TonyCamonte84 Somebody recommended 'Brimstone' to me. Unfortunately I can't remember who, otherwise I would go back to ask him what the hell he was thinking. The show about a cop who went to hell, but got back on earth to catch 113 escapees from hell, is quite dreadful. It is trashy with awful cinematography, typical trashy overused 90s soundtrack and terrible special effects. It's not really well-written, and a very formulaic episodic monster-of-the-week type show.Add to that a lot of rather bad actors and a so-and-so supernatural story, and what you get is a run-of-the-mill episodic TV show that can serve as a guilty pleasure, if you are able to tolerate a high amount of cringing and a heap of gaping plot holes. Every "twist" can be seen miles ahead, the characters are superficial at best, and still the show feels the need to spell out every single thing to the viewers, completely insulting their intelligence. If it was a movie it would star Michael Dudikoff.

Derek Sauls SPOILERS I haven't thought about this in awhile and although it's not about sci-fi (my passion), it's genre is toward the fantasy/religio-paranormal/horror direction from center - as speculative fiction goes. Definitely not as popular, maybe as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", or as fanciful as "The Dresden Files", although I don't know why. The show isn't at all preachy, either. This is another one of those shows that was canceled after the first season like "FireFly" and "Tru Calling".The premise of the show was a cop drama, but with a hellish backstory. Ezekiel Stone was a decorated New York detective whose wife was sexually attacked. He found the person who did it and took the law into his own hands. Zeke himself died shortly afterwards, and went to Hell. Hell had a security breach and 113 of the "really bad" damned souls escaped to the living world, where many want to continue sinning as they had in their lifetimes. The Devil assigned newly arrived Detective Stone to go up into the world and catch these souls and bring them all back one at a time. If he succeeds, he'll be returned to life for a second chance at life and redemption. The Prince of Lies continually watches Zeke's progress and refreshes his motivation with threats of replacement and eternal damnation. Zeke's still in Hell, after all - just on a sort of "work release" program.The show is dark, many scenes are at night, and it is light on special effects. The strength is the story and the acting of the three major characters.Devil - (John Glover). Now here's an actor we love to hate. A more smarmy, and wisecracking Lord of the Damned you'll never find, but with an air of superiority and palpable menace behind the grinning eyes. Detective Ezekiel Stone - (Peter Horton). A basically good person who was pushed over the edge and will forever suffer for it. This man is dogged, thorough and a little rough around the edges, but resigned to what his only job is in the world. Not overly intelligent and he has no special powers to do his task, but he is diligent and believes in what he's doing. He was tattooed with archaic runes and symbols - one for each of the souls he hunts. Each time he dispatches one, a tattoo goes away. Another part of his personal hell is that his wife is still alive and he sees her often, though she doesn't recognize him and he still, uh, "burns" for her. There is great chemistry on screen between this character and the Devil.Detective Ash (Teri Polo) Smart, streetwise and sexy, this LAPD detective is seemingly forever in Zeke's face and always wanting to know what he's up to and why he always seems to be involved in strange murder cases around L.A. After a many episodes and a lot of great lines (and some sexy sparks between her and Zeke), we find out that SHE is one of the souls he hunts and has been watching and learning about Zeke for a long time, determining a way to beat him and cheat the Devil.

DarkHawke This was a knockout series on just about every level, from its singular look, to the writing, to the directing, and most especially to the acting! I had heard of Peter Horton previous to Brimstone only in relation to the yuppie self-indulgence fest known as Thirtysomething, which by no means recommended him highly to me. Turns out I had NOTHING to worry about. He gives Zeke Stone a note-perfect mix of soulful anguish and world-weariness, and he can still find the occasional light moment in his Purgatory on Earth. Make no mistake, though, this is a deep, dark show that deals with fundamental questions of right and wrong, Heaven and Hell. In fact, I'd recommend it to any devout Christians as a fantastic morality play. The line between light and dark is often obscured and who really deserves to go to Hell is pretty much the question each episode, but that's what made it such a compelling program. Can't finish without lauding John Glover's tour de force performance as the Devil himself. You might find yourself grudgingly liking this version of the Prince of Lies, even when he screws over Stone almost every chance he gets! I can't recommend this show highly enough, and I'm DYING to see this get to DVD! Anyone know who and how to lobby to get it?

