Sci Fi Ramblings

By John J. Joex

Alcatraz is the latest offering from genre mogul J.J. Abrams, and he once again manages to deliver a show that rises above most of the other sci fi shows on the broadcast networks and cable channels. In the pilot episode, we discover the reason that Alcatraz was shut down in 1963 is because all of the inmates (as well as the guards and wardens) mysteriously disappeared. But now in 2012, they are beginning to reappear (apparently one at a time) and resume their criminal ways. A task force is put together (which includes Dr. Diego “Doc” Soto played by Lost’s Jorge Garcia) to track down these criminals and to also find out why they have returned and who may be guiding their actions.

Admittedly, premise sounds rather convoluted and high concept, but so far it has succeeded. The show has followed a mostly procedural format through its first four episodes (which network execs like), each of which involves the arrival of an ex-Alcatraz inmate, but framing those episodes are elements of a larger story arc (which appeals to the show’s sci fi fans). Flashbacks are also included, in typical Abrams style, and these are used to flesh out the back-stories of the inmates and also expand on the story of the 60’s Alcatraz setting in general.

I have enjoyed this one so far, finding it well-scripted with engaging stories. Some genre fans may be put off by the procedural format which delivers little in the way of sci fi elements, but I’m thinking patience will reward us with a deeper dive into sci fi as the series progresses, much like what we saw with Lost. And the cast is spot-on excellent with Sarah Jones, as Detective Rebecca Madsen, giving us a strong female lead and Sam Neil, as the mysterious leader of this team, delivering a creepy and at times sinister presence. And then Garcia is onboard as a criminologist/Alcatraz expert, evoking some of the traits of his Hurly character, but still establishing Dr. Diego as his own person (he has yet to utter “Dude” through four episodes).

The show has a lot of promise and can attract a cross-section of viewers, appealing to those who like crime dramas while still offering plenty for sci fi fans to enjoy as well. And it started out strong in the Nielsens, pulling a 3.3 rating in the 18-49 demo and ten million total viewers with its initial outing. It has slipped some since then, but not bad and currently looks like it has a good chance of earning itself a second season.

FOX also gave us a preview last week of another of their new genre entries Touch, from Heroes creator Tim Kring and starring 24’s Kiefer Sutherland (Jericho’s Carol Barbee is also on board as an executive producer). In this one, Sutherland plays a former journalist who’s autistic son is a math genius and can apparently see patterns that predict the future. The pilot episode gives us a first look at this young savant and shows his father first understanding the boy’s talent to predict future events.

I have to say that the preview episode was rather convoluted and confusing, a Tim Kring trademark, and I’m guessing that if you broke it down and tried to thoroughly analyze it then it would not hold up. But then it was not guilty of gaping leaps of logic like we saw in the later seasons of Heroes and for the most part I rather enjoyed the episode. Sutherland heads up a fine cast that also includes Danny Glover, and Lost’s Man in Black Titus Welliver shows up in the episode in a guest-starring role.

My question at this point, though is how are they going to get a weekly series out of this? Does Jake predict a new event each week that his father tries to prevent? And at what point does Jake predict one of Tim Kring’s trademark apocalyptic futures? The series has some potential if approached correctly, but we all know how Kring went far astray with Heroes starting from that show’s second season. Maybe Barbee’s presence will act as a guiding force to keep the series on track, as she did a good job with Jericho. In any case, the series got off to a strong start with a 3.9 rating in the 18-49 demo and twelve million total viewers, so it has piqued the interest of viewers. It will start its regular run on Mondays in the 9 PM EST slot beginning March 19th, after Alcatraz wraps up its first season.

You can watch episodes of Alcatraz and Touch online for free at Hulu.com

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Sci Fi Ramblings

By John J. Joex

The first half of the current season is just about over with several shows having wrapped up for the holidays and several more with just a few episodes left before the Winter hiatus. And I have to admit at this point that the season has been somewhat of a mixed bag with most of the new shows disappointing, while some of the returning shows picked up the slack and showed some new vitality.

Tops so far this season is the same show that delighted last year, AMC’s The Walking Dead. Despite the behind the scenes turmoil of Frank Darabont leaving the series and the budget cuts, this show has continued to maintain, if not exceed the quality of its first season. True, it has moved at a rather plodding pace this season and the soap opera elements detract from the overall quality (the same is true of the latter in the comics), but each episode delivers at least one holy crap! moment that makes it all worth it. This show has ventured into Battlestar: Galactica territory with its hard-hitting moral ambiguities and gut-wrenching drama, and I’d say it’s on course to quickly work its way into the upper echelon of science fiction and fantasy shows.

Another returning show that has pleased this season is Fringe, now in its fourth (and possible last) season. This show has long strived to be a contender among genre shows, but has suffered from inconsistency. This season, though, the show finally seems to have hit its stride with the combined universes and Peter-Bishop-out-of-time storylines. Its continued ratings slide suggest it may not last into a fifth season, though, but hopefully FOX will give the producers ample notice so that they can wrap up the majority of the plot threads before the show is put out to pasture.

