A Man Called Hawk

The new show is very violent, in bursts, in between all the poetry and music. I don't know why, but violence bothers me less when its mixed with lyrical scripts like in "A Man Called Hawk." It's like Shakespeare on TV. ... Any script becomes Shakespeare when Brooks gets his vocal cords around it; pearly words float out of the TV. [27 Jan 1989]

The title role of the hourlong show is played with insinuating relish by Avery Brooks. ... Now the series ... has to find some scripts worthy of the character.

Previously icy, menacing, aloof and fascinating, [Hawk] is now mostly noise and bluster, a swaggering, gun-toting pontificator, as ready with an aphorism as with a bullet, a "Shaft" rehash. ... Within the context of "Spenser," there was already a cartoonish aspect to the figure of Hawk. Now all restraint has been dropped, and Hawk has become a parody of himself. Brooks has done better work. [27 Jan 1989]

It's standard fare, not worth staying home for. [26 Jan 1989]

An economy of Hawk worked well in Spenser. But to feature the character in almost every scene quickly turns enigma into transparency. [27 Jan 1989]

Strives hard for dumbfounding inscrutability, and achieves it. [28 Jan 1989]