Shopping 'Target'

Jonathan Steinberg

After missing it a bit with "Jericho," is Melrose Park's Jonathan Steinberg on target with "Human Target"?

The much-anticipated television adaptation of the comic-book bodyguard character who assumes his clients' identities to protect them -- thus becoming a "human target" -- has taken somewhat of a shift-change in the Fox production, but there's no doubt that the series, airing Wednesday nights, has made its mark -- and that's not just because Mark Valley, with his crevice-deep dimple, is its suave and sexy star.

Much can be said for the fact that Steinberg, an A-OK Adath Jeshurun alum who some years back traded Old York Road for the new Hollywood path, has a lot to do with that.

The action hero of A.J.?

He had company: Steinberg is part of the loosely knit, much-in-touch Melrose Park Jewish Mafia -- getting contracts they can't refuse in Hollywood, where such former neighbors as Steinberg, creator, and Dan Shotz, producer of "Jericho," once did wheelies together, trying out their tricycles years before they would become the big wheels they were destined to be.

True, some have gone their separate ways, but something always brings them back together; it's as if Michael Corleone were Jewish.

Now, Steinberg lays down the law on his own as writer/executive producer of "HT," not so alien a position for him since the Harvard University grad also got his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Above: Mark Valley's Human Target gets back to business with a Russian female counterpart (Emmanuelle Vaugier) in the Fox caper, executive produced by Jonathan Steinberg.

Gee, a lawyer ... talk about human targets.

But to be working in Hollywood is to set oneself in the sites of those who think that Schadenfreude is best served juicy; producers and writers are Hollywood's real human targets.

But put the squeeze on Steinberg, and he assumes the shape of his upbringing, where good Jewish kids shine their Stars of David to a spit-polish sparkle, with appreciation for what they represent.

And he still takes a shine to those MP days. (He's not the only famous J.S. in the 'hood: His brother-in-law is State Rep. Josh Shapiro, whose local office is on, of course, Old York Road.)

Did growing up in that Montco enclave prepare Steinberg to take on a "Human Target"?

He laughs. "I think it was probably less where I grew up and more what I grew up with," says the son of Chuck and Barbara, parents who, he allows, gave shape to the shape-shifter series creator's drives.

Highway or the Hiway?

"I grew up as a movie kid" not far from the Hiway Theatre on Old York Road, his popcorn fantasies buttered in big-time escapes, "and was just a huge fan of movies that ended up being the DNA of the show: 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and 'Star Wars.'

"It could have been anywhere, I guess, but Melrose Park was as good a place as any."

Good starting point for the series was the 1972 comic book, albeit "a bit before my time," acknowledges Steinberg.

But the series has the big "S" on its shirt that stands for "self-sacrifice," a cherished trait that appealed to Steinberg.

Shopping "Target": "It was a property that had been in development both for TV and in movies for a while" -- indeed, an earlier version with Rick Springfield aired 18 years ago, targeted as it was for a brief run.

"It's a very enticing idea -- a guy, for whatever it says about his character, is always looking to, or is willing to get into trouble for you, to become you, to get into the trouble that you made for yourself."

Sounds like Melrose Park was fertile training ground after all.

But even saints know from sinners. Is there any client for whom the Human Target would not go to bat?

Would He Rep Bernie?
Say, for example, Bernie Madoff had offered HT a chunk of change, would the hunk take the bait or drop the dime on him? Leveraged buyouts of the soul?

That has been a conceit of the character, says Steinberg, "that there is some hurdle you need to clear in order to gain his interest or get him to the point where he's willing to take a case for you."

Steinberg can still make a case for "Jericho," the apocalyptic drama that was da bomb in critical acclaim and cult following, though proved ratings radioactive.

"It was actually a really good boot camp for us; it forced us to get better at doing more with less," he attests. "And I think now that we have a slightly bigger toy box to be playing with, hopefully, we [are using] every last ounce of what we've got."

It may be a bigger toy box than they played in back in Melrose Park, but it's filled with the same lessons any Bar/Bat Mitzvah kid can tell you -- one that even the Human Target can benefit from:

Watch your buddy's back.

And that just may land Steinberg and HT back for another season.