Supernatural has also seen an upswing in quality after two sub-par seasons. The Leviathan storyline seems to have reenergized the series and it has managed to stay pretty consistent this season after suffering from some wild swings last year. If The CW elects to wrap up the show with this season, then at least it will go out on a strong note.

Among the new shows, I think I like Once Upon A Time the best. I say “I think” because I’m still not quite certain about this one. Its fairy tale lore meets the modern day world premise has potential and it surprisingly got off to a strong start. But it’s since been all over the board consistency-wise (sometimes in the same episode) and at times verges on bad camp and the absurd. Lost veterans Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have kept it from slipping into the abyss thus far, but we will see how long they can continue to tread that fine line. I consider this a guilty pleasure at this point, but not quite a must-watch show.

I had just about given up on FX’s The American Horror Story, but found myself pulled back in when Zachary Quinto arrived in a ghostly recurring role. The problem with the series is that I just don’t like any of the main characters. I don’t really hate them either, they’re just kind of blah and annoying. The show shines from the performances of ancillary characters like Quinto and Jessica Lange, but how long can they carry it? The muddled storylines don’t help either. Still, it does kind of grow on you after a while and it has me intrigued enough now to stick around for the upcoming season finale.

J.J. Abrams’ Person of Interest seems to have missed the mark, and I’m wondering if CBS neutered the show to fit their standard risk-free slate of programming. It has basically become another procedural-with-a-twist with very little in the way of genre elements and nothing much yet in the way of an ongoing story arc. Which takes two of Abrams’ trademark elements out of the series. It has also failed to inject any of the paranoia, anxiety, and/or cynicism you would expect from a show about omnipresent surveillance, not has it really taken advantage of its two leads, Michael Emerson and James Caviezel. I’m thinking CBS didn’t really want a J.J. Abrams show, just the recognition that goes with his name and a cookie-cutter procedural with a gimmick. This one will likely go down as a huge missed opportunity.

NBC’s Grimm is another show that just hasn’t lived up to its billing as its Supernatural meets dark fairy tale creatures premise has delivered sub-par episodes thus far. And FOX’s high profile Terra Nova has completely disappointed, which I discussed in much more detail at this link. I do admit that I have not tuned into that one for a while and have heard some good feedback on more recent episodes, so maybe I will give it another try. But I don’t have my hopes too high.

One of the biggest surprises to me is the fact that we have made it to December with no cancellations among the genre shows. That said, CBS’s A Gifted Man is almost certainly on the way out as is The CW’s Nikita, Fringe, and Terra Nova is wavering while Grimm has to be considered a toss-up despite the fact that NBC is trying to play it up as a hit. I will have a comprehensive look at the cancellation prospects of all of this Fall’s genre shows in a special Cancellation Watch column in about a week or two.

Sci Fi Ramblings

By John J. Joex

This season has brought us two genre shows with fairy tale roots (and the networks mulled even more during the pilot season), but neither of these have quite won me over to this new trend yet. Of the two, I definitely prefer ABC’s Once Upon A Time, but I haven’t decided yet if I consider it a must-watch show at this point. As far as NBC’s Grimm, it showed some potential early on, but I’m quickly losing interest in that one.

For those who have not tuned into Once Upon A Time (which airs Sundays at 8 PM EST), this series tells us that the fairy tale world is real, with Snow White, the dwarves, Prince Charming, evil queens, Jiminy Cricket, and the whole lot, but a curse has cast them into an eternal state of obliviousness. They all live now in the modern world in a small New England town called Storybrooke, though most don’t know their true origins or the fact that they are trapped by a spell cast by the evil queen. However, one person has the ability to free them. She is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming who escaped from the spell into the modern world twenty eight years ago (by our time). She also does not know her origins, but her estranged son whom she put up for adoption seeks her out and convinces her to come to the town and now he tries to prove to her that fairy tale characters are real and living in Storybrooke.

If that premise sounds rather hokey, well, it is. But surprisingly the creators (Lost veterans Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz) and the rest of the crew involved have managed to pull it off much better than you might expect. The pilot episode was actually quite strong as it delved into the darker subtext of fairy tale stories and seemed to lay the groundwork for a potentially strong fantasy series. Since then, though, it has flirted heavily with the camp elements that the early previews suggested, and it switches between modern day story threads and flashbacks to the fairy tale world. But is has not completely descended into camp yet as it weaves a somewhat interesting story of personal rediscovery combined with fairy tale elements (with the two naturally complementing each other).

As far as the fairy tale lore, Once Upon A Time dips directly and deeply into the Disney pot (remember that ABC is owned by the Mouse House) with a few fun twists here and there. And the cast is definitely a strong point for the show with Emma Swan giving us a good, strong female lead for the series and Jared S. Gilmore thus far steering clear of the annoying, cute kid trope. And Robert Carlyle (previously seen as Dr. Rush on SGU) is clearly having a grand time hamming it up as Rumpelstiltskin (though for God’s sake, could they please do something about the horrible makeup job he has in the fairy tale world ).  The series has potential, but then it could also quickly go far astray.  I’m sticking with it for now, but I’m not quite sold yet.

