Introduction

The Finder is an American procedural drama television series created by Hart Hanson.

Outline

An Iraq war vet suffers a brain injury that triggers the ability to see connections between seemingly unrelated events, objects or people.

Cast

• Geoff Stults as Major Walter Sherman, US Army (retired).
  • Due to a traumatic brain injury suffered in the Iraq War due to a roadside bomb explosion that only he survived, Walter is paranoid, suspicious and quirky (he also says that he’s “not exactly inhibited”), but it also somehow resulted in him now being able to find anything, seeing patterns where others wouldn’t. His brain uses “Walter Math” to explain these things to him. In the backdoor pilot, in Bones, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth calls Walter’s gift “The Finder Power”, while Leo Knox calls it “Darna Shellah” and “Akashvani”. Because of his ability to find anything, a lot of powerful and influential people now owe him favours. Walter’s catchphrase, as such, is “I’mma risk it” where he often makes a decision even after Leo legally advises him otherwise. In the pilot, it is revealed that he and Booth have “history” and knew each other from their days in the Army. He has a habit of sometimes taking before-and-after polaroids of clients. Walter has the knack of also finding out things that his clients did not want to know by finding what people are really looking for, not just what they think they are looking for. According to Walter, in “The Boy with the Bucket”, he was named, by his mother, after poet Walt Whitman. He is depicted as being younger than his literary counterpart, having never been married, nor having any children. Walter’s original literary incarnation served in Vietnam and never suffered brain damage.
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Leo Knox, a widower and former attorney.
  • He owns the bar “The Ends of the Earth”, located on Looking Glass Key, and he also serves as Walter’s manager and legal advisor, and sometimes bodyguard. Leo is also known for his quoting of religious literature, particularly Buddhism. He calls Walter’s power “Darna Shellah” and “Akashvani”. According to Leo, he owes Walter his life. In episode 3, “A Cinderella Story”, it is revealed that Leo lost his family (his wife Nina and teenage daughter Ellie), to E. coli poisoning. He is based on the character “Leonard Martin” in The Knowland Retribution, the first “The Locator” book the series was based on.
• Mercedes Masöhn as Deputy US Marshal Isabel Zambada.
  • While Walter’s antics frequently get on her nerves, she and Walter have a “friends with benefits” arrangement. Isabel has ambitions of being the first Latina United States Attorney General. While she works as a Deputy US Marshal during the day to gain field experience, she attends law school at night. It is her intention to be “eating dinner in the White House within six years.”
• Maddie Hasson as Willa Monday, a Romani juvenile delinquent.
  • Willa is very talented with computers, but she is prohibited from using a computer for the duration of her probation. While Willa has been betrothed to her “cousin” Timo since she was 5 and Timo was 10, by their mutual “Uncle”, Uncle Shad, the head of their family, Willa and Timo only love each other as brother and sister. As Willa believes in true love, she wants for Timo to be able to be with the girl he loves, Magdalena. At the end of the season, Willa goes on the run, violating her probation, in order to avoid her betrothal to Timo. They are not really cousins, it is just the Romani way to refer to one another as such, being the Romani “family”.
• Toby Hemingway as Timo Proud, a Romani and Willa’s “cousin”.
  • Timo is five years older than Willa, and he has a talent for Tarot reading. While Timo and Willa have been betrothed (by their mutual “Uncle”, Uncle Shad) since she was 5 and Timo was 10, Timo is himself in love with a mutual “cousin” of theirs, Magdalena.

Production

Fox developed a quasi spin-off series for Bones that was built around a character introduced in the sixth season. Production on the episode featuring The Locator began in February 2011, with the episode airing in April. The series was created by Bones creator/executive producer, Hart Hanson, and based on The Locator series of two books written by Richard Greener: “The Knowland Retribution”, and “The Lacey Confession”. The character of Walter is an eccentric but amusing recluse in high demand for his ability to find anything. He is sceptical of everything. He suffered brain damage after surviving a roadside bomb explosion, which explains his constant paranoia and compulsion to find things – and for asking offensive, seemingly irrelevant questions to get to the truth. Production on the episode began in early 2011.

Creator Hart Hanson posted on Twitter (in a humorous manner) regarding the notes he got from the network, “I received studio notes on the Bones spin-off idea. They want it to be better. Unreasonable taskmasters. Impossible dreamers. Neo-platonists.”

In the episode, the main characters of Bones travel to Key West, Florida, where The Finder is said to take place. Geoff Stults was cast as the lead character with Michael Clarke Duncan and Saffron Burrows (as Ike Latulippe, bartender and pilot) in supporting roles. The three characters were introduced in episode 19 of season 6.

The Finder was picked up for the 2011-2012 season on 10 May 2011, with an order of 13 episodes. The series premiered midseason 2012, airing on Thursdays at 9:00 pm ET, occupying the Bones time slot when it is on hiatus.

Saffron Burrows did not appear beyond the backdoor pilot episode, leaving the series, because the network decided to re-conceive the role. Mercedes Masöhn and Maddie Hasson joined the cast as the two female leads. Masohn plays Isabel Zambada, a Deputy US Marshal; and Hasson plays Willa, a juvenile delinquent who helps with their investigations.

