# Hack (2002)

> A disgraced Philadelphia ex-cop reinvents himself as a cab driver and secretly polices the city's troubled people with the help of local police.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/9718

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 40
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: David Koepp
- Network: CBS
- Cast: David Morse, Andre Braugher, George Dzundza, Matthew Borish, Clayton Prince, Billy Lush, Tawny Cypress, David Bailey
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320022/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: gritty, brooding, morally weighted, tense

## Synopsis

Hack (2002-2004) is an American network crime drama created by David Koepp for CBS. David Morse plays Mike Olshansky, a former Philadelphia police officer whose corruption charges cost him his badge, his family and his pride. He reinvents himself as a cab driver and roams the city as a vigilante, quietly helping people in trouble while working with the local police. Andre Braugher co-stars as Marcellus Washington, a police detective who becomes a crucial ally and foil, and George Dzundza appears as Tom Grzelak. The engine of the series is Olshansky's pursuit of redemption against the pull of his disgrace, with each episode built around a fare, a fare's problem and the street crime it reveals. Across two seasons totaling forty hour-long episodes, the show stays with a single continuing arc rather than a case-of-the-week format. Set in present-day gritty Philadelphia streets, it carries a brooding, morally weighted tone, with the cab's windshield serving as a window onto the city's hard edges. Fans of The Equalizer, Taxi Driver and Night Watch will find resonance in its lone outsider, its urban rot and its ambiguous sense of justice.

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