chi mcbride

(S01E09) 'Human Target' jumped back to case-of-the-week mode after last week's back story-heavy hour, but I'm not complaining. Like 'Fringe,' this is one of those shows that constantly delivers solid stand-alone episodes.

This week, Chance entered an underground martial arts tournament to get a fighter off the hook with a dangerous gangster. I was hoping this ep would exploit the 'Enter the Dragon' fighting competition gimmick a little more. I was expecting brutal hand-to-hand combat scenes, tense build-ups to each fight, and opponents that got bigger and scarier as the episode went along.

Instead, the fights kinda seemed to happen in the background. Chance fought a few guys who pretty much looked the same and seemed to go down a little too easily. The real intrigue sprang from all the high-stakes gambling and backdoor deals surrounding the fights.

(S01E08) I take back what I wrote last week. Kim Coates' Bertram is no longer the best and most memorable villain on 'Human Target'. That title now belongs to Baptiste, played by the awesome Lennie James.

The guy was brilliant as Chance's sadistic and stealthy nemesis. I would've been happy to watch Baptiste sit and trade barbs with Chance on that bench for the entire hour. But this episode had a lot more to offer, including some juicy intel about Chance's past, and the welcome return of Emma Barnes (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and computer geek Layla (Autumn Reeser).

Spoilers after the jump.

(S01E07) 'Human Target' returned to the tube with a fun episode packed with big explosions, clever gags, an exotic locale, and some femme fatale hotness. The hotness came courtesy of guest star Leonor Varela, the latest in a string of babes we've seen pair up with Chance during the show's freshman season (according to star Mark Valley, she definitely won't be the last).

Varela did a fine job playing Maria, one of Chance's old flames – an old flame who could've turned out to be "the one" for Chance, if only he would've stuck around to find out. But, as our boy explained midway through this ep, he left her because everyone he's ever gotten close to "has been taken away."

Was Chance making a reference to Katherine Walters here, the woman we found out about a few episodes ago? The woman he was in love with? The woman whose death he might be responsible for?

(S01E06) It's always a pleasure to watch nerd for hire Kevin Weisman stammer his way through a guest spot on a great show. I loved him as Marshall on 'Alias', enjoyed his stints on 'Moonlight' and 'Roswell', and who could forget his brief appearance as 'Hobbit Lover' in Kevin Smith's 'Clerks II'?

Weisman literally played a nerd for hire in this episode. His character, Martin Gleason, was a brilliant weapons engineer in need of a little rescuing. The twist, of course, was that his own company was holding him prisoner. I guess that's what happens when you're in possession of damning intel that can bring a powerful weapons developer down for good.

'Lockdown' was another fast and fun hour of 'Human Target', a show that literally orders viewers to turn off their brain, sit back and enjoy the implausible ride.

'Human Target' (Wed., 8PM ET on FOX) is crazy-fun for lots of reasons, not the least of which is outstanding guest stars.

In tonight's episode, we had Kevin Weisman, whose vast TV credits include 'Alias' (he's cornered the market on computer geeks), as well as Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner on 'The X-Files,' among dozens of other roles).

Between those two and star Mark Valley -- and let's not forget Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley -- that covers just about every show in the past 20 years, doesn't it?

Watch the video after the jump.

One of the most fun things of any press tour is getting to sit down with Chi McBride and just talk, about anything. Politics, baseball, cigars... when you're talking to Chi, the conversation can go just about anywhere.

The drawback to seeing McBride on so many tours is that he's always there with a new show to promote. Because he's able to handle drama and comedy with equal ease, he's cast in a lot of pilots. The problem is, most of the resulting shows rarely last more than a couple of years. In the last six years, since his four-season run on 'Boston Public' ended, we've seen McBride in 'Killer Instinct,' 'The Nine' and 'Pushing Daisies.' Now he's co-starring with Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley in the FOX popcorn-action series 'Human Target.'

I sat with McBride as he held court at FOX's all-star party in Pasadena last month. As he puffed away on an Opus X -- he offered me one and I very reluctantly declined -- we talked about which of his roles he misses the most, and how he does his running scenes on 'Target.' Let's just say he doesn't waste too much film on those.

(S01E05) High-speed car chases! Police baton beat downs! Seat belt strangulations!

The 14-year-old kid in me loves this show.

So does the currently overworked and underpaid adult version of me. Like a lot of folks these days, I'm just looking to wash away the week's stresses with some fun, old-fashioned hump day entertainment. Thankfully, 'Human Target' is happy to oblige.

This week's energetic hour offered more kicks and wittier one-liners than last week's mountaintop tussle. "Run" was a confident episode. It felt strong and sturdy, not unlike the series' awesome third outing ("Embassy Row").

(S01E04) Just like Chuck Bartowski, Christopher Chance seems able to access any type of fighting skill, foreign language, or Bible verse necessary to nudge his way out of a tight spot. But unlike Chuck, or Echo from 'Dollhouse', his super skills don't come courtesy of some dubious sci-fi technology. So where did Chance get his awesome abilities? Who knows? We'll probably never learn the answer to that question. Despite the show's small attempts to get a larger arc moving, 'Human Target' is more concerned with delivering fun, action-packed self-contained episodes than with building a rich mythology.

