Spenser Rehired

© by Gerald So | geraldso.blogspot.com | 6:28 P.M.

Warner Archive today released the first official DVD set of Spenser: For Hire Season 1.

I discovered the books through the TV show, but having read the books, I'm less a fan of the show. Robert Urich was too good-looking and earnest; Spenser is more beat-up and rye. Barbara Stock as Susan Silverman was beautiful, but showed little of the substance or sass Susan is supposed to have. Avery Brooks' Hawk was angrier, more vocal, and more memorable than Urich's Spenser, but Parker's Hawk would probably prefer not to talk, instead blending into the background until he had to act.

This much said (and I could say more), I'd like to think Spenser: For Hire was a necessary stepping stone to better nuanced crime shows based on books, Bones, Rizzoli & Isles, Justified, and Longmire for example.