Release

In Canada, the show was simsubbed (simultaneous distribution) against the Fox broadcast in most areas on the Global Television Network from 12 January 2012. It premiered in New Zealand on TV3 NZ on 22 March 2012, in Australia on Network Ten from 25 June 2012 and in the UK on the Universal Channel on 11 July 2012 Australia’s Network Ten only aired three episodes before pulling the series from the schedule, and lost broadcast rights in March 2016 without airing the remaining episodes.

The order of the episodes that aired differs from the order produced and intended. This does create some discontinuity in the events of the show, such as Timo and Leo meeting for the first time in the episode ‘The Conversation’, despite the two having met and conversed in previously aired episodes, or the mention of Willa not having access to the internet in the same episode, despite her probation officer allowing it two episodes before.

The series was released on Disney+ on 20 May 2022.

The following list of episodes is the show’s original order with each episode’s televised order in parenthesis.

1. Pilot (#01).
2. The Last Meal (#09).
3. A Cinderella Story (#03).
4. Swing and a Miss (#04).
5. Bullets (#02).
6. The Conversation (#10).
7. The Great Escape (#05).
8. Life After Death (#08).
9. Little Green Men (#06).
10. Eye of the Storm (#07).
11. Voodoo Undo (#12).
12. The Inheritance (#11).
13. The Boy with the Bucket (#13).

Trivia

• The series originally aired on Thursdays at 9:00 pm, and moved to Fridays at 8:00 pm beginning 06 April 2012.
• It is a spin-off of another Fox television series, Bones, where the backdoor pilot, a season six episode entitled “The Finder”, aired in April 2011.
• It is loosely based on The Locator series of two books (“The Knowland Retribution” and “The Lacey Confession”) by Richard Greener.
• On 09 May 2012, Fox cancelled the series after one season.
• The Dead Zone (TV series) is about a man who gains psychic abilities during a coma after sustaining brain damage.

The Finder Series

• Episode 01: An Orphan Walks Into a Bar.
• Episode 02: Bullets.
• Episode 03: A Cinderella Story.
• Episode 04: Swing and a Miss.
• Episode 05: The Great Escape.
• Episode 06: Little Green Men.
• Episode 07: Eye of the Storm.
• Episode 08: Life After Death.
• Episode 09: The Last Meal.
• Episode 10: The Conversation.
• Episode 11: The Inheritance.
• Episode 12: Voodoo Undo.
• Episode 13: The Boy with the Bucket.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Daniel Sackheim … (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Adam Arkin … (1 episode, 2012).
  • David Boreanaz … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Alex Chapple … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Milan Cheylov … (1 episode, 2012).
  • James Hayman … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Kevin Hooks … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Dwight H. Little … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Seith Mann … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Vahan Moosekian … (1 episode, 2012).
  • Terrence O’Hara … (1 episode, 2012).
  • David Straiton … (1 episode, 2012).
• Producer(s):
  • Josh Friedman … consulting producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Sanford Golden … supervising producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Barry Josephson … executive producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Matt MacLeod … co-producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Patrick Massett … co-executive producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Vahan Moosekian … executive producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Kurt Moritz … associate producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Daniel Sackheim … executive producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Karen Wyscarver … supervising producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • John Zinman … co-executive producer (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Hart Hanson … executive producer (12 episodes, 2012).
  • David Post … associate producer (11 episodes, 2012).
  • Nate Ehrman … production associate producer (3 episodes, 2012).
• Writer(s):
  • Richard Greener … (characters from “The Locator” books) (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Richard Greener … (characters) (1 episode, 2012).
  • Hart Hanson … (created by) (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Hart Hanson … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Nkechi Okoro … (staff writer) (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Nkechi Okoro … (written by) (1 episode, 2012).
  • Will Pascoe … (staff writer) (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Will Pascoe … (written by) (1 episode, 2012).
  • Emilia Serrano … (story editor) (8 episodes, 2012).
  • Emilia Serrano … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Aaron Ginsburg … (executive story editor) (3 episodes, 2012).
  • Aaron Ginsburg … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Wade McIntyre … (executive story editor) (3 episodes, 2012).
  • Wade McIntyre … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Sanford Golden … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Matt MacLeod … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Patrick Massett … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Karen Wyscarver … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • John Zinman … (written by) (2 episodes, 2012).
  • Josh Friedman … (written by) (1 episode, 2012).
• Music:
  • Sean Callery … (13 episodes, 2012).
  • Bruno Hovart … (unknown episodes).
• Cinematography:
  • Sidney Sidell … (13 episodes, 2012).
• Editor(s):
  • Chris Brookshire … (5 episodes, 2012).
  • Evonne Moritz … (4 episodes, 2012).
  • Casey O. Rohrs … (3 episodes, 2012).
  • Thomas R. Moore … (1 episode, 2012).
• Production:
  • Josephson Entertainment.
  • Far Field Productions.
  • 20th Century Fox Television.
• Distributor(s):
  • Fox Network (2012) (USA) (TV).
  • Fox (2012) (Japan) (TV).
  • Fox (2012) (Poland) (TV).
  • RTL Entertainment (2015) (Netherlands) (TV) (RTL4).
  • RTL Klub Televízió (2013) (Hungary) (TV).
• Release Date: 12 January 2012 to 11 May 2012.
• Running Time: 44 minutes (per episode).
• Rating: 15.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)