September 2, 1994

WEEKEND SUNRISE

STEVE HALL

Fortune Hunter
**Or: James Bond meets virtual reality.

In this cartoony, sci-fi, Bondish ripoff premiering at 7 p.m. Sunday on Channel 59, suave secret agent-for-hire Carlton Dial (Mark Frankel) has help from a nerdy couch potato sidekick, Harry Flack (John Robert Hoffman).

Thanks to the tiny camera in Dial’s contact lenses, Flack can follow Dial in action on a giant TV screen,
whether he’s busting the chops of a bad guy or seducing a mysterious Mata Hari.

Dial is a former British agent made redundant by the end of the Cold War. To support his expensive lifestyle, he recovers items lost or stolen in international skullduggery.

Alas, the show’s idea of intrigue is as shallow as a petri dish. In the premiere, Dial goes after a superweapon, Frostfire, in the hands of a corrupt industrialist (Chris Sarandon).

Dial’s adventures are pedestrian in their familiarity. Who hasn’t seen supersmooth agents outsmart card sharks, bag beauties and save the world while making irreverent wisecracks?

Sample: A villain realizes Dial isn’t the pickpocket he claims to be.

“You must think I’m a real idiot,” he says.

“Oh, I don’t know,” replies Dial. “You could be one of those faux idiots. It’s hard to tell in this light.”

Groan. Say, Harry Flack, do you think you could get American Gladiators on that big screen?