Los Pentits (seria televisada)

Los Pentits (nom original de la seria Once a Thief o John Woo's Once a Thief; en francés: Les Repentis) foguèt una seria televisada de l'annada 1997 inspirada del filme del meteis nom que s'èra estrenat en 1996.

Sinòpsi

Li Ann Tsei, una orfanèla qu'aviá crescut dins la familha chinesa Tang - a ruthless criminal operation - ven amorosa de Mac Ramsey, un raubaire que trabalha per la familha. Pasmens, quand es betrothed a Michael, l'eiretièr Tang, totes dos fake their deaths in an attempt de fugir del país. Li Ann s'escapa, mas Mac es arrestat and left to rot dins una preson chinesa.

Dos ans mai tard, es released and taken a Canadà where a mysterious woman known as the Director employs him to work for her crime-fighting institution. He soon learns, however, that he will be working as part of a team with Li Ann, and the man she was engaged to, former police officer Victor Mansfield.

The trio soon are forced to work together under the manipulative Director.

Aprèp lo succès del filme de 1996, which was used as a pilot per la sèria, Glenn Davis e William Laurin created the series, which premiered en setembre de 1997, amb John Woo as executive producer. The show started out with strong ratings, which quickly fell, and the show was put on hiatus in November after 9 episodes. When it returned, in January 1998, ratings had significantly decreased. Los 22 episòdis de the show aired during the season, but it was not renewed, a fact which the producers were informed of before filming the last episodes of the series.

Actors principals

Sandrine Holt dins lo ròtle de Li Ann Tsei
Nicholas Lea dins lo ròtle de Victor Mansfield
Ivan Sergei dins lo ròtle de Mac Ramsey
e Jennifer Dale as The Director

Ròtles segondaris

Robert Ito as the Tang Godfather
Michael Wong as Michael Tang, his son, originally betrothed to Li Ann
Howard Dell as Agent Dobrinsky, the Director's hard-nosed lapdog.
James Allodi as Nathan Muckle, the paranoid librarian at the agency who believes everyone but Vic to be aliens.
Greg Kramer as Mr. Murphy, one of the "cleaners", assassins who makes problems go away.
Julian Richings as Mr. Camier, Murphy's partner.
Victoria Pratt as Jackie Janczyk, the daughter of a mob boss, who comes to work for the Agency.

Forrabora

Nathaniel Deveaux played Dobrinsky in the movie, but was replaced by Howard Dell for the series.
Episode 1 The Big Bang Theory was number 7 in the Canadian Neilsen ratings, and episode 2 Rave On was number 14. By the end of its run, the show was at the bottom of the list.
James Allodi was initially cast as a guest star for episode 2 but the producers liked the idea of his paranoia so much they brought him back for several episodes in the second half of the season.
Episode 9, Jaded Love, spoofed black and white mystery movies of the '40s and '50s.
Episode 11, That Old Gang of Mine, and episode 12 Last Temptation of Vic were released together as a video movie - Once a Thief: Family Business.
Victoria Pratt joined the recurring cast in episode 11, with the idea of bringing her on full time to the show.
In episode 11, we see another group - similar to Vic, Li Ann and Mac - indicating that there are more groups working there, despite the Director's denials of this.
Episode 13, Mama's Boys, uses pop-up windows at times to convey information to the viewers.
Episode 18 is the only episode where the Director is a)the focus of the story, and b)humbled.
Episode 18 also features several scenes which are parodies of The X-Files, the show on which Nicholas Lea played Alex Krycek:
- The characters of Agent Clancy (Alexa Gilmour) and Agent Diller (Graham Abbey) are spoofs of Agents Agent Mulder and Scully
- The investigation is often done by torchlight, and timestamps appear at the bottom of the screen.
- The Mulder lookalike has a scene in which he calls Vic "Ratboy" (the nickname of Krycek) and Vic calls him "Spooky" (the nickname of Mulder)
- Nathan serves as a kind of The Lone Gunmen-esque figure.
- Agent Clancy and Agent Diller have a cell phone conversation like Scully and Mulder often do. However, they are within a few feet of each other and in plain view at the time.
Episode 19, Shaken Not Stirred, spoofs James Bond-esque spy dramas.
Episode 19's subplot, featuring the organisation's assassins Camier and Murphy, is a parody of the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot.
Episode 20, Politics of Love, introduced a new element of the show's mythology, about the Government Advisory Council and the fact that the Director is a part of it. This element would have been explored further in the show's second season.
In episode 20, there is a reference to the audience's unfavorable reaction to the show: when the Director is told that the trio is coming along well, she replies "that depends on who you talk to."
The final episodes - Episode 21 Family Reunion, and episode 22 Endgame - were released on video as Once a Thief: Brother Against Brother.

The character of Michael Tang, presumed dead after the pilot, was resurrected for the series finale when the producers learnt that the show would be cancelled.
The final episode ended with Vic, Li Ann and Mac dying in an explosion, and the Director walking away from the crime scene as music played over a montage of clips from the series' run. When the series was finally aired in the United States, a few years after it originally aired in Canada, the ending was changed to show the trio walking out of the building, still alive.