''Hack'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series created by

David Koepp David Koepp (; born June 9, 1963) is an American filmmaker. Koepp is the ninth most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of U.S. box office receipts with a total gross of over $2.3 billion. Koepp has achieved both critical and commercial ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in the United States from September 27, 2002 to March 13, 2004, having 40 episodes broadcast over two seasons. The series centers on former

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

police officer Mike Olshansky (

David Morse David Bowditch Morse (born October 11, 1953) is an American actor, singer, television director, and writer. He first came to national attention as Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison in the medical drama series ''St. Elsewhere'' (1982–88). His film ca ...

), who leaves the force after being accused of corruption and works as a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

driver.

Premise

Mike Olshansky, a Philadelphia police officer, leaves the force after being accused of corruption. Although the charges were never clearly proven, Olshansky, riddled with guilt, considers it his duty to make up for his past wrongs by helping those the police will not help. Olshansky saves many lives and people by going above and beyond the call of duty, becoming a kind of heroic

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

. He receives "inside" help from within the police force from his ex-partner Marcellus Washington, who often comes close to risking his own career. Meanwhile, he tries to repair his relationships and rebuild his life after losing his marriage, his son's admiration, his professional identity and his reputation.

Cast

Cast listed by number of episodes in which they appeared *

as Mike Olshansky *

Andre Braugher Andre Keith Braugher (; born July 1, 1962) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Detective Frank Pembleton in the police drama series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999), used car salesman Owen Thoreau Jr. in the com ...

as Marcellus Washington * Matthew Borish as Mikey Olshansky *

George Dzundza George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is an American television and film actor. Early life and education Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian-Jewish father, Roman Dzundza, originally from Kalush, Ukraine, and a Polish-Jewish m ...

as Father Tom Grzelak (Season 1) *

Donna Murphy Donna Murphy (born March 7, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in '' Passion'' (1994–1995 ...

as Heather Olshansky (Season 1) *

Matt Czuchry Matthew Charles Czuchry (; born May 20, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Logan Huntzberger on The WB television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2005–2007) and Cary Agos on the CBS television drama ''The Good Wife'' (2009–2 ...

as Jamie Farrel (Season 2) * Jacqueline Torres as Liz Garza (Season 2) * JoAnna Rhinehart as Deborah Washington *

Paul Adelstein Paul Adelstein (born April 29, 1969) is an American actor and writer, known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the ABC medical drama '' Private Prac ...

as Aldo Rossi *

Bebe Neuwirth Beatrice "Bebe" Jane Neuwirth ( ; born December 31, 1958) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. On television, she played Dr. Lilith Sternin, Frasier Crane's wife, on both the TV sitcom ''Cheers'' (in a starring role) and its spin-off '' ...

as Faith O'Connor (Season 1) *

Gregg Edelman Gregg Edelman (born September 12, 1958) is an American movie, television and theatre actor. Biography Edelman was born in Chicago, Illinois, attended Niles North High School, where he starred as Li'l Abner opposite future soap star Nancy Lee Gra ...

as Ryan Ambrose * Cindy Katz as Bettina Corwin * Cameron Ball as Ashton Washington

Production

The series was produced by The Thomas Carter Company, Pariah,

Big Ticket Television Big Ticket Television, Inc. (also known as Big Ticket Entertainment and Big Ticket Pictures) is an Emmy Award-winning American production company. Big Ticket is a subsidiary of CBS Studios (formerly CBS Paramount Television and CBS Television Studi ...

and

CBS Productions CBS Productions, Inc. was a production arm of the CBS television network (an initialism of Columbia Broadcasting System, along with its parent company CBS Television Studios, Inc.; the radio network was founded in 1927), now a part of Paramount G ...

. David Morse said of his role as Olshansky; "I think I can really live with Olshansky. We can go a lot of places. And as an actor, being in this kind of production is pretty unheard of. I didn’t even think it was possible. To actually go home every day and see my kids is a great thing... I like being a dad. I like going to the grocery store and cooking every night." Filming took place on location in Philadelphia. ''Hack'' would go on to become one of the last series to air on Saturdays in the United States for over a decade, as during the series' tenure, networks began to remove first-run scripted programming from the prime-time slot on Saturdays.

Broadcast

The show also aired in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

ITV3 ITV3 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9pm, replacing Plus (Granada). ITV3 is the sixth-largest UK television channel ...

, being only one of two original dramas to be shown on the channel's launch night on November 1, 2004. The final four episodes of the first season never aired on ITV3, as the network allowed the broadcast rights to lapse before they were shown; however, both seasons later aired in their entirety on

CBS Drama RealityXtra (formerly CBS Drama) is a British free-to-air television channel that centres its programming on American television shows produced by CBS. It is the sister channel of CBS Reality and is owned in partnership by AMC Networks and Para ...

and

CBS Action CBS Justice (formerly CBS Action) was a television channel specialising in action film, drama and murder-mysteries programs. It launched in the UK and Ireland on 16 November 2009 and later expanded to Africa in 2019. It closed on all platforms i ...

, beginning with the first season on February 10, 2015. Episodes were broadcast weekdays at 10:00pm. The series also in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on M6 and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Fox Crime Fox Crime (stylized as FOXCRIME) is a television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group, which airs across several countries of Europe, Africa and Asia such as Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Its basic programming include nume ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the series re-run on

Crime & Investigation Crime & Investigation (stylized as Crime + Investigation) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The cha ...

AXS TV AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat spor ...

Universal TV Universal TV, formerly Universal Channel, is an international pay television network specializing in movies and television series in the thriller, drama, comedy, horror, crime and investigation genres, owned by NBCUniversal International Netwo ...

and

GetTV getTV is an American digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television Networks subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. Originally formatted as a movie-oriented service, the network has since transitioned into a genera ...

. On GetTV, episodes aired at 3:00pm weekdays from April 24, 2017. Both series were also available for streaming on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

, however have since been removed.

Release

On March 8, 2016,

CBS Home Entertainment CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

released ''Hack: Season 1'' on DVD in Region 1 via Amazon.com's CreateSpace program. This is a

Manufacture on Demand Build-on-demand or manufacturing on demand (MOD) refers to a manufacturing process where goods are produced only when or as they are required. This allows scalability and adjustable assemblies depending on the current needs of the part requestor or ...

(MOD) release, available exclusively through Amazon.com.

Episodes

Season 1 (2002–03)

Season 2 (2003–04)

Note

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hack 2000s American crime drama television series 2002 American television series debuts 2004 American television series endings CBS original programming Fictional portrayals of the Philadelphia Police Department Television series by CBS Studios Television shows filmed in Pennsylvania Television shows set in Philadelphia Vigilante television series Works about taxis Works by David Koepp