his behavior or even something he say comes out wrong. But this isn't because he a cold person it's because he's simply inexperienced with the outside world and can't relate or communicate let alone see things the same way most people exposed and experienced with the outside world can. It's understandable as he's a person that has an introvert persona (I do too) that values time to himself and spends lots of time in a lab or solving scientific problems.

But Austin does have a human heart, he has a fascination with people, and deep down wants a social circle of his own and help people. This is part of why both Austin and Michelle are good for each other because Michelle helps guide him in the outside world and Austin puts his skills to good use, doing what he always wanted to do to help and benefit mankind.

Of course, the only computer error of the show is as I said its life span was cut short. Some would say the show was canned because as I said it was slightly ahead of its time which is partially true as science incorporated into the detective genre wasn't common at the time.

However, I feel the real reason this show's plug was pulled was that it was simply a victim of bad timing. This show came out in the twilight years of the 80's decade 1988 to be precise; and both the detective, buddy cop and romantic thriller genres were big in the 80's and as you'd expect fans wanted more; but like all genres gone on too long they start to lose their spark and so did interest.

For any fan of the detective genre that is into lost retro shows in that genre like any science experiment it's worth a try; this is a lost mystery gem worth probing into.

Rating: 3 stars.

As I recall, the show was canceled during the writer's strike of 1988. I don't believe the cancellation had anything to do with the quality of the show, it was just too new for the network to take a chance on, it's the same thing they do today. I just wish they'd release it on DVD.

It was very much ahead of its time, the scientific approach just wasn't that interesting to people at that time, I think. It will always be one of my most favorite shows, and perhaps someday I'll get to watch it again.

Wow, I can't believe I'm being forced to write more just to post this flippin opinion! I never thought anyone would want 10 lines of my kind of BS, but hey, who am I to complain?

wistful in Los Angeles

Probe was one of the best shows of 1988. It was intelligent, well-written TV, with a mildly misanthropic main character and a lot of quirky performances. Naturally, it got cancelled despite the combined creative talents of William Levinson (Columbo) and Isaac Asimov. Lots of shy, subtle humor and in-jokes. Catch it if you can.

The first time I watched an episode of this series, I was "zapping" through the channels, looking for anything worth watching, and got it running, missing maybe five minutes from the beginning of the show. The script was so wonderful that I got caught immediately. The complexity of the characters were captivating and, soon, I had myself into the story, even missing the beginning of the episode. Only in the next week, when I watched another episode, that time from the very beginning, I found out that the responsible for that wonderful series was Isaac Asimov, the greatest science fiction writer of all time. Yes, surely there are fantastic stories from other writers, like "Dune" by Frank Herbert, "Ripples in The Dirac Sea" by Geoffrey A. Landis, "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke, "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, "Contact" by Carl Sagan and many others, but while those are precious pearls from a dozen writes, most (if not all) of Asimov stories are precious gemstones, he could not only produce wonderful stories, but lots of them! It's a pity when you get some masterpiece concepts like those in "I, Robot" collection by Asimov and waste them with a movie like "I, Robot"...

Oh, but not this time! This series didn't have high-end visual effects or some Hollywood super star obfuscating the viewers from what is important in the movie... No, it had excellent stories, wonderful scripts and not very well known actors, but good ones nonetheless.

This series proved one thing, good science fiction doesn't require complicated explanations to impossible arguments, just good ideas and a fine tuning of the elements...

Yep I did and I remember being so mad when it was canceled. It made you think, unlike the usual crap that is still being shown. Just another reason why I refuse to have a TV provider.

I really love this series. It was fun end to end. The series had an off the wall sense of humor. The characters and stories were fun. Here you had a genius who had a problem dealing with people but cared about them nonetheless. I wish it lasted at least one season. It was nice gem.

Not entertaining, even when accounting for the time period where modern crime procedural tropes were less well-trodden.

The mysteries are contrived and the science is even more questionable than modern procedurals (which is somewhat at odds with Asimov's own views on the lack of science and scientific consultants in science fiction, although he also said he wasn't a prude and seemed more pedantic about ignoring certain common established facts, and approved of various science fiction productions).