NBC’s Grimm (which airs Fridays at 9 PM EST) also draws from the fairy tale bag, but it has a darker angle and less of a direct connection to its source material. In this one, detective Nick Burkhardt finds out that he comes from the family line of Grimms, ancient hunters who seek out and kill dangerous supernatural creatures (the ones that inspired many fairy tales and fantasy stories). In the modern world, these creatures adopt human form, but he has the ability to see through their disguises when they lose control. He is informed by his dying aunt that he is one of the last Grimms and that he must now carry on the family tradition.

While this series draws some inspiration from fairy tales, it also lifts readily from The CW’s Supernatural (its timeslot competitor) as well as many other genre and cop shows. Its premise is weak and hackneyed at best and thus far, after a slightly better than average pilot, the show has done little to build up its mythology into a credible, coherent story. If the Grimms are the only ones who can see these supernatural baddies, why didn’t they make busy breeding like rabbits long ago to keep the family business going strong over the years? And why exactly is it that it just so happens there are so many of these mythological terrors hanging around Portland, Oregan where Burkhardt happens to be on the police force and how does he keep lucking into cases that involve them?

This one strains our suspension of disbelief a bit too much and it also doesn’t play too much on the familiar fairy tale elements that supposedly inspired it. Okay, in the first episode we did have the “big bad wolf” and  perhaps the second episode gave us the descendants of Goldilocks’ bears. But what fairy tale or fantasy lore did those bees in the third episode come from? On top of all that, David Giuntoli who plays Burkhardt seems too pretty-boy for the part, and the rest of the cast seem to play their roles mostly by the numbers. So far, the only standouts have been Silas Weir Mitchell as good “big bad wolf” Eddie Monroe and Kate Burton as kick-ass Aunt Marie. Unfortunately (SPOILER WARNING) Marie is out of the picture now, but Eddie should stick around to liven things up.

Ratings-wise, Once Upon A Time is surprisingly one of the biggest hits of the season. It debuted with a 4.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic and has thus far dropped no lower that a 3.8 rating with subsequent episodes. It is regularly the top rated scripted show on Sunday nights and ABC has picked up the back nine episodes giving this one a full season order. Grimm started strong with a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demo, pretty good numbers considering its Friday night slot and the fact that it debuted against Game 7 of the World Series. It has dropped each week since then, though, down to a 1.6 rating in its last outing. It needs to hold steady there it it wants to stick around, and it did receive the good news that NBC has ordered additional scripts (though only two). It has a chance of surviving if it can hold onto its audience, but it needs to improve its writing if the show wants people to stay interested.  Both shows are available for free online viewing at Hulu.com.

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By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Neil Gaiman has established a name for himself as a well-respected genre author over the last two decades, but it’s likely that many people in the United States have missed out on the BBC series he wrote and co-created called Neverwhere. But now that this series, which originally aired in England in 1996, is getting a 15th anniversary release on DVD (just out on November 15th), it’s time for sci fi fans to give this one a look.

This six-episode series (it’s common for a British show to have a shortened run like this) takes place in the world of “London Below”, a hidden parallel world that exists beneath the actual city of London (referred to in the series as “London Above”). Here we find that the homeless and dissolute actually live a secret life unseen by the people above that is a throwback fantasy world that hearkens back to Medieval feudalism. A man from London Above (Richard Mayhew played by Gary Blakewell) helps a girl from London Below (Door played by Laura Fraser) and finds himself drawn reluctantly into this alternate underworld.

The premise is interesting, though the delivery sometimes falls short and has a familiar feel to it and the story ultimately bogs down beneath multiple genre tropes. But it is the performances of Paterson Joseph as the Marquis de Carabas as well as Hywel Bennett and Clive Russell as the delightfully wicked Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar that elevate this to the next level. These three alone transform this from an interesting if lackluster fantasy series to an exceptional example of genre television. Though beware that the series does suffer from the low production values common to BBC shows, though fortunately it does not rely too heavily on special effects.

Neil Gaiman fans who have missed out on the series (though they may have read the book) will definitely want to check this one out. And most all science fiction and fantasy fans will likely enjoy it as well, as long as the set expectations properly considering the show’s production limitations and tendency to slip into cliché. But at only six episodes of thirty minutes, it’s a quick watch and well worth your time. And there’s also rumors floating around of a possible sequel series or maybe even a big screen adaptation on the horizon. Note that this set has some new special features not on the previous (out of print) edition including an audio commentary that Neil Gaiman participates in.

