After taking off big time with “Star Trek: Voyager” on Monday, the United Paramount Network (UPN) comes crashing back to Earth Tuesday night with two new series, “Marker” and “The Watcher.”
Stephen J. Cannell, one of the most prolific writer/producers in television (“The Rockford Files,” “The A-Team,” “Wiseguy”), created “Marker,” a slight but interesting action show set in Hawaii (7 p.m. Tuesday, WPWR-Ch. 50). Cannell also helped launch the Fox Network in 1987 with his “21 Jump Street,” which listed actor Richard Grieco in its credits.
Grieco, who played bad boy kiddie cop Dennis Booker in “Jump Street” a few years after it premiered, now stars in “Marker.” So it’s ironic that Cannell and Grieco are helping to create a foundation for UPN.
Grieco, an appealing actor thanks partly to those dark good looks, piercing eyes and a serious widow’s peak, stars as Richard DeMorra, a carpenter from New Jersey whose estranged millionaire father died leaving a funky will: ramshackle beachfront property, and debts owed to hundreds of people who did some kind of good deed or kindness for DeMorra’s dad.
DeMorra’s job is to help anyone who produces a small, plexiglass chip (a “marker”) engraved with a rose, the symbol of his father’s corporation. In the process, DeMorra hopes he’ll learn a little something about his pop. “Star Trek: The Next Generation’s” Gates McFadden plays DeMorra’s antagonistic stepmother.
“I’m a carpenter, not a detective, in case you haven’t guessed,” DeMorra tells surfing champion Lisa Lopes (Nia Peeples), who asks DeMorra for aid in finding her missing half-sister. So how does DeMorra become an ace detective in the space of a few days (condensed TV time)?
A major problem with “Marker” is Andy Bumatai as Danny “Pipeline” Khala, an annoying stereotypical island native who speaks in a kind of broken English, says “bro” way too much, and is shifty and conniving.
Grieco does a good job of playing the hip young guy with an attitude, which might be enough to carry “Marker.”
But can rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot carry “The Watcher,” which uses that television chestnut, the anthology format? Mix is the only reason to watch this one, but that’s not enough.
“The Watcher” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WPWR-Ch. 50) sounds a lot like a Marvel Comics character, an intergalactic being who watches, but never gets involved, in the actions of the people of Earth.
It’s a safe bet that the alien kibitzer never called anyone “homeboy.”
“So check it out, y’all,” says Mix. “My job is to watch folk in (Las) Vegas, that pressure cooker of a town.”
Mix, who got some women riled a few years ago with his homage to the female anatomy, “Baby Got Back,” is a hip-hop peeping Tom, keeping tabs on various denizens with video monitors located in a suite high above the city.
Why he watches is anybody’s guess. You’ll ask that question, too, because the trio of stories in the premiere are not all that watchable: Two down-on-their-luck friends stumble on a high-tech way to cheat at dice; a hypnotist uses his evil eye to get beautiful women to sleep with him; and a man makes a series of losing bets while his frustrated fiance looks on.
There’s nothing particularly exciting about these tales. One of the reasons anthologies like “The Twilight Zone” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” worked was anticipation that something dark or fantastic was going to happen at the end.
There are no real payoffs at the end of two of the three “Watcher” stories. The third segment does have one, but you probably won’t care since it takes so long to reach.
“The Watcher” was created by Christopher Crowe, who did a great job bringing the syndicated “The Untouchables” to Chicago. Strangly enough, he also was behind the revival of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” on NBC, a companion piece to Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” 10 years ago. Crowe’s “Hitchcock,” dark and stylish, ended up being better than the show it was supposed to support.
Crowe obviously has a handle on how to do good anthology. Maybe he should watch “Hitchcock” again as a reference point for “The Watcher.”
– Where’s the Remote?: “Cracker: To Be a Somebody” is the first of three movies that are part of the fine British series starring Robbie Coltrane. It premieres on the Arts & Entertainment Network at 8 p.m. Tuesday with a repeat at midnight, and it shows why this year it snagged several Cable Ace Award nominations, including best mini-series and best actor.