Surprisingly, 'Sanctuary' offered some valuable intel about Chance's past, courtesy of Guerrero's latest "side job." We learned that he's wracked with guilt over his involvement in a woman's death -- a woman he was probably in love with. The same woman might've been the reason he turned things around and started working for the good guys, mirroring this week's client, John Gray ('Fanboys' star Sam Huntington). I'm looking forward to seeing these plot elements finally pay off somewhere down the line, but I don't expect the payoff to be huge.

We've all been there. You need to diffuse a bomb and have no clue what you're doing. So you make a call to the super-geek bomb diffuser of the operation to find out which wires get cut and so on and so forth.

Only right in the middle of the call, you hear the super-geek bomb diffuser flip a coin. Really?! Come on!! Anyway, good thing that Winston's gut has a good feel for these things. "In case you're wondering," he tells Guerrero on the other end of the line, "it was the blue wire!"

And have we mentioned how much we're loving 'Human Target' (Wed., 8PM ET on FOX)?

Watch the video after the jump.

(S01E02) If there's one thing that Human Target gets right, it's the action. This episode just kind of sat there until Chance started kicking the assassin's teeth in at the fifteen-minute mark. The fight scene wasn't as nuts as Sunday night's bloody train tussle, but it added some much needed energy to the first half of this episode. And things only got crazier a few minutes later when Chance uttered the line of the night: "We're gonna flip the plane!"

Flipping an airplane at 30,000 feet would probably be a "jump the shark" moment for most other shows. But not on Human Target, a show so ridiculous and over-the-top that "jump the shark" simply does not apply.

I love the tone and spirit of this show. It's retro and fun and a little tongue-in-cheek, but it's also packed with some very appealing characters, compelling stories and a top notch cast. The first half of tonight's ep left me a little cold, but I was still invested enough to want to see how it would all turn out in the end. And I'm glad I stuck around.

(S01E01) Chris Chance is The Mentalist's Patrick Jane, Lie to Me's Cal Lightman and Die Hard's John McClane rolled into one phenomenal package. It's ridiculous, but it works.

The same can be said for this show. Simply put, Human Target rocks. It's a lightning-paced, cocksure and surprisingly funny contempo version of an '80s action TV show. So rejoice, folks. The smart action-packed hour we've been waiting for has arrived.

If there's any justice in this world, Human Target will make Mark Valley a star. No -- a superstar. Three minutes into the pilot and I saw the makings of a classic witty TV hero in his performance. The veteran actor hits all the right notes and manages to make his implausibly awesome character feel like a real person.

There's been a lot of talk coming out of the Television Critics Association press tour about the opening credits for FOX's new version of The Human Target, which premieres this Sunday. Here's a look. I like the graphics, but the music isn't as moody or energetic as it should be. It's more "majestic," which seems wrong for this kind of show.

But hey, it's an actual opening credits sequence and a theme song, which is more than most shows have today, so let's not argue. (Here's the opening of the 1992 Rick Springfield version of the show.)

Chi McBride is a man of many talents: he's a phenomenal actor (see 'Boston Public' and 'Pushing Daisies' if you need proof), an unfailingly energetic interview subject and -- who knew? -- a masterful theme song singer-songwriter.

When AOL TV visited the Vancouver set of his new show 'Human Target' (premieres Sun., Jan. 17, 8PM ET on Fox), McBride showed off all of the above, as well as his spot-on British accent, his penchant for dapper suits and accessories and, well, his ability to get any interview amazingly off course with a little playful game of footsie.

So what can we expect from McBride's character Winston when the cameras are rolling on the action-packed DC Comics adaptation? "I want him to be involved ... do some physical things, chase down some bad guys and, you know, crack a few heads." And, of course, most shows with this many shoot-'em-up scenes usually have some mystery, too. "Winston's got a past ... all of us have pasts with quite a bit of gray area."

Watch our full interview with McBride to hear more about Winston, his partners in fighting TV crime and, of course, McBride's musical take on the show, complete with air guitar. And don't forget to watch our interviews with Jackie Earle Haley and Mark Valley, too.

You've got questions? I've got answers. I'm The Show Girl!

This week's episode feels like a full-blown party, kicking off with a rock 'n' roll theme song for Fox's midseason show 'Human Target,' performed live with serious attitude by the show's star, Chi McBride. Chi also talks about getting out from behind the desk and getting in on the action for this DC Comics adaptation.

I also stop by the 'Yo Gabba Gabba!' set to chat with DJ Lance Rock, watch a super-secret season 3 musical guest perform and, yes, play with some new toys. (What kid won't want a 'YGG!' boombox for the holidays?) Then I've got a sneak peek at 'The Wanda Sykes Show,' straight from Wanda herself. Bar's open, people!

Want more? Email me TV questions at TheTVShowGirl@aol.com -- who knows, I might just give you an answer on the show. Now watch, enjoy and come back next week for more. Until then, happy TV watching! -- By Maggie Furlong

While it was a little odd that the "screener" of Glee we got was the exact same episode that FOX aired after American Idol in the spring, the rest of these shows were truly new. Dramatic offerings included FOX's loose adaptation of the DC Comics property Human Target and Past Life. On the comedy side they offered us screeners for The Cleveland Show, Brothers, Sons of Tucson and the aforementioned Glee.

After enduring the screener for Do Not Disturb last season on FOX, I could only hope that these offerings were at least better than that offense to the senses. And they were. Well, most of them. Unfortunately, it seems that FOX has at least one Do Not Disturb in them every season. Other than that, one of these shows was far better than I expected, another a bit worse, and a third one stands as one of the better pilots I've ever seen.