As an example of the rubbish "science": Austin, the supposed genius, remarks on how a husband's voice is too high and fast to be truly grieving for his dead wife.

Asimov fans may recognise some of his touches, like the limerick puzzle to enter the warehouse, but this production suffers the same weaknesses as his writing: thin cardboard characters and silly puzzles trying to be clever.

Michelle does a bit more as Austin's innocent wide-eyed foil than Watson's absolute nothing burger in BBC's Sherlock, while Austin's anti-social eccentric savant is too conventional compared to Fringe's Walter (brilliantly played by John Noble); he's still a bit too cool, just like BBC's Sherlock.

I remember being intrigued by this series before its premiere back in 1988. I also remember I quickly lost interest after a few episodes, although I couldn't remember why until now. Seeing this again, I can understand why I did. The show is rather like "Monk," with its eccentric, supposedly brilliant, antisocial, iconoclastic, grumpy lead character minus the OCD quirks, but still with the spunky female personal assistant and with worse writing. Austin James always sees tiny details that we the audience could not. To make it seem more intelligent, the writers peppered the scripts with scientific trivia and pseudo-scientific babble. The latter was especially embarrassing considering Isaac Asimov was listed as co-creator and scientific adviser. A supercomputer that can make neon signs explode and rupture gas lines at specific places? That has continuous speech recognition and natural language processing -- a goal that still eludes computer scientists today -- but not the much simpler speech synthesis? That can turn the dial on a cheap radio or an old TV set as if they came with motors installed on the knobs? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that most of the "science" in this show was nonsense.

Subsequent episodes were little better. The "smartest man in the world" keeps saying "nukular" and "nukulotides." He does burnouts when he has to get somewhere fast, instead of knowing that less smoking rubber means more traction and a faster start if you're not in a Top Fuel dragster. You can target a virus at a specific human by inserting that human's DNA into it??? Good grief. Some of the situations are painfully obvious and clichéd, like the hoary "videotape was substituted for live video but Austin noticed items on the tape didn't match." That was old when Mission: Impossible used to do it twenty years previous. Episodes mixed these shopworn plot devices with supposed scientific concepts but each time proved that the writers knew barely more than the names of those concepts. It was as if Asimov had no hand in the show after co-creating it.

The show seemed to rely mostly on the charisma of former "Hardy Boys" star Parker Stevenson, but that couldn't compensate for the contrived scripts. It wasn't even as good as an average Columbo episode from the original NBC run. Sometimes, information in the climax would just come out of the blue, rather than foreshadowed for the audience. The concept had promise, but was undercut by mediocre writing. But I guess scientific geniuses generally don't become television writers. What a waste. It could have been science fiction of the hardest kind, but instead turned out to be science fantasy folded into run of the mill murder mysteries.

If you want to see what TV mystery and suspense writers can really do with the science fiction genre if they really put their minds to it, watch "Earth II," the 1971 pilot movie from the writers/producers of "Mission: Impossible," or "Prototype," the 1983 TV movie from Michael Levinson & William Link, who created and wrote the classic "Columbo" and later "Murder, She Wrote." (Although inexplicably, Link served as executive story consultant for this series. I guess they took his advice only sparingly.)

By proving that the average TV viewer isn't smart enough to get a show like this. This, and other shows like it that depend on sheer intellectual ability, sharp thinking, and complexity never survive on American television. This series proves that. Asimov was an absolute Genius, and almost all of his products were light-years above the quality necessary for commercial success. No flash, no high-tech machine or vehicle, no stupid gimmicks, no buffoonery, no T & A, and nothing but sheer brain candy. You have to be smart to get a show like this.

What a shame that programs which require audiences to be intelligent never make it. Asimov created a series that had nothing more than a smart main character, who used his wits and abilities to move through the world. The series itself only lasted for seven episodes.

