ThiefHott Too much of everything

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

mcornett I remember some good things about it, but also some bad, and part of it had come from author Aaron Elkins' disowning of the show.He didn't have a problem with Oliver being made black (Elkins had never specified Oliver's ethnicity in the books), but two things Elkins always refused to include in his books were Satanism and violence against children.And the premiere episode was about a Satanic cult sacrificing children.Elkins and his fans were horrified. And personally, I had no problem with Gossett, and thought he did a good job, but after reading some of the books, I found the series a turnoff. They had the smartness but none of the wry humor and light touches. I gave up on it after two shows; may have been unfair of me, but I found the show's dismissal of the author's work to be too much of a turnoff.

DreddMancunian Gideon Oliver, as far as I am aware, was never broadcast in the United Kingdom. However I did manage to see the pilot, "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver" on VHS at the time. This is surely one of those "too good for TV" series that was unfairly overlooked and cast into obscurity. A rather cerebral hero, Gideon Oliver was Louis Gossett Jr. at the peak of his powers. The pilot episode saw the crusading scholar take on a cult of Satanists, including Near Dark's Jenny Wright (another reason to search out this neglected gem). A sophisticated storyline, fine character acting and a palpable sense of menace made this a great TV movie in its own right. A shame it never became a cult of its own, unlike many other less-deserving titles. See it if you can!

mspoce From the first episode to the last I was glued to the TV during the entire series. I had taped the series on VHS but in the process of moving the tapes are now lost I only wish they had it out on DVD. Being an avid Crime Movie and Mystery Series fan this series was one of the best and Mr. Gossett was at his best in this role. Just when you thought you had it figured out they threw a curve at you and the endings were always a surprise. I only wish he made more episodes of this. The books written of this are equally as good as the series .If you missed it you missed something spectacular. Lets get this series out on DVD I need my Gideon fix :)

runar-4 ...and what they want is the same thing this country's politicians want - people who aren't interested in the world around them and will just accept what's shoved at them. Gideon Oliver was not just smart, it was intelligent. I'd been somewhat familiar with Aaron Elkins' work when this series debuted, and the biggest surprise I had was seeing Professor Oliver played by Louis Gossett, Jr. It's not that this was a problem, it's just that his ethnic background had never been a part of the books (at least the couple I had read), so I had never thought of picturing him as Black. Mr. Gossett played his part admirably and with flair, but the best part of this series was the fact that it engaged the viewer intellectually, not just as a piece of mindless entertainment. That's why it failed: it encouraged viewers to think and there was even the shocking possibility that something interesting and worthwhile could actually be learned from it - Egad, what a horrifying notion! Fortunately, at least one episode, the two-part "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver", shows up on cable as a movie from time to time.