Premiering on September 21, 1996, the series lasted four seasons as part of
NBC's Saturday-night "Thrillogy" lineup, attracting a predominantly female
audience drawn to its lead character, FBI profiler and single mother Samantha
"Sam" Waters, played by Ally Walker. Sam's living with her daughter and
roommate, still traumatized by her encounter with Jack (a.k.a. "Jack
of all Trades"), a psychotic genius who killed Sam's husband three
years earlier. Sam's mentor and leader of the Atlanta-based Violent
Crime Task Force, Bailey Malone, convinces Sam to rejoin the Bureau, where her VCTF colleagues include
former cop John , computer ace George, and forensics expert Grace . Taking a cue from The
X-Files' "mythology," Profiler tracked Jack's killing spree for
two seasons, challenging Sam in an extended subplot as the VCTF pursued weekly
cases of murder and mystery, aided by Sam's uncanny ability to "profile"
unidentified killers. |