I saw the reviews and finally gave it a watch...I can only assume the people who like it now are the people who saw it when it aired, because it did not age well. By modern standards its almost unwatchable. Its the same old set up, so dumb shes smart clumsy girl helps so smart hes dumb weird guy as he brilliants his way through everything.... Only if you know anything about science and technology by todays standards hes actually stupid and just obnoxious, everything is so out of date or just plain wrong, I dont think thats what they were going for.

This show was too smart for it's own good. A detective show with a twist. Parker Stevenson is a scientist that solves mysteries by way of science. Created by Isaac Asimov, the show centers around eccentric scientist Austin James and his assistant Michelle Castle. Both are tasked with investigating mysteries that can only solved by deductive logic. Fortunate enough for Austin, he possesses the uncanny ability to solve crimes by science alone...I was sad when this show ended after one season. It was the thinking-mans detective/mystery show. Each episode centered around a crime that could only be solved by Austin and his side kick. The show was pre-CSI...

This was one of an annoying number of shows I liked as a kid that were each run for a season and then promptly cancelled. I liked shows that varied from the norm, especially ones about eccentric geniuses. But I guess it was just too smart (or weird) to be popular. People prefer shows about inept housewives, bigots, idiots stranded on islands, barrooms, rotten families, and just about anybody who makes everyone else look smarter by comparison.

A literate, humorous, and intelligent series about a Tom Swift character (actually Rick Brant for those who recall) who solves crimes through scientific inquiry. Although Isaac Asimov was listed as the creator, the guiding light to this series was Michael Wagner, an Emmy winning writer (Hill Street Blues) whose wry humor and scientific curiosity was evident in the main character played by Parker Stevenson. Stevenson has commented that he based his characterization on Michael Wagner. Of course, placed opposite The Cosby Show, an intelligent outing like this had no chance in the ratings.

Although I haven't seen this series since it debuted, I remember it as good thought-provoking, interesting, and humorous TV. My sister and I were fans of Parker Stevenson going back to the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew series of late 70's fame and, hence, why we were initially drawn to this show.

In retrospect, this show may have been somewhat ahead of its time -- as issues explored in it (scientific exploration of paranormal, seemingly unexplainable phenomena) later would become the basis for the Fox hit, The X-Files. In Probe, Parker Stevenson played a similarly quirky but brilliant character role later immortalized by David Duchovny's portrayal of the Fox Mulder character in X-Files. Stevenson's character was more quirky and less conventional though - falling more into the eccentric genius type of character. Likewise, similar to the X-Files, the secretary who worked with the main character on cases provided the role of the surprised/amazed skeptic -- the perfect foil for Stevenson's odd antics and bizarre theories.

Unfortunately, the show was put up against The Cosby Show (which was at the height of its popularity at the time) and therefore had no chance to gain an audience. Having debuted on an established network (not sure just which one) with no reason to gamble on such a concept (as Fox later did), the show died a quick death. Unfortunate.

I would be interested to see any of these episodes again because I wonder what my impressions of it would be now.

I've read the previous comments and agree with them. This was one of the best shows of it's era. I believe it was aired as a summer replacement. I was always under the impression that the network dumped it even before it aired, broadcasting the 7 already-produced episodes as summer filler. I think I was one of about 12 people who saw it, because I've never heard from it again. What a shame. I never thought of comparing it to the X-files, but I suppose that works. Probe was a much, much lighter show, though. Nowhere near as dark.

While it might be a bit dated now, I would still love to see the Sci-Fi channel pick this up and air it.

Austin James was extremely quirky, living in a warehouse, sleeping in a cupboard (this, way before Harry Potter) and solving crimes and debunking stuff along the way. His secretary, Michelle, brought out his rarely seen human side and provided a foil for his odd sense of humor.

Like most anything that requires more than six brain cells to appreciate, the networks dropped this like a hot rock. If it does ever make an appearance, though, give it a chance. It was well-written, well-acted and thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

Probe was one of the best sci-fi shows I have ever seen and coming from me, that's high praise because I'am not easy to please. The acting was wonderful. My main beef is that it was done away with so soon. My other problem is that it is only shown ,like, once every three or four years!