Buy Neverwhere on DVD from Amazon.com:

The last of this season’s genre shows, Grimm, debuted this past Friday (to surprisingly good ratings), so we thought we would take a look at how all of these shows stack up so far according to the Metacritic website. That site collects together reviews of movies, television shows, games, etc. and converts them into a numerical score between 0 and 100 (similar to what the Rotten Tomatoes site does, though Metacritic’s results tend to vary from that site and RT does not rate television shows). These results are then combined together to create an average “Metascore” indicating the overall rating for a show across the general population of critics (who reviewed the shows).  Following is how Metacritic breaks down their Metascores by category:

0–19: Overwhelming dislike
20–39: Generally unfavorable
40–59: Mixed or average reviews
60–80: Generally favorable reviews
81–100: Universal acclaim

Looking at this season’s new genre shows, they all cluster pretty closely together based on their Metascores. The highest is ABC’s fairly-tale-meets-the-modern-world series Once Upon A Time at 66. The lowest is NBC’s Grimm, also a fairy tale inspired series, that is just 11 points behind with a Metascore of 55.  Five of this season’s new shows fall into the ”Generally favorable reviews” category while two fall into the “Mixed or average reviews” group.

Metacritic also lets the general public vote on a show on a scale of 0 to 10 and these are averaged together to create a “User Score”.  Interestingly, those diverge somewhat from the Metascores for this season’s new genre shows with CBS’s Person of Interest having the highest User Score of 7.8 and FOX’s Terra Nova having the lowest of 5.9.  The top and bottom shows as far as their Metascores fall somewhere in the middle with their User Scores with Once Upon A Time having a 7.0 and Grimm having a 7.3.

Following is the list of all the new genre shows from the current season showing their Metascores and User Scores*.  We have also included the Cancellation Alert status for each show from our Cancellation Watch column.  The links are to each show’s page on the Metacritic website where you can read the critics’ opinions and also cast your own votes.

Once Upon A Time (ABC, Sunday 8 PM): Metascore – 66 | User Score – 7.0 | Cancellation Alert – Low
Person of Interest (CBS, Thursday 9 PM): Metascore – 64 | User Score – 7.8 | Cancellation Alert – Moderate
Terra Nova (FOX, Monday 8 PM): Metascore – 64 | User Score – 5.9 | Cancellation Alert – Low
A Gifted Man (CBS, Friday 9 PM): Metascore – 62 | User Score – 6.3 | Cancellation Alert – Medium
American Horror Story (FX, Wednesday 10 PM): Metascore – 61 | User Score – 7.7 | Renewed for Second Season
The Secret Circle (CW, Thursday 8 PM): Metascore – 55 | User Score – 7.3 | Cancellation Alert – Low
Grimm (NBC, Friday 9 PM): Metascore – 55 | User Score – 7.3 | Cancellation Alert – Low

*Metascores and User Scores are as of the date of this post and can change as additional critics scores are included and/or as more people cast votes for shows.

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Sci Fi Ramblings

By John J. Joex

Last week, I took a look at FOX’s Terra Nova and asked if it just might be the worst science fiction show in recent years. And unfortunately, the other new shows from the current season have not done much to help get out the bad taste left in my mouth by Terra Nova. New entries like Person of Interest and The American Horror Story have not achieved the level of badness as the FOX dino-epic, but they haven’t really impressed much either.

The J.J. Abrams production Person of Interest was high on my list of must-check-out shows this Fall, but at this point, I could pretty much take it or leave it. It has an interesting premise: a supercomputer that can predict violent crimes with a duo of outcasts who use this knowledge to help the people in danger. And what gives it somewhat of an edge is how close the series plays along the lines of science fact and science fiction. I don’t think we are quite at the level of technology to create the computer seen on the series, but we’re not far off. Thus making this very much a speculative fiction series, at least as far as its core premise is concerned.

But the creative team puts that in the background and has decided to give us mostly just a procedural series with a twist. You would think that a show based on the presence of perennial surveillance would be fraught with tension, anxiety, and paranoia. But we have seen very little of that so far and the series actually seems to suggest that this omnipresent monitoring is a good thing. Maybe they are still setting up the over-arching story, and perhaps we will get more of the expected cynicism further down the road (assuming the show survives). But at this point, all of the elements at the show’s core that would appeal to genre fans remain in the background, and we have seen little in the way of the ongoing story arc you would expect from a J.J. Abrams production. That could be the result of a dictum from CBS, a network that has shown a strong dislike of genre shows and tends to play it safe with their programming. But if I’m going to stick with this one, they need to start peeling back some of the layers and giving us more than just an updated, high-tech, re-imagining of The Equalizer. And they also need to make better use of the show’s leads, Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel, delving into the back-stories of these two potentially very interesting characters.

Over on FX, The American Horror Story at first looked like a promising entry that would perhaps merge elements of Twin Peaks and American Gothic and give us this Fall’s sleeper hit. But after three episodes, it has only delivered a rather muddled horror tale that I have yet to warm up to. The series follows the Harmon family that moves from Boston to Los Angeles to get away from the family problems that nearly tore them apart. They move into a creepy old house that has a notorious reputation because of the violent deaths that have occurred there. And between the ghosts that haunt this house and the even creepier neighbors, the Harmon’s find that their situation has not improved much.

This series, from Nip/Tuck / Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, hasn’t quite figured out what it wants to be yet. It has elements of The Shinning, The Amityville Horror, and any of a number of other horror entries, along with a few unique twists of its own (mostly neighbor’s Constance and Addy). But I have yet to warm up to any of the characters and feel like the stories (which seem to point to an over-arching tale) keep going off on their own bizarre tangents. This series could still find its way by tightening up its scripts and making the Harmon family a bit more likeable, but I’m not certain how long I am willing to wait for that to happen.

