Street Justice

Some of the best and most interesting television series have been made north of the American border and Street Justice was one of them. When you live close to the border as I do and are fortunate to get Canadian television stations you get to see a lot of things that Americans don't normally see.

Street Justice had a run of two years and it got canceled frankly because star Carl Weathers got a much better offer to step into an established TV hit with In The Heat Of The Night. It's a pity it did not get to run longer.

The premise was an interesting one, very similar to David Carradine's modern Kung Fu series. Carl Weathers was a soldier wounded in Vietnam and missionaries with a young son saved his life. After the war he tried to look for them and found they were killed and their son was missing. Years later he turned up as martial arts expert Bryan Genesee.

In addition to being a cop in an unnamed American/Canadian city (the better to market the series with)Weathers also owned a bar with both Genesee and Charlene Fernetz. Genesee had a status similar to Adrian Monk's with the San Francisco PD as a consultant, a personal one for Weathers. Though his consultation work involved more physical than cerebral skills. They made quite a team.

Halfway through the first year Weathers came up against street gang leader Marcus Chong who he decided correctly was worth rehabilitating. Chong was the best thing in the series I thought for sure would be a breakout star. He's apparently writing and not acting any longer and that's a pity because he was one sexy hunk.

Ironically enough In The Heat Of The Night ended its run within two years, I think Street Justice would have had a long run had Weathers stayed with it. These are career decisions that you can't go back on though. Still I'm glad it's out now on DVD for the young folks of today to enjoy.

I was twelve when I ran across this show back in the early 90s. I have to say, I was impressed back then. There was action, the stories were good, and each episode was interesting. Carl Weathers was coming off his 80s fame from movies such as Action Jackson and Predator. The rest of the cast were relatively unknown, at least on the 12 year old circuit.

Of course, there is always the story of the breakout star. In season two, Boudreax got a new partner named Eric Rothman, played by a then unknown actor named Eric McCormack who would end up on a little show called Will and Grace.

Bryan Genesse has gone on to infamy in the B movie circuit. Granted, he has potential. If given the right scripts and marketing, he could be a contender in the action movie business, but he makes the B versions for now.

There was just the right mix of action and dramatic scenes to keep the show from falling into a creative rut. I wish it had lasted longer and that it would be released on DVD.

Well I am surprised no one else on IMDb has commented on it.

"Street Justice" was aired on KTLA when I watched it California. Affer the near boredom and end of "21 Jump Street" , we started seeing somewhat better cop shows.

This was pretty good. Carl Weathers acts better here than probably his other laughable cop incarnations like "Action Jackson".

Pretty martial arts buff Bryan Genesse is great here as Grady Jameson. He gets a lot of crappy roles, but hes a good action star in the making I think, not like those pansies in "Next Action Star" on NBC .LOL

Well typical cop show, they case bad guys and arrest them except there is a nice relationship here with "Malloy" (Charlene Fernetz) a white woman and Sgt. Beaudreaux.

Also had some pretty good choreographed action scenes.

If you get to see on syndication again, give it a viewing, it's not bad like those cop shows and it ran for almost 2 yrs so thats saying something.

I loved this show when I twelve. Believe you me I never missed a show. The guy that played Grady was my favorite. Brad Pitt later followed behind him once the show went off the air. Still, I can recall waiting up to watch Street Justice and the Untouchables while everyone slept. All while eating ramen noodles. Even though the people in the show have faded from my mind the memory and time as well as place in my life are remembered. It's truly amazing what the old shows bring back. Like, where you were, what you were doing. It does in some weird way take you back. I am twenty eight, married with two kids. Where does the time go? Anyway, thank you for keeping a little of this memory alive.

This show was one of my guilty pleasures in the early 90s. Half-Drama, half-action, it always had a little something for everyone. Decent dialogue, interesting story lines, and good fight choreography (one of the episodes even had Billy Blanks fighting Bryan Genessee in the final scene).

Overall, the actors seemed to have decent on-screen chemistry (the romantic tension between Malloy and Beaudreaux, the Paternal-turned-fraternal relationship with Grady and Beaudreaux) and references to Grady's checkered past added some depth to the show.

Fast and stylish (at least by early 90s standards), Street Justice is a little like "Walker, Texas Ranger" if it had been aired on the WB(though this was long before the WB came out). Worth seeing if you could find it somewhere.