TV Show --vs-- Novel

I prefer the characters in the book to the characters on the show "Spenser for Hire." For both characters, they seem more interesting and round (yep, I said round as in not flat) and less like stereotypes than in the show. Hawk's story is largely untold. We can guess some things about him, but we really don't know for certain. In the earlier shows, however, Hawk provides specific information about himself so that we know his background and what he does now. In some shows, we even know whom he is working for. Also, in the show Hawk is too pretty and handsome looking. When I read the book, I have a different image -- rougher, harder, more like Shaft, Richard Roundtree (in the movies). Spenser is very much a stereotypical tough former boxer and cop in both the book and show, but in the book, we understand his motives better and that under that tough exterior is a deep thinker who cares about people. That aspect of him doesn't come out as much in the show. Also, Robert Ulrich is way too young and pretty to be Spenser. I imagine him to be more like the author in the photo on teh back cover of the book.