''Witchblade'' is an American television series that aired on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

from 2001 to 2002. The series is based on the '' Witchblade'' comic book series, and followed a pilot film that debuted in August 2000. Some of the episodes were written by

Ralph Hemecker Ralph W. Hemecker is an American director, writer, and producer. He directed episodes of the drama series '' Once Upon a Time'' and ''The Flash''. Career In 2000, Hemecker founded Mythic Films, a full service feature film, TV and commercial produ ...

, Marc Silvestri (who also wrote the comic book) and J.D. Zeik.

Yancy Butler Yancy Victoria Butler (born July 2, 1970) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Natasha Binder in the 1993 film '' Hard Target'', Jess Crossman in '' Drop Zone'', and Detective Sara Pezzini on the TNT supernatural drama series ' ...

starred as

Sara Pezzini Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * ''Sara'' (2010 film), 2010 Sri Lankan Sinhal ...

Anthony Cistaro Anthony Cistaro (born June 8, 1963) is an American actor. At an early age he moved to San Francisco, California, where his father was a career counselor and instructor at City College of San Francisco. His mother was a homemaker. Cistaro attended ...

Kenneth Irons Kenneth Irons is a fictional supervillain. He is depicted as the person behind nearly every evil deed in the Top Cow series '' Witchblade''. Fictional character biography Irons is the head of Irons International, businessman of the year of Fort ...

David Chokachi David Chokachi (born David Al-Chokhachy; January 16, 1968) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the TV series '' Witchblade'', ''Baywatch'', and ''Beyond The Break''. Early life David Chokachi was born in Plymo ...

as Jake McCartey,

Eric Etebari Eric Etebari (born December 5, 1969) is an Iranian-American actor, model and musician. He appeared in ''Witchblade (U.S. TV series), Witchblade'', ''2 Fast 2 Furious'' and ''The Lincoln Lawyer (film), Lincoln Lawyer''. He is also known for his po ...

Ian Nottingham ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers ...

Will Yun Lee William Yun Lee (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Danny Woo in the supernatural drama '' Witchblade'' and Jae Kim in the sci-fi series '' Bionic Woman''. He has also appeared in t ...

as Danny Woo,

Conrad Dunn Conrad Dunn is an American actor. He began his screen career with the role of Francis "Psycho" Soyer in '' Stripes'' (1981). Working for some ten years under the name George Jenesky, he achieved soap-opera stardom in ''Days of Our Lives'' as Nick C ...

as Tommy Gallo,

Kenneth Welsh Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films '' The Day After Tomorrow'', ''Adoration'', '' S ...

as Joe Siri, and

John Hensley John Carter Hensley is an American actor, best known for his role as Matt McNamara on ''Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, ...

as Gabriel Bowman, among others. The show was canceled in September 2002; there was speculation that the cancellation was connected to Butler's entering rehab for alcoholism. Top Cow editor Matt Hawkins said that the series was and remains the highest rated TV series to be cancelled. The series ran for two seasons on TNT, for a total of 24 episodes (including pilot). The first episode aired June 12, 2001; the last episode aired August 26, 2002. In spite of its cancellation, ''Witchblade'' was ranked seventh in the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002 (''

Multichannel News ''Multichannel News'' is a magazine and website published by Future US that covers multichannel television and communications providers, such as cable operators, satellite television firms and telephone companies, as well as emerging Internet ...

'', February 2003).

Cast and characters

Main

as Det. Sara "Pez" Pezzini *

as Det. Jake McCartney *

as Det. Danny Woo *

as Gabriel Bowman *

Recurring

* Lazar Rockwood as Lazar *

Kathryn Winslow Kathryn Winslow (born 1973, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian actress. She is most noted as a two-time Gemini Award nominee, receiving nods for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 21st Gemini Awards in 2006 for her role as ...

as Vicky Po *

Nestor Serrano Nestor Serrano (born November 5, 1955 in The Bronx, New York) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Navi Araz in the fourth season of '' 24''. He also appeared as Emilio Loera in the fourth season of the Cinemax se ...

as Captain Bruno Dante * Bill Mcdonald as Jerry Orlinsky * Kim De Lury as

Conchobar ( is an old and famous Irish male name meaning "lover of canines". It is the source of the Irish names Conor, Connor, Connors, Conner, O'Connor, etc. It is a name borne by several figures from Irish history and legend, including: * Conchobar ...

* Johnie Chase as Det. "Jumbo" *

Dov Tiefenbach Dov Yosef Tiefenbach (born December 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor and musician. Life and career Tiefenbach was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is of Jewish background. He began his acting career at the age of 12, starting off in commercials, ...

as Jagger *

Noah Danby Noah Dalton Danby (born April 24, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Connor King in the series ''Painkiller Jane''. Early life Danby was born in Guelph, Ontario, the son of painter Ken Danby. Personal life Danby became ...

as Det. Burgess

Music

The series used song fragments from various artists during the two seasons. Acts like

Stabbing Westward Stabbing Westward is an American industrial rock band. Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus formed the band in 1985 in Macomb, Illinois. The band released an extended play in 1992, followed by four studio albums: '' Ungod'' (1994), '' Wither ...

, Pump, Michael Kisur, and

Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stor ...

were featured in the show soundtrack. On May 29, 2007, the soundtrack for the series' score was released by composer

Joel Goldsmith Joel King Goldsmith (November 19, 1957 – April 29, 2012) was an American composer of film, television, and video game music. Biography Joel Goldsmith was born on November 19, 1957, in Los Angeles, California, the third of four children o ...

on his independent record label, FreeClyde. In 2004, a

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

, '' Witchblade the Music'', was released on the Edge Artists record label featuring music from/inspired by the Top Cow comic book and the ''Witchblade'' TV series. It was compiled and produced by G Tom Mac an
Eddie Kislinger

Episodes

Season 1 (2001)

Season 2 (2002)

Home media

In 2008,

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

released ''Witchblade: The Complete Series'' — a seven-disc collectors set including the original made-for-TV movie, all 24 episodes of the series, and special features — on July 29. For the DVD release the music was altered in many episodes in comparison to the original aired episodes.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

season 1 has a rating of 63% based on reviews from 8 critics, 5 of the reviews were positive, 3 of the reviews were negative. Allan Johnson of ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' praised the show for following seamlessly from the television movie and praising it for translating the cinematic effects to the small screen. Johnson calls it "a nice action series to enjoy in the summer, full of atmospheric characters and situations". Allan Johnson of ''The Chicago Tribune'' gave season 2 a positive review. Johnson notes that although some viewers may be tuning in due to difficulties in Butler's personal life, praises the show for its "sharp visual sense, lurid, high-octane action scenes and a captivating lead in Butler".

References

External links

* from Warner Bros. * from

* * *
Interview with Yancy Butler

Jump The Shark - ''Witchblade''

''E!'' on cancellation
{{Witchblade 2001 American television series debuts 2002 American television series endings English-language television shows Saturn Award-winning television series American superhero television series Television shows based on comics Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows filmed in Toronto TNT (American TV network) original programming Witchblade Television shows based on Top Cow Productions Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Television shows set in New York City Television series based on Image Comics