# The Beast on A&E: anyone watching it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743 "2009-02-13T21:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/1 "2009-02-13T21:00:25Z")
If so, how is it? I heard patrick Swayze does a pretty good job. > **[The Beast (2009 TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(2009_TV_series))** > > The Beast is an American crime drama series starring Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel. The series, which only ran for one season, aired on A&E from January 15 to April 23, 2009. It was Swayze's final acting performance before his death in 2009. Despite receiving largely positive reviews from critics, it garnered low Nielsen ratings and was cancelled in early June 2009, three months before Swayze’s death. > Set in Chicago, veteran middle-aged FBI agent Charles Barker applies controversial techniq... Plot: > [@](#): > > The Beast, starring Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel, centers on an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran, Charles Barker (Patrick Swayze), who takes on a rookie partner, Ellis Dove (Travis Fimmel). Barker trains Dove in a hard-edged, psychologically driven approach towards undercover work, where a moment’s hesitation can lead to death. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/2 "2009-02-13T21:06:43Z")
Haven’t missed an episode. 'Course, they are shown four times a week: Thurday night at 10 Eastern, repeated at 11, and twice more Sunday afternoon, when they get paired up with the eposide from the previous week. I like to describe it as “Prison Break” without the prison; if you like that you should like this. The basic rundown is this: Swayze plays a veteran FBI agent who bends the rules to suit the situation, causing some other agents to suspect he’s dirty. These other agents try to get his new partner (Fimmel) to report on his activities. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/3 "2009-02-13T21:07:20Z")
I watched a bit of one episode, and it was so much a basic, standard cop drama that I didn’t bother to finish watching the episode and haven’t gone back. I have enough interesting cop dramas on my tv watching list; I don’t ned a boring, cliched one, too. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/4 "2009-02-13T21:27:42Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Haven’t missed an episode. 'Course, they are shown four times a week: Thurday night at 10 Eastern, repeated at 11, and twice more Sunday afternoon, when they get paired up with the eposide from the previous week. Seems A&E has changed their schedule a bit, there is no reapeat this week. Next week it gets repeated on Saturday and for some reason ep. 1.3 is scheduled instead of 1.4. If it was 1.4 (“Infected”), I’d suggest **featherlou** give it another shot. Keeping a little boy hostage in his own home by infecting him with a deadly virus is not a cliche and Barker (Swayze) & Ellis (Fimmel) trying to find the cure before the kid dies is not boring. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/5 "2009-02-13T23:01:12Z")
**Lute** , you convinced me to give it a shot. Just watched the first ep. I think it’s got enough of an original take on yet another cop/FBI show. I liked how they revealed how the other FBI agents suspect Barker, and how Dove was “hand picked” by both sides. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/6 "2009-02-14T01:57:32Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I think it’s got enough of an original take on yet another cop/FBI show. I like how Ellis keeps Barker in the dark about the other guys. Tensions were really high the latest episode, with everyone fighting over a nuclear physicist. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/7 "2009-02-27T17:59:53Z")
Nice turn by Lou Diamond Phillips as a DEA agent who’s been under for so long that he’s forgotten who he really is. And nice forshadowing by Barker’s boss. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/8 "2009-03-28T13:50:19Z")
So, who’s still with the show? I finally got caught up with the latest episode, which was ep 10 I believe. I’m still impressed with the acting, and Swayzee seems to be having fun with it. He did a really good job playing a homeless vet the other week. In the latest ep Barker and Ellis go undercover in a high-stakes poker game to catch a highly paid assassin. Hm. I can see how they’d be good at bluffing since they both have a natural talent for undercover work and pretend to be other people all the time, but they never explained exactly how it is these guys were good enough at poker to play in a game where the minimum buy-in is $3 million bucks, and the pot goes as high as $20 million. They’re good, but they’re not James Bond. Anyhoo, if anyone else is watching, I had another question about the ep. The Russian poker player tells Ellis he amuses him, and he has a little “present” for him. Just go out to the guy’s car and tell the driver “Dmitri.” Ellis does, and he gets taken somewhere. What was the “present” supposed to be? Some sort of party? Women? Drugs? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/9 "2009-03-29T00:45:40Z")
Unfortunately, for the past couple of weeks I haven’t been able to stay up late enough to watch, and it seems they’ve discontinued the weekend repeats. I would watch it at A&E’s website but they break each episode into, like, 7 chunks for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/10 "2009-03-29T01:37:45Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Unfortunately, for the past couple of weeks I haven’t been able to stay up late enough to watch, and it seems they’ve discontinued the weekend repeats. I would watch it at A&E’s website but they break each episode into, like, 7 chunks for some reason. Do you have digital cable TV with On Demand service? I have Comcast, and they run the latest episode after its first airing on A&E. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/11 "2009-03-29T01:43:18Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Do you have digital cable TV with On Demand service? I have Comcast, and they run the latest episode after its first airing on A&E. Thanks! I’ll check there. ETA: just started the first one I missed, Barker as the homeless vet. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beast-on-a-e-anyone-watching-it/485743/12 "2009-03-29T15:40:26Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > In the latest ep Barker and Ellis go undercover in a high-stakes poker game to catch a highly paid assassin. Hm. I can see how they’d be good at bluffing since they both have a natural talent for undercover work and pretend to be other people all the time, but they never explained exactly how it is these guys were good enough at poker to play in a game where the minimum buy-in is $3 million bucks, and the pot goes as high as $20 million. They’re good, but they’re not James Bond. They could be Chris Moneymaker, though. The game is a Hold 'Em variant, most likely Texas Hold 'Em, which is very popular to play online.