Retooling prime-time series is not unusual. Network executives often try to "fix" programs to draw more viewers. Retooling doesn't usually work but, then again, 80 percent of TV shows get canceled in less than a year anyway.
Major changes to a series can also alienate current fans rather than draw new viewers, but changes to Fox's "Human Target" (7 p.m. MST Wednesday, Ch. 13) are fairly minor. No characters have been scrapped and a few have been added.
Wednesday's season premiere picks up where the cliffhanger finale left off, with personal protection expert Chance (Mark Valley) looking for kidnapped partner Winston (Chi McBride). The cliffhanger gets unraveled in about five minutes so producers can get on with their plans to remake the series.
"Human Target" always had a small cast and no female stars. Network and studio execs obviously felt the series needed an estrogen injection, probably to make the show more accessible to women. Enter Ilsa Pucci (Indira Varma, "Luther," "Rome"), a widowed billionaire who hires Chance, Winston and Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) to protect her.
By the end of Wednesday's episode, she volunteers to become the guys' benefactor, giving them access to her bank account, private plane, etc. She promises to be an absentee owner, but in the next week's episode she's already insisting on understanding how the guys do their jobs by following them on their protection missions. (In the spirit of the show's changes, Ilsa also remodels the guys' loft office.)
A less bureaucratic female addition is a young thief, Ames (Janet Montgomery), who Winston knows from his time as a cop.
The second-season premiere is a stronger hour than the show's pilot, which aired in January with more character definition and lighter moments.
"Sorry, Mrs. Pucci," Winston says after a particularly messy escape. "Normally, we're a lot more professional than this."
"No, we're not," Chance retorts.
This week's episode suffers from missteps: The villain's relationship to the client Chance protects is a parallel to the villain in the pilot, which feels redundant. Also, when producers cast actor Rick Hoffman as a guest star, it's not a leap for viewers to guess he'll turn out to be a bad guy.
Next week's episode deals with Chance protecting the widow of a man he killed in his former life as an assassin, a morally complex story that gets watered down through the hour. The Dec. 1 episode focuses on Ames.
In August at the Television Critics Association press tour, new executive producer Matt Miller ("Chuck," "Las Vegas") promised a more character-based show.
"The idea is taking the same show people loved and just giving it a little bit of a face-lift, a little bit of pop," Miller said. "Last season, there were phenomenal action sequences on a train, on a plane. We're still going to hopefully have that, but the idea would be to bring a little more character to the show. So that while the guy is dangling from the plane or on a train, you'll know a little more of what's at stake for him or any of the other characters on the show."
Miller said the goal is to get viewers more emotionally involved. Ames' addition offers an opportunity to show a raw character who can grow and mature over time.
"Ames is basically a younger version of a Chance or a Guerrero," Miller said. "We're watching her just start to become good as opposed to these guys who are well ingrained in that."
Fans of the first-season "Human Target" will have to decide if this extreme makeover (network edition) marks an improvement for the series. For Fox, the proof will be in the ratings.
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