Jim Profit (Adrian Pasdar) has a big surprise for corporate secretary Gail
Koner (Lisa Darr) when he introduces himself at the funeral of her boss:
He knows she's been embezzling funds.
He knows a lot more than that about her. In fact, you might say Profit knows
virtually everything there is to know about Koner, including where to find
the ailing mother she's been supporting with the embezzled funds.
And he won't tell anyone - provided Koner gives him 20 uninterrupted minutes
on her late boss's computer, using the access codes only she knows.
It's the first step up the ladder for Profit at Gracen & Gracen, a huge
multinational. It's also the debut of the season's most fascinating new character
in one of its most wickedly entertaining new shows, Fox's "Profit."
"Profit" premieres Monday night with a two-hour episode, then moves to its
regular 9-10 p.m. ET time slot after "Melrose Place" the following Monday.
It could give Fox the big one-two punch it has sought unsuccessfully ever
since it moved "Melrose Place" to Mondays. As he slithers his way toward
the top of Gracen & Gracen, Jim Profit is a mysterious figure, tightly
wrapped, always gloved, a master of psychological warfare. He can soften
you up as nobody else can - and not even break a sweat when you take the
fall. He's a genius at computer info-manipulation. He's the ultimate opportunist,
a worm burrowing his way into the heart of the company.
Comparisons with J.R. Ewing ("Dallas") are less apt than with Francis Urquhart,
the party hack who rises to prime minister of England through dirty tricks,
blackmail and murder in PBS's popular "House of Cards" trilogy. Like Urquhart,
narrator Profit speaks directly to us, sharing his cynicism about the corporate
world, exposing the raw greed that motivates corporate power brokers, and
using their own tactics against them.
Like the Demi Moore character in Michael Crichton's "Disclosure," Profit's
modus operandi is to gather as much information as possible on everyone,
look for the weak spots and pounce on them. His skill as a computer hacker
is crucial to his game plan and he seems most alive when he's alone and naked
in his penthouse, playing with the chess pieces of the corporate structure
on his terminal.
Great satirical minds are at work here. Producers Stephen J. Cannell, David
Greenwalt and John McNamara are taking mighty shots not only at the ethical
vacuum in corporate America, but also at the generation that's about to inherit
it, raised on TV and the values it embraces. The key to understanding Profit
comes when we learn he was an abused child whose father caged him in a Gracen
& Gracen packing crate with a hole cut in it so he could watch TV. Here
is a TV villain who suckled at the breast of a TV set.
We don't have anyone else in "Profit" to identify with except Profit. His
only known sex partner is his sleazy, drug-addict stepmother, Bobbi (Lisa
Blount), who knows that Profit once chained his dad to a bed and set fire
to him. Company president Chaz Gracen (Keith Szarabajka) is a ruthless power
merchant and womanizer. His brother Pete (Jack Gwaltney) is an impotent alcoholic
whose neglected wife, Nora (Allison Hossack), is natural prey for Profit.
Koner, the embezzler, becomes Profit's secretary - and corrupted handmaiden.
They're all his pawns.
Profit's chief nemesis is Joanne Meltzer (Lisa Zane), head of corporate security,
a corporate assassin whose own upbringing was as nightmarish as his: Her
lunatic sister used to wake her in the middle of the night by choking her
with a cord. Her outlook is equally warped. "I arrested a nun once," she
tells us. "Killed a priest. He dumped her for a choirboy. Nobody's perfect."
Television News
April 8, 1996 'Profit,' premiering April 8 on Fox
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
astralj@hotmail.com
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