Hawk

I don't buy the theory that Hawk was canceled because white audiences "weren't ready for a strong, serious black lead". As a white teen in the late 80's/early 90's, I liked the show a lot. Unfortunately, history tells us there were also plenty of "white" shows which suffered cruel treatment at the hands of clueless, egotistical TV executives who wouldn't know a good show if it came up and bit them on the ass.

"Hawk" had great potential, and certainly was on a par with a number of other similarly-themed detective/police shows of the time. Avery Brooks portrayed the hard-edged, scowling Hawk with just the right balance of menace and charm.

You look at some of the garbage on TV today and wonder why a show of this caliber got an early hook. Fortunately, the very underrated TVOne station is re-running episodes of this show.