Both shows have done decent in the ratings so far, but neither quite counts as a hit yet. Person of Interest has pulled respectable numbers (averaging a 2.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic and over twelve million viewers), but then it ranks fourth place in the Thursday night timeslot that CSI once ruled and CBS has little patience with ratings slackers or genre shows. The American Horror Story debuted strong for a cable show but dropped in its second outing and a series like this will tend to trend downward as the season continues. Both are probably safe for now but will have to keep their numbers solid if they want to earn second season renewals.

Sci Fi Ramblings

By John J. Joex

The Fall season is already underway (Fringe returns tomorrow!), but before we get too far along with that it’s worth taking a quick look back at the surprisingly good Summer season we had as far as genre television. After a couple of lack-luster Summer seasons as well as the dreadful 2010/2011 regular season, these past three months delivered some pretty good science fiction and fantasy television. Though it was mostly the new entries that breathed some life back into the genre, as the veteran series really just tread water. And the broadcast networks decided to just bow out of genre programming this past Summer, which was not necessarily a bad thing because they have not offered much worth watching during that time of year (apart from Defying Gravity) over the last few years.

The Summer kicked off with the pleasantly surprising Teen Wolf from MTV. When I first heard of plans to update that Michael J. Fox movie and turn it into a series for MTV, I thought this was a disaster waiting to happen. Then I saw the trailers that made it at least look intriguing, so I decided to tune in for the premiere. And I found myself hooked almost right away. The series gives us more of a male-oriented teen supernatural drama to counter The CW’s female-skewing Vampire Diaries (as well as the Twilight movies), but it also aspires to give us an updated Buffy the Vampire Slayer type series as well. Season 1 did not quite get there, but then Buffy did not really start to soar until subsequent seasons as well. I will definitely keep up with this one into its second season.

Another pleasant surprise was Syfy’s Alphas. Going in, this one had all the look of a derivative genre knockoff combining elements of shows like Heroes and Syfy’s own Sanctuary. And while the finished product did bear some resemblance to those shows, it also established itself as more than just a retread. Where Alphas succeeds is with its impeccable cast that demonstrated an instant chemistry and that continues to develop with every episode. Sure, some of the stories fall short, but the series continues to show promise and could really develop into a strong genre entry.

Yet another surprising series is Cartoon Network’s ThunderCats reboot. I never much cared for the original series, but I like where they are going with the remake. The animation is closer to Anime style and the stories seem much less kid-oriented than I remember the originals being. With its epic scale, this series could give us a decent space opera entry, something all too rare on television these days.

TNT’s alien invasion series Falling Skies was a decent enough show even if it fell short of its potential. This series, with Steven Spielberg’s name attached to it, pushed the family angle which all too often on television results in watered-down stories (and that makes me nervous about the prospects for Terra Nova). The idea of having a small, desperate resistance force fighting against an overwhelming invader had plenty of potential for some hard-hitting Battlestar Galactica type stories, but the show mostly steered away from that path. It also lacked that level of anxiety and tension you would expect amongst a group of people who never know whether the aliens are about show up around the next corner. Still, the series was enjoyable enough, and I will tune in for its second season next summer.

The gem of the Summer, though, was Starz’s continuation of the BBC series Torchwood. I had previously watched that Doctor Who spinoff on BBC America and Netflix (where you can watch Seasons 1 through 3 on their streaming service) and started liking it better than the show that spawned it (which continues to venture more and more into the realms of the absurd). When I heard Starz bragging that their version (which is a continuation, not a reboot) would have more action and more sex, though, I worried that they had lost touch with the strong story-telling that had made Torchwood such a good show. Still, I ponied up and paid the money to get Starz, and found myself glad that I did. Even though the Americanized Torchwood suffered from some over-the-top acting, cheesiness, and flirtations with camp, overall it was an excellent series. And it was sure great to see John de Lancie stop by for a guest appearance. Why he hasn’t received more acting jobs I just don’t understand.

As I do every year, I tuned in for the return of Eureka and found that it still hasn’t managed to rediscover that spark that made it such a good series during its first two seasons. It’s not bad, I enjoyed most of the episodes I watched, just not nearly as much fun. As far as Syfy’s Warehouse 13 and Haven, I’ve never really cared for either of those and what little I sampled from this past Summer didn’t change my mind. And Cartoon Network’s Voltron reboot didn’t impress me much, not nearly as good as the ThunderCats at least. Didn’t tune in for the fourth season of True Blood (choosing Starz instead of HBO because I wanted to see Torchwood more), but I didn’t hear much in the way of good buzz around it. And Season 3 descended so far into camp, I just did not have much interest in keeping up with the show.

