I wish people would stop saying Profit killed the superior whose funeral
began the show--he said that it really was a heart attack, and Profit never
lies to the audience (keep reading the articles & you'll find proof).
An expert at evaluating and manipulating his fellow workers (he's the people
person from Hell), Profit senses weakness and knows how to exploit it. He's
also a "master of cyberspace," which on this show means he has access to
just about every person on Earth's personal history from financial records
to dental X-rays. Profit spends much of each ep in a secret room, completely
naked and staring at a computer screen, wandering the virtual world in his
relentless quest for information. (Coincidentally, this is not unlike what
happens at PN [Public News, the source] every Tuesday night.)
Profit is not without enemies, however, and chief among them is the company's
head of security, Joanne Meltzer (Lisa Zane). She has already uncovered quite
a bit about Jim Profit's mysterious past: fun facts like the years of childhood
he spent trapped in a G & G shipping box naked, with a staticky television
his only friend. Company suits Chaz and Pete Gracen (Keith Szarabajka and
Jack Gwaltney) have already felt his wrath; he has started an affair with
Pete's lonely wife Nora (Allison Hossack).
Jim reserves his worst treatment for his immediate superiors, the people
who happen to have the acute misfortune of occupying the step directly above
his. Last week's ep was a shining example of this, as Profit brilliantly
framed an executive (Scott Paulin) for a murder Profit himself committed
in the first ep.
While Profit's ambition is naked and acknowledged, his true goals at G &
G remain unclear. Is he on a quest to run the company or to bring it down?
What is the source of his obsession? And, perhaps most intriguing, does his
naked butt stick to his chair when he stands up?
Somewhat like a very dark version of the show that precedes it in Fox's Monday
lineup, Melrose Place, Profit often indulges in cartoon-like
characters and, shall we say, larger-than-life situations. This is all the
better in a show that takes the point of view of a sociopath. After all,
wouldn't a person with such a high level of insecurity and irrational paranoia
see life in overly dramatic terms?
Co-creator John McNamara credits Richard III for inspiring Profit because
Shakespeare knew "the guy who had the most fun was the villian." Rumor has
it the master knew something about the audience having fun, too. Check it
out.
Class Envy
by Todd Wolf
Caption: Ignore Jim Profit at your own risk.
The smooth-talking psychopath may be one of the most overused characterizations
of the '90s, but when it is done as well as it is on the new black comedy
Profit, one doesn't mind following a familiar path. Adrian Pasdar
stars as Jim Profit, the ambitious newcomer in the acquisitions department
who will do anything, and I mean anything, to climb the corporate ladder
at international conglomerate Gracen & Gracen. Profit, whose cool tones
narrate each ep, outwardly appears to be the most promising junior executive
at G & G -- distinguished, hardworking, in control -- but underneath,
the wheels are always turning, cranking out plans and strategies about how
to bring his bosses down.
astralj@hotmail.com
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