Brian Lowry at Variety offers a column on Wiseguy, a clever, well-made TV series that my wife and I enjoyed.
Reading about Kevin Spacey returning in "House of Cards," watching Jonathan Banks breaking bones on “Breaking Bad” and Steven Bauer in “Ray Donovan,” and seeing Stanley Tucci stealing scenes in the “Hunger Games” sequel, lately it feels like all roads lead to "Wiseguy"
Once in a while there are TV series that in hindsight appear ahead of their time, or that provided a launching pad for an inordinate amount of talent. “Wiseguy,” which aired on CBS from 1987-90, managed to do both.
Starring Ken Wahl as Vinnie Terranova, a cop working undercover as a criminal enforcer, the series introduced Spacey as part of an incestuous brother-and-sister, Tucci as a ruthless mobster and Banks as Wahl’s taciturn boss. Featuring one of composer Mike Post’s best themes (if you know it, you’ll likely be humming it the rest of the day), the Stephen J. Cannell production also proved inordinately adroit – so much so that when Wahl was sidelined by an injury, the producers brought in Tony Denison as a temporary replacement for an arc of episodes (featuring Tucci, Ron Silver and Jerry Lewis) that were among the program’s best.
You can read the rest of the column via the below link:
http://variety.com/2013/tv/columns/kevin-spacey-stanley-tucci-jonathan-banks-all-roads-lead-to-wiseguy-1200920086/
You can also read my Crime Beat column on Wiseguy via the below link:
http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/03/wiseguys-goodfellas-and-godfathers.html
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