A Spanish-American coproduction, the 60-minute action-adventure series Dark Justice was initially filmed in Barcelona, Spain, but set in a large Manhattan-like American metropolis. Ramy Zada originally headed the cast as Nicholas Marshall, a youthful ex-cop turned judge who had lost faith in the legal system after his family was killed in a car bombing meant for him. Determined to make criminals who'd slipped through the fingers of the law via legal loopholes and technicalites (many of them in his own courtroom), Judge Marshall led a double life: Distinguished jurist by day, leather-jacketed, motorcycle-riding vigilante by night. Working in concert with his covert "Night Watchman" team, Marshall entrapped a number of "untouchable" criminals, not so much by violence but by concocting elaborate sting operations in which the greedy villains would be foiled by their own gullibility. He was assisted in his mission by two super-efficient (and gorgeous) secretary-researchers, Tara McDonald (Carrie-Ann Moss) and Samantha "Sam" Collins (Elisa Heinsohn). Though Marshall and his Night Watchmen risked being arrested themselves for their nobly motivated by underhanded tactics, their results proved quite satisfactory to crusading DA Ken Horton (Kit Kincannon), who of course was totally ignorant of Judge Marshall's dual identity. During Season One, Marshall's team of confederates included Dick O'Neill as ex-forger and counterfeiter Arnold "Moon" Willis and Clayton Prince as special-effects maestro Jerico "Gibs" Gibson. Begona Plaza was seen in the first seven episodes as female adventuress Catalina "Cat" Duran, and when Cat was killed her place in Marshall's team was taken by the equally voluptuous Vivian Vives as Maria Marti. Dark Justice moved production from Barcelona to Los Angeles beginning with Season Two, at which point Bruce Abbott took over from Ramy Zada as Nicholas Marshall. Of the supporting cast, all but Vivian Vives were carried over in the American version: New additions to the Night Watchman roster were beauteous private eye Kelly Cochran (Janet Gunn) and versatile waitress Keri-Ann (Joanna Haas). In the United States, the 66-episode Dark Justice was seen as part of CBS' late-night "Crime Time in Prime Time" rotation from April 5, 1991 through April 14, 1994. The series was created by Jeff Freilich, who also served as executive producer and also wrote the theme music.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