As far as ratings performance, most the Summer shows did quite well with the unfortunate exception of Torchwood. That series barely registered for Starz, though it did pull numbers similar to what last Spring’s Camelot saw. Starz cancelled that show, though, and has not made an announcement yet on Torchwood, though they did indicate that they did not necessarily consider it as an ongoing production for the network. If they don’t bring it back, hopefully another network will take a flyer on it. This Summer’s renewed series include Alphas, Eureka (though its next season will be its last), Falling Skies, Futurama, Teen Wolf, True Blood, and Warehouse 13. And I expect that both Voltron Force and ThunderCats will get renewed as well. Cancelled was ABC’s teen drama The Nine Lives of Chloe King and still up in the air are the fates of Torchwood and Syfy’s Haven.

Sam Christopher’s Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 Stars

I’ve never seen Torchwood. I’ve never read anything much about it, either. I don’t watch much television in the first place, and this show just fell below my radar. When I saw the ads for this season, though, completely by accident, I thought I might give it a shot. Fair warning, in preparing for this review I have still not read anything at all about the previous seasons. I wanted this to be a review of this season alone rather than the show in general. There will be some spoilers, although I will try and keep them minor as I can.

The story: People stop dying. I mean everywhere. We learn they don’t stop aging and they can be hurt, but something is keeping them all going. Our first glimpse of the phenomenon is a child molester/murderer, Oswald Danes, played by Bill Pullman, being given a lethal injection while a CIA agent, Rex Matheson, played by Mekhi Phifer, is skewered by a pole in a traffic accident. Neither of them die, of course, and it is learned that not dying is more a general malady throughout the world than specific to these two. Which draws the attention of the remaining members of Torchwood, an immortal man (who has suddenly been made mortal here) named Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), the latter of whom had thought to live out her life with husband and baby in quiet anonymity. And here is where the subplots and shenanigans go wild. There apparently has been a CIA initiative to find Torchwood, one that Phifer and another agent, Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins), was attached to. There is a drug company that apparently knew “Miracle Day” was coming and had stocked up in preparation for it. There is a secret organization within the CIA with a vested interest in… something. This organization—apparently founded by Odysseus, their slogan being “We are No One”—is constantly after our heroes and…

Bottom line, I enjoyed the first couple episodes and will continue to watch for a little while longer, but the leaps of logic seem to get worse as the series progresses. I thought it lame that Danes got out of prison within hours (it seemed) of surviving a lethal injection attempt simply because he threatened to sue the governor of whatever state he was in personally, but to make matters worse the character then becomes some kind of guru for the Undying. We’re told that scientists aren’t saying anything, religious leaders aren’t saying anything, and the government’s not saying anything… but the child molester who famously (people mention it constantly throughout the show) blamed the 12-year-old girl he raped and murdered for “not running away fast enough” is not only talking but gathering acolytes?!? More, the “Black Floyd” organization (so named because their symbol reminds me of nothing so much as the cover of Dark Side of the Moon) may turn out to do something of interest at some point but so far has only succeeded in making me wonder how these inept thugs have survived. Too heavy-handed most of the time, their actions generally lack the subtlety and foresight of true master manipulators. From what we’ve seen so far, anyway. There are still six episodes.

John J. Joex’s Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I have seen Torchwood before.  I have seen parts of the BBC series (which ran three seasons) as well as the Doctor Who episodes that first introduced Captain Jack Harkness.  For those not familiar with the show, it actually began as a spin-off series from Doctor Who (Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who and the organization came into existence because of him, but that’s too involved to delve into here).  Originally, the series was directed at a a more adult audience than the more youth-skewing Doctor Who as it dealt with more mature themes as same-sex relationships (Captain Jack considers himself “omni-sexual”) and also worked plenty of moral quandaries into its stories.  In the first season of Torchwood, we see a fully funded and operational organization heavily equipped to deal with potential alien threats. But this changed throughout the first three seasons as Torchwood eventually had to go underground and on the run. Which brings us to Season 4 where the American pay channel Starz has decided to pick up the series and relocate it to the states.

So far I have enjoyed the Americanized version of the series, which is a continuation of the British series, not a reboot like Syfy’s Being Human.  However, I do agree with Mr. Christopher that the show has had several leaps of logic and I’ve also cringed as it has descended to near-camp at times (the very end of episode 2 as a prime example).  But then I credit that to the Britishness of the series (origianl creator Russel T. Davies is still closely involved and is writing several episodes) as we saw that sort of thing with the BBC episodes, and just try sitting through an episode of Doctor Who without cringing several times at the absurdities they introduce.  The British Torchwood toned that down from the series that spawned it and now the American version has toned it down further.  And none of this is a deal breaker for me yet.

I like the general direction of the current season’s story arc thus far and I believe it has potential to deliver some good Torchwood-style wtf moments.  I also like the way that the have dealt with the repercussions of this Earth-changing event.  In previous American genre shows like FlashForward, I always felt like they glossed over how the people across the world reacted to the central event in the series.  In that show, I believe the blackouts and future visions would have sent major tremors throughout the world’s social and religious organization.  But we saw very little of that and instead were given run-of-the-mill procedural episodes (until the series finally hit its stride right before cancellation).  But with Torchwood, we are seeing the repercussions of this unprecedented event with things like the “Dead is Dead” campaign and the groups believing their souls have left their bodies.  These are mostly just glimpses, but at least the show acknowledges the global implications of what has happened.

