Hack

This column first appeared in The Age on January 17, 2004

Televisually speaking, you may find this weekend tough going. Channel 9's 1.00 pm movie today, Robin and the 7 Hoods, is a lot of fun. Made in 1964 it stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Falk. It is, believe it or not, a musical retelling of the Robin Hood legend, set in 1920s Prohibition Chicago. If that's too silly for you, you can always check out The Lost Treasures of Tibet (SBS, tomorrow night, 8.30pm), which is set in Mustang, a tiny kingdom hemmed in by the world's tallest peaks along the border of Nepal. Here there is a race to restore the monastery of Thubchen, before its medieval, intricate Buddhist murals, severely damaged by damp and soot, crumble altogether.

One of the new series being tested out over summer is Hack (Channel 10, 9.30pm, Thursday). It started a few weeks ago in a fabulous pilot episode in which cab driver Mike Olshansky leaps out of his taxi and fights a whole lot of bad guys. He's Super Cabby. Since that promising beginning Hack has struggled to find its feet, but I think it's going to.

Olshansky is an ex-cop who was kicked off the force for taking money from a crime scene. There is no doubt that Olshansky did the bad thing, and, so far anyway, no attempt to justify what he did. So that's one thing the series has going for it: genuine complexity in its main character, and terrific acting from the guy who plays him, David Morse.

It was Morse who insisted the series be shot in his hometown, Philadelphia, and thank god he did, because that is also what makes this series a stand out. It's a great town to look at, a character in itself, and a relief from all those streets of San Francisco, LA and NY. It provides a run down backdrop that gives the series a relatively timeless feel - give or take a contemporary plot detail, this show could be set in the fifties, sixties or seventies.

Perhaps to amend for his past, Olshansky becomes a compulsive do-gooder, helping out every one who enters his cab needing help. In terms of plot, his risks becoming predictable and at times his interventions (often conflicting with his already erratic parenting of young son Michael Jr.) are impossible to understand. Basically, he's a vigilante. He's also extremely aggressive with his ex-wife, who left him when he was kicked off the force. In a recent interview Morse described Olshansky like this: "He isn't thinking how to be a good guy, how to help people. It's more like he's an addict and can't modulate; he gets involved for stupid reasons sometimes, and doesn't always end up helping." While it's off-putting at times to be asked to identify with a man who is not always likeable, it's a relief to watch a show that inhabits a world of ambiguity, rather than the two-dimensional fare we are often served up. This is a show worth spending time with.

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