Steve Riley TV executives are a strange breed. They often commission a series and order a certain number of episodes from the producers. They will then proceed NOT to publicise or market said series, before either scheduling it in a prime-time slot opposite an established runner on a competing channel, or consigning it to a late-night "graveyard" slot to be screened when the world is sleeping. They will then hold up their hands in dismay and wonder why on earth their hoped-for viewing figures have failed to materialise, before abruptly cancelling the show half-way through its planned first season before it has even had a chance to build up an audience base. Such a fate almost befell the now massively popular and seemingly never-ending `X-Files', and alas DID befall the wonderful and innovative `Brimstone' which I believe would have become a huge hit if only it had been given a fair chance. This is particularly galling in view of the utter dross that DOES get renewed season after season – the singularly awful `Friends' and the massively overrated `Quantum Leap' springing immediately to mind here. The basic premise of `Brimstone' is as follows: In 1983, a New York cop, Zeke Stone, takes the law into his own hands and kills his wife's rapist. Soon afterwards he is killed in the line of duty. Because of this one `evil deed' in an otherwise good life, his soul is sent to Hell. Fifteen years later, the Devil returns him to Earth to hunt down `113 of the most vile creatures' – other damned souls who have broken out of Hell and have returned to Earth to sow more evil. The deal is that if Zeke can round up all 113 of the Devil's `wayward children', he gets a second chance at life on Earth as a normal mortal. Outwardly Zeke looks like a normal living man, and he can eat, drink, sleep and feel all human emotions. Yet he is – like the damned souls he is hunting – a `walking dead man' and cannot be hurt except by another damned soul. And the only way for Zeke to return a damned soul to Hell is to get up close and personal and take out their eyes (the `windows to the soul'). Clearly, by giving Zeke so many damned souls to hunt down (he basically rounds up one per episode), it seems that the original intention was for the show to run for 5 or 6 seasons. As it was, it managed to run for just half a season (a total of only 13 episodes) before the Men in Grey Suits at Fox pulled the plug. Unfortunately the final episode of `Brimstone' (which of course was never meant to be the final episode) was a massive anti-climax – Zeke didn't even manage to send that week's damned soul back Downstairs – and the viewer is left with a feeling of the story being left hanging in mid-air. Which unfortunately it was. Series cancelled prematurely just as an ongoing story sub-plot was getting established. The casting of Peter Horton as Zeke Stone and John Glover as The Devil was nothing short of inspired. Horton gives a superb performance as the shabby and down-at-heel detective Stone, with Glover's whimsical, humorous yet obviously `evil' Devil stealing every scene he's in. The interplay between the two leads is an absolute joy to watch, with Zeke simply wanting The Devil to leave him in peace to get on with the job of hunting down the wayward souls, and The Devil constantly popping up at inopportune moments to chide, tease and sometimes threaten the harrassed detective. Lori Petty also does a semi-regular turn as the manager of the run-down hotel that Zeke uses as his base. The show's overall look and feel is dark, gothic and not a little spooky, much of the camerawork being shadowy and brooding, giving the whole thing a very eery atmosphere indeed. The Devil's humour is likewise quite dark, and in keeping with the show, it never degenerates into silly comedy. One can only wonder about what other evil souls Stone would have had to round up in subsequent adventures, had the series been given a fair crack of the whip. As it was, we saw him round up and send back to Hell such adversaries as a Carthaginian general, a sexy but deadly 1920s plague carrier, a beautiful Medieval French temptress who sets her suitors on fire, a former SS concentration camp warder, an ancient Chinese poet who writes using the blood of virgins and – in a nice twist in Episode 3 – his wife's rapist, whom he has to hunt down and `kill' a second time. Originally Fox ordered 19 episodes for the first `Brimstone' season. And some time ago I found on the Web a short synopsis (written by the show's producers) of the six episodes that should have been made but weren't. If anybody reading this wants to know what would have happened in the rest of Season One, mail me and I'll happily send you the synopses. No doubt it's too much to hope for a relaunch of the show by another network. And a DVD or video release are probably just as unlikely. I fear that this great show will soon be forgotten by all but a small die-hard following. So if you see this show in syndication on a local TV channel, watch it while you still can. Don't miss out on this wonderful series.