Profit

By TODD EVERETT

Profit (Mon. (8), 8-10 p.m., Fox) Filmed in Vancouver by Cannell Entertainment. Executive producers, Stephen J. Cannell, David Greenwalt, John McNamara; producer, director, Robert Iscove; supervising producers, Jo Swerling Jr., N. John Smith; script, McNamara, Greenwalt.
 
Cast: Adrian Pasdar, Lisa Zane , Scott Paulin, Lisa Darr, Jack Gwaltney, Jennifer Hetrick, Allison Hossack, Keith Szarabajka; Tamsin Kelsey, Don Davis, Michael Macrae, Jerry Wasserman, Lisa Blount, Ric Reid, Topaz Hasfal Schou, Colleen Winton, Andrew Wheeler, Shawn MacDonald, Sue Mathew, Deryl Hayes, Dwight James, Sherman Augustus. The story of Jim Profit, a young man on the make in the corporate world, "Profit" reads like "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" set in Twin Peaks. If an audience manages to catch up with its combination of nuttiness and suspense, series (which begins seven more original episodes in its 9 p.m. Monday slot next week) could become a cult favorite. If two-hour pilot indicates direction of future episodes, "Profit" could go down as the creepiest show, with the most anti-heroic protagonist, in the history of television. Tape this one and keep it.
 

Even the tired old device of giving the character a name that can be punned into a series title is artfully handled by creators and scriptwriters David Greenwalt and John McNamara: "Profit" isn't his real name.

Lurid back-story slowly develops well after the introduction of Profit (Adrian Pasdar) attending the funeral of an executive of Gracen & Gracen, "the 15th-largest corporation in the world." A minor functionary in the company's accounting department, Profit has his eye on the president of acquisitions slot, with several people between him and it.

Showing that he's done his homework, Profit blackmails one person into alliance; then the bodies start falling. Suspicious of his behavior are current acquisitions chief Jack Walters (Scott Paulin) and Gracen & Gracen security chief Joanne Meltzer (Lisa Zane); others are just along for the ride. are Walters' secretary, Gail Koner (Lisa Darr); Profit's secretary, Mary Miller (Tamsin Kelsey); Walters' wife (Jennifer Hetrick); the battling Gracen brothers, strong Chaz (Keith Szarabajka) and impotent Pete (Jack Gwaltney); and Pete's wife (Allison Hossack). ]

While Walters and Meltzer are on to Profit's scheming, everybody else is oblivious; to them, he's simply charming, caring, controlled and ambitious. Profit's smart and intuitive, too: His education seems unlimited (in second episode, a gift for languages is revealed), and he's often virtually steps ahead of Meltzer and Walters.

Admirable qualities in a normal series hero, here they assist and shield a character with no redeeming qualities below the surface. His perpetual, almost Zenlike calm results in much of Profit's creepiness, at least to those (including the audience) who know what he's up to. And it soon becomes clear that Profit will not allow anything or anyone in his way. Comparisons to J.R. Ewing are obvious, but Profit is Ewing taken to a new level of snakiness.

Out of a past he'd rather not reveal comes Bobbi Stokowski (Lisa Blount, in the story's most outre performance).

Pasdar is sensational. Radiating boyish innocence as he back-stabs his way up the Gracen & Gracen organizational chart, he could become the model for at least a whole new generation of corporate back-stabbers. Director Robert Iscove gives the show just the right tone, and director of photography Rodney A. Charters and production designer Richard Hudolin make Vancouver settings look much better than often is the case.

Camera, Rodney A. Charters; editor, Chris Willingham; production designer, Richard Hudolin; sound, Patrick Ramsay; music, Mike Post; casting, Lucy Cavallo.