The good news for those who don’t like protracted story arcs is that this will resolve at the end of Season 4′s ten episode run.  The bad news is that Starz is not committed to further seasons of Torchwood at this point (more on that in a later post).  I have enjoyed Miracle Day through its first four episodes and feel like it offers an interesting alternative to the more straightforward American fare we usually see.  And I am hoping that this series will continue on in some capacity because it is one of the few genre shows currently running that’s willing to rise above the expected formula and take some chances.

Buy the Previous Seasons of Torchwood on DVD from Amazon.com:

By John J. Joex

Alphas

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Alphas is Syfy’s newest Summer series about a group of people with special abilities who seek out others similar to them and either help them or keep them from harming others. It follows very closely to the template of that network’s recent “sci fi lite” scripted shows focusing on a central group of characters seeking out people and/or objects with enhanced and potentially dangers powers/abilities. You could easily describe it as Heroes meets Sanctuary, though it does not lift from the former as much as originally assumed when the series was announced. It also shares traits with other Syfy shows such as Warehouse 13 and Haven. And it borrows liberally from other sources as well, specifically the X-Men comics and movies and the CSI-like procedural shows.

But borrowing from other sources in itself is not a bad thing, we see that all the time. It’s whether you can give a fresh spin on an old idea that matters, and surprisingly Alphas has thus far succeeded in doing just that. I actually did not expect to like this show seeing as I am not a big fan of Syfy’s other similar fare, but through the two-hour pilot and episodes that have followed, it has succeeded in rising above the pack. And that’s mostly because of the excellent cast and well-developed characters we have seen so far. The actors have demonstrated an instant chemistry and have produced that rare ensemble where no one character dominates but all seem essential. And right from the beginning it is apparent that the actors are quite comfortable with their roles as they deliver fully fleshed out characters. And the character development comes not from soap opera-like side stories, but their interactions with one another during the episodes. We see glimpses of their personal lives, but that is (wisely) kept mostly in the background so far. The series also made the wise choice of foregoing an origin story, which is often dull and exposition heavy, and instead just set us right down into the middle of the story, asking us to catch up along the way. This can be a make or break decision, but it works quite well for Alphas.

Another plus is that so far none of the characters with abilities (the “Alphas”) have demonstrated ridiculously powerful traits like we saw with several of the Heroes principals. We have a character with enhanced strength, one with heightened senses, one with the ability to influence others, one who can “see” wireless signals, etc. This keeps the show closer in the science fiction realm as opposed to the over-the-top fantasy posing as science fiction we got from Heroes (especially from Season 2 on). And with the second episode, they have introduced a story arc (a potential war against humans and Alphas instigated by the nefarious Red Flag group) that will develop in the coming weeks and this shows some promise if it can avoid retreading what the X-Men have already done with that storyline.

I wouldn’t call Alphas a great show at this point, but it’s better than expected and could develop into a decent genre entry. It could also quickly work itself into a rut, though, as its premise easily lends itself to a formulaic approach. We’ve seen that already from Syfy with Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, Haven and even Eureka, so we have good reason to expect that trend to repeat itself. Hopefully, though, this one will steer its own course and rise above the mediocre output Syfy has given us of late. Ratings-wise, the series has done well delivering numbers on par if not better than the network’s other Summer staples Warehouse 13 and Eureka. So it seems on track to get a second season renewal and we can only hope that the show delivers on its early promising run to give us something to look forward to in the way of scripted programming from Syfy.

Eureka

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 Stars

Syfy’s Eureka focuses on a small town in an undisclosed location in the Pacific Northwest where a secret government facility exists employing the greatest (and most eccentric) scientific minds from across the world. These are brilliant people, but most seem to lack much in the way of common sense and they often have to rely upon the down to earth, science-averse Sheriff Jack Carter (Collin Ferguson) to get them out of the predicaments that their cutting-edge inventions sometimes (often times) bring about. The series first debuted back in Summer of 2006 and now is in the bottom half of its fourth season. Not certain why they don’t just call this Season 5, seeing as the first half of Season 4 aired last Summer, but perhaps they still want to count it as the fourth season seeing as the story arc introduced last year has yet to be resolved.

When Eureka started out in 2006 it brought a breath of fresh air to science fiction television as it managed to make the genre fun again with clever, witty episodes that presented a notable contrast to the heavier, story arc driven entries at that time like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and Supernatural. And Eureka managed to keep up a consistent level of quality throughout its first two seasons. Then it seemed to run out of steam with the beginning of Season 3 and has yet to really get back on track. Last Summer’s Season 4 marked an improvement over the prior year when they introduced the alternate timeline story (several of the principle characters were accidentally sent back in time and when they returned they discovered they had changed the future). But the show still never returned to the quality of its first two seasons and just could not figure out how to work humor back into the stories like in its early years. And Season 4.5 has pretty much continued that same trend.

