Die Straßen von Philadelphia

"Hack" was a wonderful show that meant a lot to us fans. The heroes were not perfect and many times they not only sinned, but flat-out broke the law. It inspired many people, especially the people of Philadelphia whom we've become used to seeing the actors and crew on our streets. Why hasn't Paramount Home Video yet produced the DVD set of the series? It is only 40 episodes and us fans would love to have it to cherish forever. Paramount has produced so many horrible shows that went right to DVD, I cannot understand why "Hack" still is not available for sale on DVD. We write letters and emails and no one from Paramount even has the courtesy to respond. Yes, there are still die-hard, loyal fans of "Hack" and we are strong!

The show is now over and gone, but while it was on it was my favorite of all TV shows. I liked David Morse from his movie 'The Crossing Guard'. He plays a somewhat similar role here, in that of a person who has made a regrettable mistake in life and now is somewhat lost and trying Day By Day to find a role in the world and a way forward, a role many of us should be able to relate to. All the shows were wonderful stories of human interest and 'compassion' (Dict: Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it). I never understood why the show didn't receive better reviews, personally, I would much rather see a program, like this, about people interacting with others, struggling with their problems and trying to help one another, rather than continuous murder and action. I think the writers did an excellent job.

I've seen David Morse do a lot of good work in other movies, but I think the work he did in this series was his best. The character has so many complexities and he was so believable in this part that he was minute to minute uplifting and hopeless. This series must have been before it's time. The story, direction, and characters are outstanding, but it landed in an era that had not yet learned to appreciate these more complex transformational plots and the character David Morse portrayed.

Far from the old action-hero role, his character hangs out in the sinner-redeeming space that most of us identify with more easily. How do people who have suffered a monstrous failure in life and realized they've been a bad father too, recover and find meaning and a reason to go on?

I don't think Morse ever got the praise and acknowledgment he deserved for this work.

But the over-arching creator of this transformational tale is David Koepp. He's a master with a long history of blockbusters and many works that have garnered more acclaim than this TV series. The fact that he hasn't returned to TV that often speaks for the lack of praise and acknowledgement for his work in this medium. Hack was created as a palette for transformational tales for every character on the show - the priest, his wife, his ex-partner, and everyone else he had any meaningful interaction with were transformed by his singular commitment to helping (redemption).

There are certain things that someone like David Koepp just has to do to express the depth of his mastery of his art and I would argue that Hack better than any other work is a showcase for Koepp's mastery, creativity, and sensitivity. I would have easily gone 25 seasons on this masterpiece.

Like another user, I was disappointed in the first episode. David Morse is one of my favorite actors and I agreed that the role seemed unlikely for him and the writing needed some serious help. However, by the second episode, we were pleasantly surprised. We enjoyed it a lot more, and it could have a real future. Sadly, in these days of a show being canceled if it doesn't get enough ratings in the premiere episode, the future remains to be seen. It may take a bit for the show to find it's rhythm... lets hope the execs give it long enough.

Not a bad show, and David Morse is good in his character. The only issue is that most of the episodes take about 20 minutes to rev-up, that's when they're not arcing a story line. Sometimes it's just ponderously slow. And when the plot does get going, it's suddenly solved. Boom. Like that. They go from figuring it out to the epilogue without busting the guy on camera - he's just suddenly nabbed. Okaaaaay. Run out of money much for the episode? And to the extra whining that his name is not in bold in the credits... when you're an A-Lister, maybe it will be ;)

But like I said, it's a pretty decent show with an interesting premise.