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Review: Almost Human 1×1-1×2 (Fox)

19 November 2013 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Almost Human

In the US: Mondays, 8/7c, Fox
In the UK: Not yet acquired
Find it in the schedules where you live

Visions of the future almost by definition have to fit into two camps: things are either going to have to go better or they’re going to have get worse. Whether it’s Robocop, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes or any other piece of sci-fi, authors tend to veer towards either the utopian or the dystopian in their projections.

So to a certain extent you have to give Almost Human a good deal of credit for envisioning a future that is both worse and better. It’s 2048 and science and technology have advanced considerably. Unfortunately, gangs of criminals have access to that technology and the crime rate is increasing at 400%. So the police decide to pair every human detective with a police/combat android, capable of incredible acts of strength and analysis.

Detective John Kennex (Karl Urban from Dredd 3D, Star Trek, The Bourne Supremacy, Xena: Warrior Princess, et al) loses his leg in a police operation that goes badly wrong. When he comes back to duty over a year later, the android he’s paired with annoys him so much he destroys it. So the lab guy (Mackenzie Crook from The Office) gives him one of the older models (Michael Ealy from Common Law, The Good Wife, FlashForward and Sleeper Cell): the ‘crazy ones’ with ‘synthetic souls’, capable of not just emulating but feeling human emotions, in addition to having natural robotic talents. Together, Kennex and ‘Dorian’ have to stop crime and learn to get on with one another, although is that even possible with an android?

And as you might expect from such a rundown, a good deal of imagination has gone into the science-fiction side of things, particularly as it relates to law enforcement, giving us everything from genetically targeted diseases to DNA bombs and robots capable of doing forensic analysis inside their bodies. The show also mines the obvious parallels with racial discrimination that having an underclass/slave population such a set-up gives us.

But as far as the human side of things goes, that’s where the imagination ran out. Here’s a trailer:

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Classic TV

Your handy guide to true religions on TV – Judaism and Christianity

10 May 2013 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

This entry is one of a series of articles covering religions depicted on TV as being true. For full details and a list of the other religions covered, go to the introduction.

Judaism and Christianity
Christianity has been the dominate religion in most of the West, especially Europe, for hundreds of years. There are, of course, many denominations of Christianity, each with their own beliefs, and much of Western literature either includes Christian figures or embodies Christian values in some ways. It stemmed from Judaism and the two religions still share certain core beliefs and figures: God, angels and so on. However, Jesus is particular to Christianity, of course, while Mary and the saints are really only prominent in Catholicism and Orthodox religions. 

Mormonism, a (debatably) Christian denomination, almost gets its own show – Battlestar Galactica, which is based in part on the Book of Mormon – but that show doesn’t prove Mormonism’s truth or show Mormon teachings.

In terms of TV, God actually shows up surprisingly infrequently – or unsurprisingly, given he doesn’t have a physical form in the Bible – although he appears in metaphor in shows such as Home Improvement. Jesus shows up occasionally, but far more common are the Devil and demons. 

As for shows that show the truth of Judaism and Jewish religious stories but that couldn’t also be Christian stories, there aren’t any that I can think of, beyond an episode of The X-Files featuring a golem that despite trying very hard, gets a whole bunch of stuff wrong.

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US TV

Preview: The Last Resort (ABC) 1×1

13 September 2012 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC. Starts September 27th
In the UK: Not yet acquired

You’ll have seen the scenario before, in films like Crimson Tide: a nuclear submarine receives the order to fire its missiles at the enemy. Will the captain have the guts to nuke the target? Will he chicken out? Or has it really all been a big mistake and war hasn’t actually been declared? It’s usually that last one.

Having not read much of the publicity material around The Last Resort, I assumed that this was going to be Crimson Tride all over again. But lo and behold, here we have something new and interesting. For now.

The Last Resort, featuring the ever-interesting Andre Braugher (last seen being wasted by House, Miami Medical and Men of a Certain Age), comes from the pen of Shawn Ryan, who can usually be relied to turn in something both interesting and manly (cf The Shield, Chicago Code, Terriers). Here, the crew of a nuclear submarine are given a suspicious order to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan. And when the captain (Braugher) questions the order, he’s first relieved of command and then shot at… by a US ship, which goes on to nuke Pakistan itself in supposed retaliation for shooting the submarine.

So, in another interesting twist, the submarine heads off for the Caribbean and declares itself an independent nation, ready to stop the war between the US and Pakistan. And if anyone comes after them… well, there’s a silo of nuclear missiles waiting for them, too.

Here’s a trailer.

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Fox’s upfronts 2012-3 – a rundown and clips from the new shows

15 May 2012 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Yesterday, we had (multiple) looks at the new shows that NBC is planning for 2012-3. Today, we’re going to take a gander at the shows Fox has in the pipeline.

Seeing as Fox is a considerably more successful network than NBC – it does at least have a few successful shows, even if House is on the way out – it’s commissioned fewer new shows than NBC to fill its empty slots, so we’re only going to be looking at The Mob Doctor with My Boys‘ Jordana Spiro, Ben & Kate, The Mindy Project with The Office‘s Mindy Kaling, Kevin Williamson’s The Following with Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy and Natalie Zea, and The Goodwin Games with Becki Newton and Scrubs/The Unit’s Scott Foley.

Yes, for some reason – mercury poisoning, temporary insanity – Fox hasn’t picked up The Asset with Ali Larter. Nutters.

My general conclusion: the shows may look as bad as NBC’s, but Fox knows how to make better trailers.

My specific conclusion: The Following looks passable thanks almost purely to James Purefoy and The Goodwin Games actually seems okay. The rest need euthanising.

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Thursday’s “more Canadian TV” news

28 July 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

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