"Probe" (1988) TV series

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Creators:

Isaac Asimov
William Link
Michael I. Wagner
(more)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

10 March 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

An eccentric scientific prodigy and his secretary investigate mysteries.

Plot Keywords:

Genius | Think Tank | Computer

Cast

Parker Stevenson	...	Austin James (7 episodes, 1988)
Ashley Crow	...	Michelle Castle (7 episodes, 1988)
Jon Cypher	...	Howard Millhouse / ... (7 episodes, 1988)
Clive Revill	...	Graham McKinley (5 episodes, 1988)

(more)

Series Directed by
Rob Bowman		(1 episode, 1988)
Kevin Hooks		(1 episode, 1988)
Robert Iscove		(1 episode, 1988)
Alan J. Levi		(1 episode, 1988)
Vincent McEveety		(1 episode, 1988)
Sandor Stern		(1 episode, 1988)
Virgil W. Vogel		(1 episode, 1988)

Series Writing credits
Michael I. Wagner		(3 episodes, 1988)
Isaac Asimov		(2 episodes, 1988)
Lee Sheldon		(2 episodes, 1988)
William Link		(unknown episodes)
Michael Piller		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
Alan J. Levi	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 1988)
Michael I. Wagner	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 1988)

Series Original Music by
Sylvester Levay		(2 episodes, 1988)

Series Cinematography by
Irl Dixon		(1 episode, 1988)

Series Casting by
Darlene Wyatt		(unknown episodes)

Series Art Direction by
Michael E. Ferrell		(unknown episodes)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Steve Kelso	....	second unit director (unknown episodes)
John Slosser	....	first assistant director (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Sherwood Jones	....	boom operator (1 episode, 1988)
Jay Wilkinson	....	sound editor (1 episode, 1988)
Barney Cabral	....	adr supervisor (unknown episodes)
Michael D. Wilhoit	....	supervising sound editor (unknown episodes)

Series Special Effects by
Ray Bivins	....	special effects (1 episode, 1988)
Dave Barkovitz	....	special effects (unknown episodes)

Series Visual Effects by
Charles Gibson	....	visual effects (7 episodes, 1988)
Jim Michaels	....	visual effects producer (7 episodes, 1988)

Series Stunts
Steve Kelso	....	stunt coordinator (unknown episodes)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Dan Kneece	....	assistant camera (1 episode, 1988)
Phil Smoot	....	camera operator (1 episode, 1988)

Series Editorial Department
Lewis Schoenbrun	....	assistant editor (1 episode, 1988)

Series Other crew
Constance L. Hoy	....	assistant production coordinator (7 episodes, 1988)
Samuel Hughes	....	computer/video playback (7 episodes, 1988)

Production Companies

• MCA Television

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Runtime:

60 min (7 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Company:

MCA Television

Quotes:

Michelle: I'm sorry, Mr. James, but you're weird.
Austin: Don't say weird. Say maladjusted.
Michelle: Why?
Austin: I prefer it.

Movie Connections:

Follows "Probe: Computer Logic (#1.1)" (1988)

Austin James is no Columbo

I remember being intrigued by this series before its premiere back in 1988. I also remember I quickly lost interest after a few episodes, although I couldn't remember why until now. Seeing this again, I can understand why I did. The show is rather like "Monk," with its eccentric, supposedly brilliant, antisocial, iconoclastic, grumpy lead character minus the OCD quirks, but still with the spunky female personal assistant and with worse writing. Austin James always sees tiny details that we the audience could not. To make it seem more intelligent, the writers peppered the scripts with scientific trivia and pseudo-scientific babble. The latter was especially embarrassing considering Isaac Asimov was listed as co-creator and scientific adviser. A supercomputer that can make neon signs explode and rupture gas lines at specific places? That has continuous speech recognition and natural language processing -- a goal that still eludes computer scientists today -- but not the much simpler speech synthesis? That can turn the dial on a cheap radio or an old TV set as if they came with motors installed on the knobs? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that most of the "science" in this show was nonsense.

Subsequent episodes were little better. The "smartest man in the world" keeps saying "nukular" and "nukulotides." He does burnouts when he has to get somewhere fast, instead of knowing that less smoking rubber means more traction and a faster start if you're not in a Top Fuel dragster. You target a virus at a specific human by inserting that human's DNA into it??? Good grief. Some of the situations are painfully obvious and clichéd, like the hoary "videotape was substituted for live video but Austin noticed items on the tape didn't match." That was old when Mission: Impossible used to do it twenty years previous. Episodes mixed these shopworn plot devices with supposed scientific concepts but each time proved that the writers knew barely more than the names of these concepts. It was as if Asimov had no hand in the show after co-creating it.

The show seemed to rely mostly on the charisma of former "Hardy Boys" star Parker Stevenson, but that couldn't compensate for the contrived scripts. It wasn't even as good as an average Columbo episode from the original NBC run. The concept had promise, but was undercut by mediocre writing. But I guess scientific geniuses generally don't become television writers. What a waste. It could have been science fiction of the hardest kind, but instead turned out to be science fantasy folded into run of the mill murder mysteries.