Profiler (TV series)

Profiler
Title card for Samantha Waters and the Profiler
Format	Drama, Crime
Created by	Cynthia Saunders
Starring	Ally Walker (Season 1–3) Robert Davi Julian McMahon Roma Maffia Peter Frechette Erica Gimpel (Season 1–3) Caitlin Wachs (Season 1–2) Jamie Luner (Season 4) Dennis Christopher Michael Whaley (Season 1) Shiek Mahmoud-Bey (Season 2) Heather McComb (Season 1–2) Traci Lords (Season 2)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	83 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 42min, hour with commercials (per episode)
Production company(s)	NBC Studios (entire run) Three Putt Entertainment (1998-2000) The Sander/Moses Group (1996-1998)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 29, 1996 – July 1, 2000
Chronology
Related shows	The Pretender

Profiler was an American crime drama that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series follows the exploits of a criminal profiler working with the fictional FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ally Walker starred as Dr. Samantha Waters during the first three seasons (1996–1999), and was later replaced by Jamie Luner during the show's final season. Robert Davi, Roma Maffia, Peter Frechette, Erica Gimpel and Julian McMahon co-starred throughout the show's run. In 1998, Evan Rachel Wood joined the cast as Samantha's daughter, replacing actress Caitlin Wachs.

Profiler shares a similar lead character and premise with the Fox Network series Millennium, created by Chris Carter. Both shows premiered at the beginning of the 1996–97 television season.

Plot

Dr. Samantha "Sam" Waters (Ally Walker) is a forensic psychologist working for the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a "profiler"; she has a unique gift to "see" through the eyes of others which gives Sam a special insight into the workings of the criminal mind. While she performs all of her duties diligently, her real motive lies in a both professional and personal tragedy years earlier in which her husband was murdered by a serial killer known only as Jack of All Trades (played by Dennis Christopher, who was never fully seen until the middle of the third season, when he first appeared posing as a buffoonish sheriff of a small California town). Sam is part of an elite team of pros led by her mentor, Bailey Malone (Robert Davi), and that also includes Detective John Grant (Julian McMahon), computer hacker George Fraley (Peter Frechette), and forensic pathologist Grace Alvarez (Roma Maffia). Together, they solve the toughest of cases. She lives in a former firefighter station, guarded 24/7, with her seven-year-old daughter Chloe Waters (Caitlin Wachs), and her best friend Angel Brown (Erica Gimpel), an artist.

Other characters included Michael Whaley playing Nathan Brubaker who appeared throughout season one; a detective who was a former defense attorney. Shiek Mahmoud-Bey played Marcus Payton in season two who was an FBI agent skeptical of Sam's methods. A Martinez appeared occasionally in the first and second seasons playing Nick Cooper, an ATF bomb disposal expert who was Sam Waters love interest, who was later murdered by Jack. Heather McComb appeared frequently in the first and second seasons as Frances Malone, the wayward and rebellious teenage daughter of Bailey Malone. Traci Lords appeared throughout the second season playing a violent, ex-convict named Sharon Lesher, who became the serial killer Jill of All Trades after she was recruited by Jack.

In season three, the VCTF finally closed in on Jack, whose name was revealed to be Donald Lucas (played by Mark Rolston). With Jack finally in custody (so it seemed), Sam and her daughter Chloe (now played by Evan Rachel Wood) moved out of the fortress-like firehouse where they had lived for the past two years and into a fancy house in the Atlanta suburbs. Sam had a brief romance with Paul Sterling (John Mese), a district attorney prosecuting Donald Lucas, while Sam also dealt with her estranged father Walter Anderson (Lawrence Pressman) who had some kind of connection to the imprisoned Donald Lucas. But as it turned out, the arrest of Donald Lucas was a ploy by the real Jack of All Trades (whose real name was revealed in one episode in season two to be Albert Newquay) who had in fact escaped yet again and was revealed to be in hiding in a small California town playing a sheriff, named Ed Post.

In season four, after finally stopping Jack, Sam retired from the VCTF, being replaced by a new forensic psychologist, Rachel Burke (Jamie Luner). Rachel was a former FBI instructor at Quantico who also had Sam Waters' skill of profiling. But unlike Sam, Rachel had a very brusque take-charge manner that alienated some of the team members. Rachel had her own life problems of being single and dealing with her self-destructive younger brother, Danny, who died from drug overdose near the end of the season. Late in the season, the show established a new over-arching villain, a shadowy urban legend named Damian Kennasas. Gregory Itzin also had a recurring role as Joel Marks, an unstable FBI agent who stalked Rachel. As the series came to an end, it appeared that the elite VCTF team might be shut down by the U.S. Congress for the high funds it took to operate.

Principal Cast

• Ally Walker as Dr. Samantha "Sam" Waters (Profiler #1) (Seasons 1-3) 64 episodes
• Jamie Luner as Dr. Rachel Burke (Profiler #2) (Season 4) 20 episodes
• Robert Davi as Agent Bailey Malone (Seasons 1-4)
• Julian McMahon as Det. John Grant (Seasons 1-4)
• Roma Maffia as Dr. Grace Alvarez (Seasons 1-4)
• Peter Frechette as George Fraley (Seasons 1-4)
• Erica Gimpel as Angel Brown (Seasons 1-3) 45 episodes
• Caitlin Wachs as Chloe Waters (Seasons 1-2) 41 episodes
• Michael Whaley as Det. Nathan Brubaker (Season 1) 22 episodes
• Heather McComb as Frances Malone (Seasons 1-2)
• Shiek Mahmud-Bey as Det. Marcus Payton (Season 2)
• Traci Lords as Sharon Lesher (Season 2)

Recurring Cast

• A Martinez as Nick Cooper (Seasons 1-2)
• Evan Rachel Wood as Chloe Waters (Replacement of Caitlin Wachs in Seasons 3-4)
• Mark Rolston as Donald Lucas (Season 3)
• John Mese as Paul Sterling (Season 3)
• Lawrence Pressman as Walter Anderson (Season 3)
• Gregory Itzin as Joel Marks (Season 4)

Unconfirmed cast

• Dennis Christopher as Jack of All Trades/Albert Newquay (Uncredited or credited as 'Jack' during the entire first and second seasons)

Episodes

Main article: List of Profiler episodes

Ratings

Season		U.S. ratings	Network	Rank
1	1996-97	7.4 million	NBC	#82
2	1997-98	9.9 million	NBC	#86
3	1998-99	8.9 million	NBC	#89
4	1999-00	8.1 million	NBC	#86

The Pretender universe

Profiler shared the same universe with The Pretender, with two crossover episodes, one with each with Michael T. Weiss guest starring on Profiler and Ally Walker making a guest appearance on The Pretender in season 4.

DVD releases

A&E Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in the United States of America.

• Episode #1.4 'I'll Be Watching You' from Season 1 was not included in the set due to music right issues over the title song.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
Profiler – The First Season	22*	July 29, 2003
Profiler – The Second Season	20	November 25, 2003
Profiler – The Third Season	21	April 27, 2004
Profiler – The Fourth Season	20	October 26, 2004

Syndication

Profiler is currently airing weeknights at 1AM and 4AM Eastern on NBC Universal's 24-hour crime and mystery-themed cable channel Sleuth.

External links

• Profiler at the Internet Movie Database
• Profiler at TV.com
• Profiler at EpisodeWorld.com