UC: Undercover
| UC: Undercover | |
|---|---|
 UC: Undercover Cast |
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| Format | Action, crime |
| Created by | Shane Salerno Don Winslow |
| Starring | Oded Fehr Jon Seda Vera Farmiga Bruklin Harris Jarrad Paul William Forsythe |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 30, 2001 – March 23, 2002 |
UC: Undercover is an action-thriller television series that focuses on the secret lives and private demons of an elite Justice Department crime-fighting unit that confronts the country’s deadliest, most untouchable lawbreakers by going undercover to bust them. The series was broadcast from 2001 to 2002.
The stories were written by Shane Salerno. David Arnold wrote the main title theme and scored the pilot episode. Salerno said the show would be a "very music driven series." [1] UC: Undercover was a production of NBC Studios in association with Jersey Films, Chasing Time Pictures, Regency Television, and 20th Century Fox Television. Its short but popular run ended when it was canceled by the network.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Oded Fehr as Frank Donovan
- Jon Seda as Jake Shaw
- Vera Farmiga as Alex Cross
- Bruklin Harris as Monica Davis
- Jarrad Paul as Cody
- William Forsythe as Sonny Walker
- Oded Fehr was not the original star. Grant Show was written out in the second episode. [2]
[edit] Synopsis
The unit is headed by authoritative Frank Donovan (Oded Fehr), with undercover agents Jake Shaw (Jon Seda) and Alex Cross (Vera Farmiga), psychological profiler Monica Davis (Bruklin Harris), and young techno-wizard Cody (Jarrad Paul), who runs all of the high-tech surveillance operations.
As a federal team, the group responds to emergencies all over the country: taking down elite bank robbers, drug kingpins, domestic terrorists, spies, jewel thieves, and corrupt cops. The drama’s character-driven storylines emphasize the taut, cat-and-mouse game played by the undercover agents as they attempt to infiltrate the lives of a gallery of criminals, including murderous master thief Jack “Sonny” Walker (William Forsythe) and imprisoned drug lord Carlos Cortez (Steven Bauer, in a recurring role).
The series also explores the psychological toll undercover work takes on the agents who play this deadly game of false identities and who commit treachery as a daily profession for the greater good.
The team often butts heads with Paul Bloom (Brian Markinson), their obstructive and fiercely ambitious Justice Department boss.
[edit] Reception
The show received largely negative reviews. USA Today's Robert Bianco gave it one star and said it was "Pretentious, incoherent and so visually hyper it borders on nauseating, UC is a season-low mix of bad acting, bad writing and bad direction."[3] Entertainment Weekly said it was "Noisy and needlessly confusing, this one cries out for some of the clarity and rigor" [4]
Ving Rhames received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actor in a TV Drama Series.
[edit] Episode list
- Life on the Wire
- Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
- Of Fathers and Sons
- Once Upon a Time...in the Hood
- Honor Among Thieves
- Nobody Rides for Free (a.k.a. Blowback)
- City on Fire (a.k.a. Crash)
- The Siege (a.k.a. Prison Riot)
- Zero Option
- Hunting Armando
- Teddy C
- Manhunt
- The Sins of Sonny Walker
