What do you get if you take the profiler out of the series "Profiler"?
Apparently, a new profiler.NBC has announced that Ally Walker, who has starred in the low-rated Saturday-night drama as Samantha Waterson, a "brilliant" forensic psychologist who can seemingly see inside the mind of serial killers, is leaving the show after the first two episodes of the upcoming season. She'll be replaced, but by whom remains to be seen.
There's also no official word on whether Walker quit or was fired, but the fact that Walker isn't talking about what transpired provides a fairly clear clue, doesn't it? And the network's assertion that Walker is leaving to "pursue other (unspecified) opportunities" makes it look all the more like a firing.
NBC Entertainment President Garth Ancier released a statement about how "sorry" the network is to see Walker go. "She's been a tremendous value to the show over the last three years," Ancier said. "I'm certain the audience will miss her as much as we will."
The easy joke here is -- what audience? The show has been clinging to life by a thread since the day it debuted.
During the past season, "Profiler" ranked 94th in the ratings and trailed time-slot leader "Walker, Texas Ranger" by almost 40 percent in total viewers.
The question is, why save a show that has never been that good and is doing so poorly in the ratings? The answer can be found right at the tail end of any episode, when the credits reveal that "Profiler" is a Three-Putt Production in association with NBC Productions.
Yeah, so NBC has a financial interest in keeping the show alive long enough so it churns out enough episodes to make it into syndication. Like anyone is going to want to watch reruns of a show the American audience has repeatedly rejected over the past three seasons.
NBC assures viewers that whoever the new profiler character is, she (or he) "will take the show in a new direction." Toward higher ratings, the network obviously hopes.