New TV: Bones, Supernatural, Threshold



It’s new TV season, and this year there’s plenty of stuff that I want to check out. That’s pretty unique in recent years. Credit Lost with making the networks decide that it’s worth it to take a chance on genre programs.


"When will my career hit bottom?"

First up: Bones (Mondays on FOX). What an awful, boring show. In his blog Chris covered what’s wrong with the characters. I’ll just add that the biggest problem I had with Bones was that the mystery was incredibly lame. I realize that CSI and its ilk has reduced the definition of a mystery to a baroque and gory set-up, a bunch of scientific gobelty-gook, and the nearly inevitable “surprise” ending that the youngest guest star in that particular episode committed the murder, and that's bad enough. The mystery in Bones is just a choice between two people, and the alleged solution involves evidence that doesn’t really point conclusively to one person or the other. Maybe the show should have been called Lazy Bones. Poor David Boreanaz, at this rate the highlight of this year for him will be his villainous turn in The Crow: Wicked Prayer.


Which one gets to be Scully?

Supernatural (Tuesdays on WB) is about two brothers looking for their Dad. Dad was some sort of freelance researcher, so the kids are following in his footsteps. I can’t say that the pilot episode made me care much for any of the characters, but it did do a good job of delivering creepy sequences. I’ll watch it again, but I hope they do a better job in future episodes of defining what the brothers know and don’t know about supernatural creatures. It’s tough to tell in the pilot if they’re smart or lucky.


"This ship is where ABC buried Karen Sisco?"

Threshold (Fridays on NBC) is the first of three “Aliens in the Ocean” dramas looking to match Lost’s success. In Threshold aliens apparently invade, but rather than sending ships full of alien warriors they send an object that emits some sort of signal that rewrites the DNA of humans into aliens, or at least close equivalents. Our main character is a Crisis Management Consultant played by Carla Gugino who came up with protocols for dealing with alien objects years before, and now has to assemble a team to deal with the secret invasion. The show is pretty good, and the cast is top notch. I wonder if Warren Ellis is grinding his teeth when he sees this; the premise is rather similar to an issue of his Global Frequency comic book series, which was in turn a failed pilot.

Coming up for tomorrow: Surface.

Posted: Tue - September 20, 2005 at      

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