The Event

Two minutes earlier: I've been torn for weeks on what to say about this new series on NBC. I keep watching it hoping that it will get better and threatening each week to delete from my DVR if it doesn't.

No, you don't need to get your eyes checked.

Five weeks earlier: I just saw the season premiere of The Event. It started off with great promise, but soon I found the story bouncing all through time. After the hype and promos, and with the exception of the time-jumping narrative, I found it for the most part, very uneventful. It was more like a romance story between Sean (Jason Ritter) and his girlfriend Leila (Sarah Roemer) who go vacationing on a cruise ship with a stop off on a tropical isle.  

The only thing that set this episode apart from other TV series was when a jetliner (on a collision course to kill the President no less) vanished in a coruscation of light.

Huh, where did it go?

Two weeks earlier: I was reading how the series came about and found out that the role of Sophia (Laura Innes) was intended for a man and that the series wasn't originally written with a sci-fi element to it. I'm conflicted on whether this series works better as a sci-fi show or as some sort of political terroristic detention drama. I'm leaning towards the latter. 

Laura Innes as Sophia

One second earlier:  I had a thought about how confusing, disjointed and unnecessary most of the flashbacks are in this show. One minute the main character Sean (Jason Ritter) is running down a hallway trying to elude the police and then suddenly we're seeing a flashback of 5 years ago when he first meets his girlfriend. Is there a correlation between him running and first meeting his girlfriend? No. Do any of the flashbacks make sense?  Sometimes.

 

Three weeks earlier: The show hasn't gotten much better.  There's too much shifting back in and forth in time--too many flashbacks. The story is actually good enough to stand on its own in a linear fashion. Tragically I think the producers are trying to be too clever for their own good. It's ruining the show.  Too many questions and not enough answers, although I read that this series is supposed to answer questions and not leave people hanging like Lost.  So far it hasn't lived up to it's promise.

Ok, so is this a love story or a sci-fi adventure?

Five minutes earlier: I read The Event has been getting some decent ratings and has been picked up for a full 22 episode season. I guess there's no accounting for taste. 

1995: The Atlanta Braves won the World Series, beating the Cleveland Indians.

One week earlier: I forgot to mention that The Event also stars Blair Underwood as the President of the United States. The strange thing about this President is that he's supposed to be from Cuba, even has a Hispanic last name. Yet, he doesn't speak with even a trace of an accent. Honestly, does he even look Cuban to you?

We all know by now if there's a black President then we're all doomed. Think Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. President Obama in...lets not think about that. 

President Elias Martinez. I didn't vote for him.

24 hours earlier: I've been torn for weeks on what to say about this new series on NBC. I keep watching it hoping that it will get better and threatening each week to delete from my DVR if it doesn't.

5 years earlier: I was out in my back yard firing up my charcoal grill thinking we needed another TV drama that dealt with captured aliens on Earth. I was also wondering if we'd ever really elect a black man as President.

3 days earlier:  The series is about human-looking aliens who crash landed on Earth and have been held in a detention center for over 60 years. It's the typical government cover up.  Lucky for them they're an extremely long-lived species and haven't aged a day since the unfortunate mishap in 1944. 

Jason Ritter looks so much like his Dad, the late John Ritter

1 day earlier:  I forgot to add that not all the aliens are in the detention center.  Some of them live and walk among us. I know this is going to come as a shock, the very notion of such a thing happening is completely implausible, I mean this never happens on a TV show, but some of them have even infiltrated our government.

30 hours earlier:  I had a thought about how confusing, disjointed and unnecessary most of the flashbacks are in this show...

Now: If you haven't been suckered into this time jumping, love story, sci-fi drama, action, alien detention series, then consider yourself warned and stay away. I'm giving this series 2 fingers out of 5.  It's actually a passable story, just very, very poorly told. For the rest of us suckers, I can only wonder if we can hang around long enough to get to the payoff. After enduring all these senseless flashbacks and poor storytelling, there has to be some kind of payoff--doesn't there? 

 

No Ordinary Family

I wasn’t sure what my reaction was going to be to this new TV series, but I’m happy to say that it’s extremely positive. It’s the story of a dysfunctional family of four that was drifting apart only to be brought together by the acquisition of preternatural abilities.

The series stars Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four) as the patriarch Jim Powell. Julie Benz (Dexter) as his wife, Stephanie Powell. The siblings, Kay Panabaker as Daphne Powell and Jimmy Bennet as JJ Powell. Romany Malco (Weeds) is George St. Cloud, Jim Powell’s best friend and confidant. I have to give credit to Julie Benz who I hated in Dexter for the naïve, weak and simpering character she played. This woman is truly an actor. As Stephanie Powell she exudes, confidence, strength and remarkable intelligence. 

On a forced family vacation to bring them all together; their chartered plane crashes with only the family of four on board, and the pilot (who presumably didn’t survive) played by Tate Donovan (Damages). As they escape from the sinking plane they are bathed in phosphorescent particles. When they return home and resume their normal dysfunctional lives, they soon discover that they have—powers. 

The powers manifest themselves from parts of their psyches. Just like the Fantastic Four, which I’m sure this show will get lots of comparisons to. Jim Powell gains nigh-impervious skin and Hulk-like leaping ability. Stephanie Powell can move at lightning speed. Daphne Powell manifests psionic abilities (telepathy for the uninitiated) and JJ, the slow and not too bright sibling gets a staggering intellectual boost.

In the super heroic tradition, Jim Powell sets out to fight crime once he has tested out his abilities. Unfortunately, thus far, no costumes or code names. But he is given a “lair” (complete with Wi-fi) by his best friend George. I’d really like to see this series commit to telling a real superhero story with all the idiosyncrasies that go along with it. As a family is involved, I think it would be important to protect their identities.

Where there are heroes, villains can’t be far behind. We learn that one of the criminals that Jim pursues also has preternatural abilities that will make X-Men fans rejoice. This criminal has the power of teleportation, not ordinary teleportation, Nightcrawler type teleportation that seemed to be ripped from the X-men 2 movie. Borrowed or not, it was still refreshing to see. Can I get a “BAMF”?

I have high hopes for this series and I plan to watch it every week. For the pilot episode, I’m giving No Ordinary Family 4.5 out of 5 fingers.

Hawaii Five-0

I posted in an earlier blog that Hawaii Five-0 was such a classic and iconic TV show that it should never be remade.  Well, I was wrong.

The pilot episode of Hawaii Five-0 started off with a bang and continued to deliver not only action, but humor and interesting character development.  The chemistry and interaction between the characters for a first time premiere was nothing short of amazing.

Don't take my word for it.  Let's go to the video tape.

I decided to record the show on my DVR primarily just to hear that classic theme song again, but I got much more than I bargained for. I really don't remember the original show all that well. But I felt this new modern version of the show captured the true essence of what Hawaii Five-0 should be.

The series stars Alex O'Loughlin as Detective Steve McGarrett, Scott Caan as Detective Danny Williams, better known as "Danno", Daniel Dae Kim as Detective Chin Ho Kelly and Grace Park as Kona Kalakaua.  

A special shout out goes to Jean Smart who plays the Governor of Hawaii. It's good to see her in another position of power, other than the pill-popping First Lady on 24.

One change that was made, and perhaps for the better, when Alex O'Loughlin is introduced as Steve McGarrett during the opening theme, he doesn't make nearly as dramatic a turn as Jack Lord did in the original show.

It was an unexpected pleasure to watch Hawaii Five-0. I will definitely continue to record it and watch it faithfully.  I'm giving the pilot 5 out of 5 fingers. I hope the rest of series will live up to this first episode.