Human Target (1992 TV series)
Human Target is an American action drama television series broadcast by ABC in the United States. It is based on the DC comic book character of the same title created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, and developed for television by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo. The seven-episode series premiered on July 20, 1992, and last aired on August 29 the same year. The more recent 2010 Fox television series of the same name, is also based on the Human Target character.
Synopsis
The series follows the adventures of Christopher Chance, a Vietnam War vet turned bodyguard and private investigator who uses advanced technology and sophisticated makeup to assume the identity of his client, becoming a human target. In a departure from the original comic book stories, Chance flies from job to job in a large, gizmo-laden stealth aircraft known as the Blackwing. Additionally, he is assisted by computer expert Philo Marsden, Blackwing pilot Jeff Carlyle, and former CIA operative Libby Page. Page coordinated Chance's missions, Carlyle also served as cook and chauffeur, while Marsden created new gadgets and developed the masks Chance used to impersonate his clients. Chance took an unusual approach to compensation for his services: ten percent of his client's annual income. One reviewer described the show as "50 percent Mission: Impossible and 50 percent Quantum Leap ".Cast
- Rick Springfield as Christopher Chance
- Kirk Baltz as Philo Marsden
- Sami Chester as Jeff Carlyle
- Signy Coleman as Libby Page
Production
The show was created by Warner Bros. Television and Pet Fly Productions, producers of The Flash and later The Sentinel for Paramount Pictures. The original pilot for the series was filmed in 1990 but ABC declined to pick up the series for the 1990-91 television season and this pilot never aired. In the original unaired pilot, musician Clarence Clemons who was trying to establish himself as an actor, played Chance's pilot and Frances Fisher as Libby Page.Harvey Shephard, then the president of Warner Bros. Television, told The New York Times in December 1991 that Human Target was intended for both American audiences and the international television market.
The show was finally picked up in October 1991 by ABC as a seven-episode midseason replacement series, eventually airing in July and August 1992 to low ratings and poor critical reception. The debut episode aired on Monday, July 20, before moving to its regular Saturday night time slot for the following six episodes. The seventh and final episode aired on Saturday, August 29.