Kampf gegen die Mafia

The first season of Wiseguy was by far the best, mostly due to Spacey. For all you Kevin Spacey fans, if you have never seen his performance in this show, it is a MUST. I had not been exposed to him until then, and his performance had me mesmerized, hooked, wanting more. Because of his performance in this particular show, I made it a point to see many of his other works over the years. If you are a Spacey fan, make it a point to watch the reruns of the first season of Wiseguy. (It's probably on DVD...somewhere). This show in general, especially the first season had some additional memorable performances also by Ray Sharkey and Joan Severance. I so looked forward on Wednesday nights to the show and only wished it had survived at least a few more years.

I remembered this late 80's/early 90's show for its look, high production values, and Ken Wahl's wholly believable turn as Vinne Terranova. After it was recently released (again) on DVD, I picked up Season One from Amazon. It's been very hard to hit 'pause' and come back later! And certainly worth every penny. Wahl is even better than I remembered (I don't think he ever ended up doing anything again after leaving Wiseguy), and the rest of the cast--especially those who were brought on as Wahl's antagonists for the multi-episode story 'arcs' like Ray Starkey and Kevin Spacey--bring their 'A' game (which seems unusual for that era of television.) What struck me in scene after scene is that Wahl not only seems perfectly cast in this role, he has SERIOUS presence and acting chops. His acting, which never seems forced or 'over the top,' seemingly pushes first rate actors like Starkey and Spacey to give it THEIR best . . . there's almost a competitive edge to the extended scenes where Wahl and these guys are truly going for it in an acting sense.

Some of the scriptwriting is a little corny by today's standards, and the plots . . . peculiar (I'm thinking of the Mel Profit arc where Terranova and Profit's right hand man are sent to Tennessee to "straighten out the business"). Jonathan Banks, who plays Terranova's FBI handler, seems overly heated and one dimensional for the most part (a criticism that may have been contemporary as he occasionally breaks character to show some kind of human side). Not a particularly memorable turn.

The other reviews here suggest that things dropped off after Season One, so I probably will skip those . . . but Season One is a serious work of early episodic television.

Great storylines, great acting, great drama. I still think the Vinnie - Sonny interaction was monumental. I was hooked on it from the first episode. Perhaps it is because I was younger, but I still haven't found a series who would overwhelm me so much.

The first 10 episodes is so good, it's like a long good movie you have to see through it's end. But once he leave the mafia family, the series sort of loses itself and becomes a bit too absurd.

But still interesting with new plots, twists and excellent actors and characters.

My only gripe is that the main character is a bit too perfect and kind of turns into a Mary Sue: Does all the right things, says the right things, morally higher than everyone and every woman falls in love with him.

A bit hard to relate to a guy like that for the majority of viewers and sort of takes away the realism.

7 / 10 score.

I remember watching Wiseguy in it's original run ... the first season was fantastic, the shows were well written, the actors were well chosen for their parts ... the chemistry between Vinnie and McPike, Vinnie and Sonny, Vinnie, McPike and Lifeguard, the emotional ending of the Steelgrave arc ...

then the chemistry between Vinnie and Lacoco in the next arc ... I haven't been as devoted to a season of TV since until the first season of '24'.

I have the first 2 DVD sets. The show is holds up great, and what's even better, I've introduced a number of friends and family to the series, and they have all enjoyed them. The series did start to slide downhill after the first season, though I enjoyed the 'KKK' arc, and though not great ...I really did enjoy the "Dead Dog Records" arc. I still say the few minutes of Vinnie and Pattie doin' the nasty towards the end of the arc was some of the hottest scenes I had ever seen on network TV, I'm looking forward to seeing if My memory of it was accurate when the DVD comes out.

One thing I am VERY upset about though, on the DVD, last Steelgrave episode, where Sonny is leaning against the jukebox, beaten and bloodied, and Vinnie is across the room, in the same condition, there is NO "Knights in White Satin" !!!!????? That song was so important to that scene, it just doesn't feel right if you have seen the original televised version and then see the DVD version ..it looses A LOT in the translation ... I understand that they couldn't get the rights or it would have cost too much to get the rights .. but I have to admit, I was very, very disappointed when that came around :(

Other than that lil(?) gripe, it was awesome to see Vinnie and McPike back in action again ... and yes ..I will probably by the complete series as it is released.