but in my opinion he's a very conservative, narcissistic and self-righteous man.
Conservative? Yes. But Mack seems to be the only one among all the lead roles (I don't recall that in Sid; Joshua is an extreme example in a supporting role). Ironic that Mack the avenger for Joe Average is more conservative than the capitalist Greg he often fights. Greg and Abby the power grabber are only conservative when it serves their business, they don't think so in private. (Greg is almost a hedonist and Abby a liberal feminist.)
But is Mack narcissistic and self-righteous? To a certain point every KL character had self-righteous attitudes - that's needed to explain characters more active sides, giving them shades to avoid one-dimensionality - so even Val or Laura had it but less than Lilimae, Abby or Karen of course. Karen was on par with Mack so why should she notice? I don't see any narcissism in Mack - ZERO.
Yes, Mack often had a smirk in his face when others told serious stuff but some people react like this, e.g. couples. Especially if a wife talks so much more than her husband does. I'm talking Karen. Imagine for a moment to live in Karen's everyday world, always running through the house like a Duracell bunny, discussing her kids problems in the morning to the first coffee, all of her neighbors dramas at lunch and listening to neglectable stories of people she works with in the evening. How long would you give a considerate serious face to all that non-stop drama? Even a Colin Firth wouldn't muster that without anaesthesia. And then imagine you have your wife's favorite half-crazy neighbor every second day in your kitchen talking even more outlandish nonsense. This is why Mack is the only character we see drinking beer at daylight. Mack reflects the viewers disbelief in strange stories. However he didn't hesitate to research and help his family and friends despite their over-dramatic attitudes. He's just not taking any allegation for granted.
To me Kevin Dobson's Mack was a different type of guy who brought a new dynamic nuance to a show where the female roles dominated the story telling and didn't observe too much his acting. (I liked him in
Kojak.) Of course Dobson wasn't in William Devane's acting class and he missed the boyish charm Ted Shackelford had or the depth of John Pleshette but he had chemistry with Michele Lee (and Donna Mills in their handful of scenes) and was solid enough to fill the gap left by veteran actor Don Murray and that is an achievement.
@Billy Nolan: is Dobson's German voice actor the same he had for Crocker in
Kojak (
Einsatz in Manhattan)?
