ABC | Release Date: January 28, 1989
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 6 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
80
NewsdayMarvin KitmanAug 7, 2014
Season 1 Review: The new show is very violent, in bursts, in between all the poetry and music. I don't know why, but violence bothers me less when its mixed with lyrical scripts like in "A Man Called Hawk." It's like Shakespeare on TV. ... Any script becomes Shakespeare when Brooks gets his vocal cords around it; pearly words float out of the TV. [27 Jan 1989]
40
Season 1 Review: Previously icy, menacing, aloof and fascinating, [Hawk] is now mostly noise and bluster, a swaggering, gun-toting pontificator, as ready with an aphorism as with a bullet, a "Shaft" rehash. ... Within the context of "Spenser," there was already a cartoonish aspect to the figure of Hawk. Now all restraint has been dropped, and Hawk has become a parody of himself. Brooks has done better work. [27 Jan 1989]
40
Miami HeraldSteve SonskyAug 7, 2014
Season 1 Review: It's standard fare, not worth staying home for. [26 Jan 1989]
30
USA TodayTom GreenAug 7, 2014
Season 1 Review: An economy of Hawk worked well in Spenser. But to feature the character in almost every scene quickly turns enigma into transparency. [27 Jan 1989]
20
Washington PostTom ShalesAug 7, 2014
Season 1 Review: Strives hard for dumbfounding inscrutability, and achieves it. [28 Jan 1989]