8 TV reboots we actually wouldn’t mind seeing
By Shaun Stacy
TV reboots we’d actually like to see: Profiler (1996-2000)
Another NBC classic, Profiler ran from September 1996 to July 2000 and centered around the exploits of a forensic psychologist working with a fictitious branch of the FBI called the Violent Crimes Task Force.
It was one of the earlier incarnations of what we now refer to as a crime drama, or a crime procedural, show much in the same vein as shows such as NBC’s Law & Order: SVU and CBS’s Criminal Minds.
Ally Walker starred as Dr. Samantha “Sam” Waters, a criminal profiler, who worked with a task force to track down the most heinous murderers and criminals, bringing them to justice. Sam possesses an almost psychic ability to provide insight into the workings of a criminal mind. She is driven by experiencing both professional and personal tragedy years earlier in which a serial killer she had been tracking, known as Jack of All Trades, murdered her husband. Jack resurfaces, engaging Sam and her team into a game of cat and mouse throughout the first three seasons.
The all-star cast was rounded out by Robert Davi, who played Agent Bailey Malone, Sam’s boss and close friend. Roma Maffia played Dr. Grace Alvarez, the team’s medical examiner and Sam’s confidante. Erica Gimpel starred as Angel Brown, Sam’s best friend and roommate. Julian McMahon was a series regular, playing Det. John Grant, a cocky police detective who is skeptical about Sam’s abilities at first. Peter Frechette played George Fraley, the team’s tech expert, and a very young Evan Rachel Wood played Sam’s daughter, Chloe.
The show didn’t shy away from dark material, and regularly featured depictions of both murders and murder victims. Walker’s nuanced performance carried much of the emotional weight of the show, though there wasn’t a weak link in the cast. At the end of season three, Walker departed the series, citing that the material was getting too dark and disturbing, even for her. A new profiler, Rachel Burke, joined the team in season four and was played by Jamie Luner.
While there are many great crime procedurals on the air at the moment, the one thing Profiler had that they don’t is a personal connection to tragedy. What happened to Sam and the subsequent game being played by Jack, when no one in her life was safe, helps this show standout. You just don’t see stakes this high much on television anymore. NBC could easily update the show with a reboot, perhaps enticing Walker to reprise her role to mentor a new profiler?