Do You Remember?: Profit and Ironside

Two totally different dramas that only aired four episodes before they were pulled from the primetime line-up were the FOX drama Profit that aired way back in 1996 and the remake of the former, long-running drama Ironside that aired on NBC in 2013.

Profit was a series that was considered “well ahead of its time, being a precursor to shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad that featured dark themes and multi-dimensional characters.” While Ironside, of course, focused on wheelchair-using cop Robert Ironside, which was told in a grittier and even more violent way than the original and was transplanted from San Francisco to New York City.

Jim Profit – as portrayed by Adrian Pasdar (Heroes and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) – was a newly promoted junior-executive at Gracen & Gracen, a multi-national conglomerate who often engaged in unethical business practices while actively cultivating a positive public image.

Among the main cast of Profit were:

Lisa Zane (older sister of actor Billy Zane), who played Profit’s archenemy Joanne Meltzer; and,

Keith Szarabajka (Supernatural and the box office films The Dark Knight and Argo), who played Charles Henry “Chaz” Gracen, the CEO of Gracen & Gracen.

Some of the recurring actors who appeared in the show included:

Scott Paulin, who went on to appear as Kate Beckett’s father in Castle;
Teryl Rothery, who went on to be part of the Stargate franchise and is a staple in Hallmark movies; and,
Jessica Tuck, who went on to star in Judging Amy.

Profit debuted on FOX on April 8, 1996 and ran for four weeks before being removed from the line-up. The series had eight episodes in total.

As for Ironside, the show debuted on NBC on October 2 and ran for four episodes before being pulled. Blair Underwood (Deep Impact and Quantico) starred in the title role, a tough, sexy but acerbic police detective using a wheelchair after a shooting; but his casting faced controversy since he was a non-disabled actor cast as a paraplegic.

Among the cast of the Ironside remake included:

Brent Sexton (The Killing and Deadwood), who played Gary Stanton;
Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is the New Black and American Gods), who played Virgil; and,
Kenneth Choi (9-1-1), who played Captain Ed Rollins.

You can watch the opening credits for Profit below:

You can watch the trailer for Ironside below:

Do you remember Profit and the remake of Ironside?