Unsub

I remember watching all 8 episodes of this brilliant show. David Soul did a stellar job not only heading up the cast, but his portrayal of John Grayson was a terrific follow up to Starsky and Hutch. As the other reviewers have noted, this show predates all the great crime TV shows: CSI, Criminal Minds, L&O, etc., and that was also the reason for its downfall.

During the Reagan-Bush era, the late 1980s when the show was on, Bible- thumping groups of Americans felt it was their God given right to ruin the fun for everyone else. They launched a campaign against Unsub and subsequently the sponsors pulled out. Thank Dog they didn't succeed with their narrow-minded attempt to also remove the Simpsons, unfortunately, Unsub could not sustain their wrath. My hope is that the shows are re-released on DVD.

It's the Behavioral Analysis Unit in the FBI led by John Westley "Westy" Grayson (David Soul). M. Emmet Walsh, Jennifer Hetrick, and Richard Kind play three of his subordinates.

I love the forensics coveralls when they go into a crime scene. They even put on booties over their shoes. This is a 1989 TV show from 80's TV impresario Stephen J. Cannell. The forensics work is much more realistic than the flashier modern shows like CSI which would come a decade later. Quite frankly, this is much closer to Criminal Minds including the private plane flying the group to their investigations. I would look to do less with empathic profiling. It comes off as hokey on screen. The pilot is a bit of a mess but that does happen sometimes. It's filmed in Vancouver when those productions are still a step behind Hollywood. Overall, this show is well ahead of its time. David Soul is great but the star of this show has to be M. Emmet Walsh.

UNSUB (Unknown Subject). This was one of the best of the Stephen J.Cannell Productions that ran in the 80's on NBC. David Soul's John Grayson was a far cry from his "Hutch" of years before and as the leader of the Justice Department Behavioral Science Lab, he and his crew used all the latest methods of scientific and intuitive discovery in order to hunt down the "unknown subjects" that performed the current week's gruesome crime. Just like other Cannell shows of the time (like "Stingray" and the first season of "Hunter" among others) it sported a stylish soundtrack of songs written and performed by composer Mike Post. The short lived series also featured fine performances by Kent McCord (formerly of "Adam-12"), M. Emmett Walsh, Richard Kind (later to co-star on "Mad About You" and "Spin City") as well as Jennifer Hetrick (who would later co-star as Captain Picard's love interest "Vash" on Star Trek: the Next Generation"). The similarities between this show and today's major hit "CSI" are astounding and really make me wonder if the creators of "CSI" may have been inspired by this short lived series which ran only 8 episodes. Another astounding fact is that the villain of the very first episode was played by none other than Paul Guilfoyle (a frequent Cannell villain back then) who would later co-star on "CSI" as Captain Jim Brass. IF you ever get the chance, this show is one that's worth catching, especially the 2 part episode (#6 & #7) which features Jason Bernard as a charismatic Bishop who proves to be just as evil as the Devil himself. Another quality show that was never allowed time to build an audience and just may have been 10 years or more ahead of its time. Just thankful, that like "Stingray" and "J.J. Starbuck", I was smart enough to get this one on tape during its original airing. Shows like this are few and far between and getting more scarce all the time, I just really wish it had ran a lot longer.

I am just getting into Criminal Minds now, but if you enjoy crime dramas that push the envelope, you'll enjoy Unsub. Criminal Minds took a lot from Unsub, the terminology, the private jet, the criminal profilers, and it worked. I think at the time, Unsub was a little too raw, sadistic killers, child murderers, etc. and I wish it would have last longer, but if you find it on DVD, its worth your time. It was a dynamic cast of varied actors, each who brought something different to the show, the married couple who were both CSIs, a primadonna profiler who could adopt their mindset as easily as putting on a pair of shoes; an ex-cop from the old school; a timid yet caring investigator who always tried to help and a determined, self-sacrificing leader.

This television series of eight episodes was so far ahead of its time I am not surprised that it did not last more than a few episodes. I do not feel that it was the inspiration for the Crime Scene Investigation shows. I feel that the new series Criminal Minds might have been a clone - right down to the team plane. The one similarity to Crime Scene Investigation is the lab connection. Criminal Minds doesn't appear to show a lot of lab time. Unsub was a very dark show but excellent television. I got to watch old old taped copies and wish the series would come out on disk. David Soul had visibly matured from his Starsky & Hutch persona and was very believable as head of a country wide forensic team. Many parts of the show were much more realistic than Crime Scene Investigation (no blonde women with flowing locks gathering evidence at the scene of a crime) these people went in with booties and head coverings. Their cases were also much more grisly than the Crime Scene Investigation shows...comparable with Criminal Minds...not quite up to Bones. It was also made at a time when most television shows were still more eye candy than realism. David Soul showed his chops as an actor in this series.