MAN CALLED HAWK, A: THE MASTER'S MIRROR {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)

Summary

The pilot in this drama series, spun off from "Spenser: For Hire," about private detective Hawk who moves from Boston to Washington D.C. in search of justice. In this episode, Hawk meets with his mysterious mentor, known only as the Old Man, who says that he knew that Hawk would return to D.C. In return, Hawk gives him a signed copy of DuBois' "The Souls of Black Folk." Elsewhere, a man named Tracton receives money from two men for a killing, and when the men chase him, he ends up killing them both. Hawk listens to jazz at a club and is then grabbed off the street by two men, but he ends up hauling them into an elite club where he encounters the Colonel and his sidekick Freeman. The Colonel tells Hawk that his employee Tracton is back in town and asks Hawk to find him and bring him in, though Hawk reminds him that he works for only himself. Hawk meets up with his friend Bailey Webster, a teacher, and she tells him about Lionel, a football player whom she has tutored, and Hawk assists her by getting rid of an aggressive recruiter.

Later, the Colonel and Freeman talk about the "rogue" Tracton and the "loose cannon" Hawk, and though Freeman doubts that Hawk can be trusted to reign in his former partner, the Colonel points out that they have no other option. Hawk visits a convent and asks about Lisa, and the mother superior directs him to the symphony, where Lisa is a star performer. Hawk meets here there, and it is revealed that she is Tracton's daughter, fathered during the Vietnam War and rescued from behind enemy lines by Hawk and Tracton. She claims not to have seen her father in over a year. That night, however, Tracton meets Hawk at a graveyard, having received his "message" through Lisa, and Tracton explains that the Colonel is trying to force him to "retire." As Hawk urges him to take his money and run away with Lisa, they are suddenly shot at from a speeding car, and Tracton is hit and seemingly falls into the river to his death. Hawk immediately confronts the Colonel, but he swears that he did not try to have Tracton killed. Tracton then turns up alive at Lisa's home, having worn a bulletproof vest, and he explains that he must escape. She asks to accompany him, but he refuses, saying she must have her own life.

Lionel is hit by a car while out shopping with Bailey, and she sadly tells Hawk that the boy's football dreams are likely ruined by his injuries. Hawk finds Tracton's knife in his car and realizes that it is a message to "stop looking," and he seeks advice from the Old Man. Tracton then finds the Colonel and, despite the man's request that he "come in" with him, kills him and leaves him on a bench. Freeman summons Hawk to the crime scene and finally explains that Tracton had recently "gone solo," taking on independent assassin jobs. Hawk says that they used Tracton rather than stopping him, but Freeman claims that they had no proof. Hawk questions Lisa and tells her that her father is "sick" and too fond of killing, and when she meets her father later, Hawk finds them. He offers to help Tracton, but his former partner suspects him of working with the Colonel, and Hawk is forced to injure him with the knife. He tells Lisa to call an ambulance, but Tracton opts to shoot himself instead. Later, Hawk talks with Bailey and Lionel, encouraging the boy to go to college and push himself beyond his setbacks. He then finds Freeman and accuses him of turning Tracton "into a machine" and ordering the hit on him, and though Hawk does not kill Freeman, he makes it clear that he is watching him. Also includes an "ABC News Brief" hosted by Karen Stone. Includes commercials and promos.

Details

• NETWORK: ABC
• DATE: January 28, 1989 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:16892
• GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective; African-American Collection - Drama
• SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1989
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV - Commercials - Acutrim appetite suppressant
  • TV - Commercials - America's Dairy Farmers
  • TV - Commercials - Arm & Hammer products
  • TV - Commercials - Brite floor cleanser
  • TV - Commercials - Burger King restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Ford automobiles
  • TV - Commercials - Honda automobiles
  • TV - Commercials - Listerine mouthwash
  • TV - Commercials - McDonald's restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Old English wood oil
  • TV - Commercials - Orville Redenbacher popcorn
  • TV - Commercials - Pizza Hut restaurants
  • TV - Commercials - Post Grape-Nuts cereal
  • TV - Commercials - U.S. Centers for Disease Control AIDS Hotline
  • TV - Commercials - Unisom sleep medication
  • TV - PSA - Partnership for a Drug-Free America
  • TV - Promos - "ABC World News Tonight"
  • TV - Promos - "A Man Called Hawk" upcoming episode
  • TV - Promos - "China Beach"
  • TV - Promos - "Columbo"
  • TV - Promos - "GhostBusters" motion picture
  • TV - Promos - "Murphy's Law"
  • TV - Promos - "Studio 5B"
  • TV - Promos - "The American Music Awards"
  • TV - Promos - "The Barbara Walters Special"
  • TV - Promos - ABC College Basketball

CREDITS

• William Robert Yates … Executive Producer, Developed by
• Stephen Hattman … Executive Producer, Developed by, Writer
• L. Travis Clark … Producer
• Steve Duncan … Producer
• Christopher Chulack … Producer
• William O. Cairncross … Associate Producer
• Jerry Bernstein … Line Producer
• Virgil Vogel … Director
• Robert B. Parker … Based on the character by
• Stanley Clarke … Music by
• Avery Brooks … Theme Music by
• Lawrence "Butch" Morris … Theme Music by
• Avery Brooks … Cast, Hawk
• Angela Bassett … Cast, Bailey Webster
• Vondie Curtis-Hall … Cast, Tracton
• Jack Ryland … Cast, Stoller
• Randle Mell … Cast, Freeman
• Tery Ferman … Cast, Lisa
• Moses Gunn … Cast, Old Man
• Monte Russell … Cast, Lionel
• Beatrice Winde … Cast, Mother Superior
• John Finn … Cast
• David Long … Cast
• Alpheus Price … Cast
• Alex Spencer … Cast
• Michael Tylo … Cast
• for "ABC News Brief"
• Karen Stone … Anchor