Profiler (TV series)

Dr. Samantha "Sam" Waters (Ally Walker) is a forensic psychologist working for the FBI's (fictitious) Violent Crimes Task Force - "VCTF" - based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a criminal profiler with her own unique gift to "see" through the eyes of others. This gift gives Sam an added special insight into the workings of the criminal mind. While she performs all of her duties diligently and competently, her drive comes from experiencing both a professional and personal tragedy years earlier in which her husband was murdered by a serial killer known only as Jack of All Trades. (His true identity was not revealed until the middle of the third season.)

Due to the dangers of the still at-large violent criminal, "Jack of All Trades," Sam must live under police guard 24/7 in a former firefighter station with her seven-year-old daughter Chloe Waters (Caitlin Wachs and later Evan Rachel Wood), and her best friend Angel Brown (Erica Gimpel), an artist.

The VCTF is an elite team of pros who must solve the toughest cases. It is led by Sam's mentor, Bailey Malone (Robert Davi), Detective John Grant (Julian McMahon), computer hacker George Fraley (Peter Frechette), and forensic pathologist Grace Álvarez (Roma Maffia).

Other characters included Nathan Brubaker, played by Michael Whaley, a former defense attorney turned detective. He appeared throughout season one. 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 "Coop" Cooper, an ATF bomb disposal expert, who was Sam Waters love interest. Agent Cooper was later murdered by Jack. (Martínez had previously worked with Walker on the NBC daytime serial Santa Barbara.) 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 as 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 thought they finally closed in on "Jack" - Donald Lucas (played by Mark Rolston). With "Jack" seemingly in custody, Sam and her daughter Chloe (now played by Evan Rachel Wood) were able to move out of the fortress-like firehouse where they had lived for the past two years. They settled into an upscale house in the Atlanta suburbs. Shortly after, Sam had a brief romance with Paul Sterling (John Mese), the district attorney prosecuting Donald Lucas. She was also dealing with her estranged father, Walter Anderson (Lawrence Pressman), who had a mysterious connection to the imprisoned Donald Lucas. Another minor subplot of the season showed Bailey getting back together with his ex-wife Janet (Patricia Healy) (but by the start of season four, they separated once again). As it turned out, the arrest of Donald Lucas was a complex ploy and set-up by the real "Jack of All Trades" - Albert Newquay - played by Dennis Christopher. Newquay, or "Jack", a violent career criminal. (To mislead and tease the viewers, Albert Newquay, the real "Jack's", name, was first mentioned in season two when he took refuge at his wealthy mother's house in Maryland to recover from being shot by Sam. Newquay then appeared on-camera for the first time in season three by posing in disguise as Ed Post, the buffoonish sheriff of a small California town.)

In season four, after finally stopping "Jack", Sam retired from the VCTF, being replaced by a new forensic psychologist, Dr. 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; being single and also dealing with Danny (Raphael Sbarge), her self-destructive younger brother who died from a drug overdose near the end of the season. Other subplots included Grace becoming pregnant with her second child, but her husband leaving her and having to face being a single mother, and George developing an drug addiction to painkiller pills after being injured in a minor car accident. Late in the season, the show established a new overarching (story arc) 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 on an unresolved cliffhanger (with Rachel getting arrested after the unseen Damian framed her for Marks' murder by using the motive of wanting revenge against him for Danny's death), it appeared that the elite VCTF team might be shut down by the U.S. Congress for the high funds it took to operate.

Profiler shared the same universe with The Pretender, with three crossover episodes, three with Michael T. Weiss guest-starring on Profiler, Ally Walker made a guest appearance on The Pretender in season 3, episode 19, and Jamie Luner making a guest appearance on The Pretender in season 4, episode 10.

Profiler was first syndicated to Court TV in 2000.[4] Profiler aired weeknights at 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Eastern on NBC Universal's 24-hour crime and mystery-themed cable channel Sleuth in 2007.

Since 2018, reruns air at 1:00 a.m. daily on the network channel Start TV.

A&E Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in the United States of America. The four-season release box set has been discontinued and is now out of print.

• 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.[5]

• Profiler at IMDb
• Profiler at TV.com
• Profiler at EpisodeWorld.com