I enjoy watching Ving Rhames and I am excited that he has journeyed into TV land with the new series remake, "KOJAK" -- but no one, and I mean NO ONE tops Avery Brooks as HAWK! Avery Brooks did what very few blacks in TV during the 80's could do - he played an "afrocentric," pro-black, take no prisoners everyman, without being a narrow minded, uptight militant. Militancy has its place in history but that's not what AMCH was about.
I long to see that engaging snarl of Hawk's with the quintessential growling "ahhh" that he often followed up with. Only Mr. Brooks could give life to something that had no meaning.
It's a shame to see that Avery hasn't gotten his due props in movies and TV. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was cool, but I wanted to See Avery in action---HAWK in action.
Maybe someday someone will think hard about putting Hawk on DVD for the masses -- not just for Africn Americans. I hope that times have changed just enough for the powers-that-be to factor in the huge crossover appeal of AMCH and of Avery Brooks.
What would be awesome would be to see Avery in action again, as Hawk, in a revival of the series. Surely there's a cable station or network out there that could truly give this show the chance it deserves to find its audience.
And hopefully, Mr. Brooks would WANT to do it.
