I think it sounds very intriguing although I have to give the reviewer props for the phrase "you can smell the fumes from it starting to paint itself into a corner. "
But I can definately see Adam Balwin "grinning ear to ear". I plan to see this one.

Lioness | July 12, 16:05 CET

I definitely think it's worth a shot, if not for Adam Baldwin, but for its ambition. I definitely do see a resemblence to Lost, though I feel that if it isn't careful, it might end up doing more harm because of the complex weaving. Bowman has always done well with complex plots and subplots and details, as he crafted much of the ideas behind X-Files, one of the greatest tv shows to have ever graced the screen. I think time will tell -- will viewers be hooked? Perhaps.

I do like the casting though, despite casting Mitch Pileggi as (again) a law enforcement officer. Why can't he just be...without a badge?

I think Mos Def, though his film career is white hot right now (and a network tv series would certainly make it difficult to do as many movies), would also have been great in the Brett Hopper role, but I am very, very happy with the casting of Taye Diggs because he is such a great actor.

YellowBear | July 12, 16:26 CET

Sounds promising. I'm more one to follow a writer (Joss Whedon, Tim Minear) than an actor, but I'd be willing to check out the first episode of this - the concept intrigues me. It also sounds like they're going to need a way to break out of the mold pretty soon, or the show is going to become VERY monotonous.

AnotherFireflyfan | July 12, 16:58 CET

BTW, are there any new genre shows starting this season? I want more sci-fi/fantasy!

AnotherFireflyfan | July 12, 17:25 CET

'Heroes' has ordinary folk who become superheroes in it. 'Six Degrees' is about the kind of 'Crash'-esque ways people's lives intersect (not necessarily genre but phrases like 'mysterious coincidences' crop up in the description ).

Saje | July 12, 17:51 CET

They mentioned that it's using the "Groundhog Day concept", but was anyone else reminded of Memento?

betwixt | July 12, 18:49 CET

I really like Lost, but for some reason the description of Six Degrees doesn't sound all that appealing to me.

I had hoped that the success of shows like Battlestar would signal a return of true science fiction to TV. So far nothing, though.

AnotherFireflyfan | July 12, 18:51 CET

Battlestar is successful in a niche kinda way - if it had been on Fox, it would have been cancelled in it's first season. "Lost" was really the best chance genre had recently, but unfortunately things like "Invasion" will have dented that a bit.

Heroes is very much genre, though. The 2 hour pilot is reportedly excellent.

gossi | July 12, 19:00 CET

I think the failure of pretty much all sci-fi/fantasy dramas over this past season (Surface, Invasion, Threshold etc.) put a damper on anything promising for this season - but Heroes looks to be the one to watch.

aapac | July 12, 19:01 CET

"BTW, are there any new genre shows starting this season? I want more sci-fi/fantasy!"

I saw an advertisement last night for a new show starting on Sci Fi. I do not know the name, but it had something to do with a government investigator coming to a town where the laws of physics have been overcome and the residents have all sorts of strange devices. At least that was my impression.

newcj | July 12, 19:25 CET

Not quite a scifi genre but Psych on USA (about a really observant person who lies about being a psychic to avoid getting put in jail by a cop who thinks he's involved in crime, and now has to continue being a fake psychic to help the police) had 6.1 million or so viewers on its debut. I saw it, thought it was hilarious.

YellowBear | July 12, 19:25 CET

Eureka is the name of Sci-Fi's new show. Sci-Fi has let me down in the past (cancelling Prey and then First Wave, both excellent shows). The quality of what they've made since then, particularly their movies, are pretty sub-par, but I'll give Eureka a chance.

Tonya J | July 12, 19:42 CET

Yeah, I love Lost and it's actually an incredible success for an arc-driven genre show. Invasion bored me, though, so I stopped watching. I'm more interested in shows like Buffy/Angel and Firefly/Farscape/the good Treks/Babylon 5. Except for Lost and BSG... there's nothing new coming out now.

AnotherFireflyfan | July 12, 19:44 CET

Googled up a trailer for that 'Eureka' show. Could be OK. It sort of reminds me of the Jack B Quick strip in Alan Moore's 'Tomorrow Stories' where a small-town boy genius keeps inventing things or changing the laws of physics in ways that often backfire (in one story he concludes that photons are going too fast so has them arrested and forced to travel at 30 mph or slower. Hijinks ensue ;).

Might take a look at 'Psych'. Sounds like it has potential (i'm assuming it's meant to be funny).

There're some similarities between this and 'Memento', betwixt, (one guy's experience of reality is warped) but that world was actually linear and normal it's just the protagonist's subjective experience that was backwards and disjointed. Course, it depends how they end up explaining Hopper's repeating days (assuming they get the chance) since it could end up just being his POV that's SNAFU rather than the world.

gossi raises a good point too. BSG is (along with the Stargates) Sci-fi's highest rated show but still only pulls in around 3 million viewers. On a bigger network that'd spell doom (or at least that the next new set would be made from egg cartons ;).

Saje | July 12, 20:27 CET

From the review of Heroes:


Who is Leonard Roberts?

AnotherFireflyfan | July 12, 21:51 CET

According to my friend Google, he played Forrest, Riley's buddy and co-Commando. Nice picture of him at IMDb.

Tonya J | July 12, 22:01 CET

Heroes sounds very promising, and Day Break also seems worth an episode try out.

Forrest was cool, I look forward to seeing more from the actor. (And hey, we got a 'verse connection! Shiny!)

AnotherFireflyfan | July 12, 22:03 CET

If you google Heroes, you should get an NBC page with a sneak preview at a longer trailer for Heroes. Or, you can search in these archives.

YellowBear | July 13, 01:54 CET

I just caught the pilot for Psych. For a pilot, it was good, not great. The schtick of the 'fake psychic vision' to prompt a Columbo-ish reveal of clues may get tiring. I will TiVo episode 2 for a try. The show may appeal to folks who like detective procedurals and quirky characters - ie, Monk fans. I don't watch that show, but I do watch Dead Zone which has a similar formula (though it does have the Stillson arc too).

rosewood | July 13, 03:01 CET

Tonya J, "Prey" was an ABC show. Most of the episodes had been filmed before it even hit the air. When the network dumped it, SciFi picked up the rights, so it was actually a boost, since it gave the episodes more airplay than ABC had. Trivia (like the rest of this wasn't!): the female lead had a pilot waiting for her as soon as the initial 13 of "Prey" were shot...the role of Grace in a little thing called "Will & Grace," and so more "Prey" would have been impossible anyway without recasting.

Gotta cut SciFi Channel some slack on this one -- they were the good guys here, just like they were when showing the 3 "lost" episodes of "Firefly"! :)

BTW, I also found "Psych" promising. The cast was a lot of fun, but I think the writing has to improve a bit. It probably will. It's hard to write a pilot that introduces all the characters and establishes the premise, AND is still well-plotted...that's why Joss is so amazing, and why Fox was so out of its mind not to have run the stunning "Serenity" pilot episode of "Firefly" first -- no doubt the show would still be on the air if they had. Ah, well.

swanland | July 13, 03:46 CET

The thing with Psych being an old formula? Monk is the only series in the past few years to really hit that level of quirk, and for a USA original series it's terribly ambitious. I loved it, and thought the pilot was wonderful. I was practically rolling with laughter.

YellowBear | July 13, 04:18 CET

Tonya J, "Prey" was an ABC show.

Ah! My bad, sorry about that.

Tonya J | July 13, 05:17 CET