It’s not that the show is bad, it’s definitely risen from the nadir of Season 3, it’s just that it seems to be treading water. The addition of recurring cast members Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton has added a bit of a spark (and even Stan Lee stops by for a cameo), but there’s only so much that fresh blood can do for a show when it can’t find new territory to explore. The formula of a brilliant scientific experiment getting out of control and threatening Eureka or the world beyond had grown stale by Season 3, but they can’t seem to figure out where else to go with the series. Each season introduces a new story arc (and this season now has two overlapping with the alternate timeline and the mission to Titan threads), but the individual episodes that carry these arcs still rely on the same, tired formula. And it’s true the that series does still have its moments here and there (the scene when Fargo scrapped the International Space Station with his out of control capsule as one of the ISS astronauts shoots a wtf look out the portal was classic), but for the most part it just does not have the kick it once had. It still does okay for Syfy in the ratings and they have already renewed it for a fifth season, so it will stick around for a while yet. I just wish they could rediscover that spark that the show had back in Seasons 1 and 2.

Buy Previous Season of Eureka on DVD from Amazon.com:

By John J. Joex

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Falling Skies is a Summer series from TNT that chronicles the aftermath of an alien invasion that has decimated over 90% of the Earth’s population. Instead of starting off the series with the actual invasion, the story in the pilot episode picks up six months later (probably in part to save on the budget) as a group of resistance fighters in Boston struggle to survive under the yoke of the alien presence. A hodgepodge of military and civilian personnel have banded together to combat the aliens and protect the people who have survived the initial attack. They also seek to find out why the aliens have abducted large numbers of children and turned them into living automatons with bio-mechanical “harnesses” attached to their spine. The focal character of the series to this point has been Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), a former military history professor who is now one of the (low-level) leaders of the resistance. Two of his sons are still with him, but one has been captured and harnessed by the aliens. And his wife, and the mother of the boys, died while out on a mission foraging for food.

After having seen the two hour pilot and two additional episodes of Falling Skies, I would classify it as a good series that has potential. It does not cover much in the way of new territory and it seems to draw much of its inspiration from movies and TV series that have preceded it, but I would not quite call it derivative and it has avoided too much in the way of copy and paste dialogue and scenes thus far. The show still seems to be getting it footing, and has definitely stumbled a few time at this early point in its run, but it has done nothing to completely derail the story or lose my interest.

Even though the show focuses primarily on Mason and his family, it has an ever-expanding cast of characters that could ultimately prove an asset or a major hindrance. There’s plenty of story to be extracted from this throw-together band of people, but we have yet to get much of a good feel from any more than a small handful of them at this point. Mason seems interesting, with his civilian, military history perspective on the situation. His son Hal, though, seems like the typical headstrong teenage boy we have seen any of a number of times in settings similar to this. Will Patton as Captain Weaver has refreshingly given us more than just the typical military jarhead type, and we can only hope they will continue to keep his character from slipping into cliché. Colin Cunningham as John Pope has definitely lit up the screen with his scenes as he chews the scenery as one of the main (human) antagonists. It’s nice to see Moon Bloodgood (previously of NBC’s ill-fated Journeyman) here in one of the more prominent roles, but I wish they would give her more to do. And plenty of other characters have at least made a mark with the limited screen time they have had. We can only hope, though, that the producers will not make the same misstep as USA’s The 4400 and start up too many plot threads to accommodate all of the cast which ultimately turned that one into a mess of a show in its later seasons.

My biggest issue with Falling Skies at this point, though, is the lackadaisical pace it has adopted. This band of a few hundred people represents some of the last remnants of civilization, yet they seem to feel no real urgency in finding secure quarters or for that matter just staying out of sight of the aliens. They just traipse through the city in broad daylight in large packs like they are heading on a large church camp-out or something. You would think they would try to move under the cover of night or do something to conceal their presence, but that doesn’t seem to concern them.

But apart from that, the stories have thus far been decent, if nothing spectacular. They basically revolve around the group’s activities scrounging and foraging to live while Mason also plans to retrieve his abducted son who he has seen in the vicinity. And the series addresses some of the hard choices that people in this situation would have to make, but not in the same gut-wrenching way that shows like Battlestar Galactica have done. It may eventually venture into that territory, and if so it has the chance of becoming a much better show. But at this point, it has established a more moderate tone without tackling much in the way of social issues or moral quandaries. But on the other hand at least it has avoided plots like Mason’s younger son following the team on a foraging mission and ultimately causing trouble for them of something like that (though they have hinted at this direction). If Falling Skies can avoid the latter and incorporate more of the former, I’ll stick with it. But if Matt or one of the other cute kids in the group sticks their nose in and makes a bigger mess of things, I will likely be heading for the exit.

Ratings wise, the series looks strong so far for a Summer series. The pilot scored big with a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.2 million viewers. The second episode dropped some, down to a 1.5 rating and 4.2 million viewers, but those are still strong numbers for a cable series in the Summer. The numbers for the third episode are not available yet, but as long as the show stays above a 1.0 rating, it should be safe. And that’s a good thing, because if this one has time to grow, and takes advantage of its potential, it has the chance of become a very decent genre entry.  You can watch episodes of Falling Skies, with a one week delay, online at TNT’s website.