September 30, 2001 (2001-09-30) – March 23, 2002 (2002-03-23)
UC: Undercover is an American procedural drama television series created by Shane Salerno and Don Winslow. The series premiered on the NBC network on September 30, 2001. The series ran for one season of 13 episodes, finishing its run on March 23, 2002. It focused on the secret lives and private demons of an elite Justice Department crime-fighting unit that confronted the United States' deadliest, most untouchable lawbreakers by going undercover to bust them.
The screenplays were either solely written or co-written by Salerno. James Bond composer David Arnold wrote the main title theme and scored the pilot episode.[1] Salerno said the show was a "very music driven series."[2]UC: Undercover was a production of NBC Studios, in association with Jersey Television, Chasing Time Pictures, Regency Television, and 20th Century Fox Television. The series' short but popular run ended when it was canceled by the network. The show developed a passionate following overseas and continues to run on FX International.[3]
Plot
"To catch a criminal, you have to become one!"
- John Keller's opening narration.
The unit is headed by authoritative Frank Donovan (Oded Fehr), with undercover agents Jake Shaw (Jon Seda) and Alex Cross (Vera Farmiga), psychological profiler Monica Davis (Bruklin Harris), and young techno-wizard Cody (Jarrad Paul), who runs all of the high-tech surveillance operations.
As a federal team, the group responds to emergencies all over the country: taking down elite bank robbers, drug kingpins, domestic terrorists, spies, jewel thieves, and corrupt cops. The drama's character-driven storylines emphasize the taut, cat-and-mouse game played by the undercover agents as they attempt to infiltrate the lives of a gallery of criminals, including murderous master thief Jack "Sonny" Walker (William Forsythe) and imprisoned drug lord Carlos Cortez (Steven Bauer).
The series also explores the psychological toll undercover work takes on the agents who play this deadly game of false identities and who commit treachery as a daily profession for the greater good. The team often butts heads with Paul Bloom (Brian Markinson), their obstructive and fiercely ambitious Justice Department boss.
The New York Times called it a "fast paced, good-looking series,"[5] and Variety wrote that series lead Oded Fehr is a "commanding and interesting addition to television."[6]Variety added that "technical credits are comparable to theatrical quality" which led the series winning awards for cinematography and sound. The show received a high 7.3 out of 10 from viewers on TV.com.[7]USA Today's Robert Bianco gave it one star and said it was "pretentious, incoherent and so visually hyper it borders on nauseating."[8]
