[Homer Noodleman]

Oh. My. Gawd. That premier was so ridiculous I'm gonna start watching it. It was a hoot from beginning to end.

The beginning was alright, although I was rolling my eyes at the cop, doctor and teenaged girl characters. Has there ever been a disaster movie made that didn't feature a cop, doctor/nurse, teenage girl?

At any rate, that all buzzes by pretty fast, and apparently it buzzed through their special effect budget, because hilariously enough after the first commercial break, in spite of this world wide catastrophe, things are pretty dang placid and normal. The hospital scene was a complete hoot -- I've seen emergency rooms on a Tuesday night that featured more action. Hello? I seem to remember shots of L.A. burning to the ground and bodies piled all over... did they clean it all up in 2 hours or something?

Well, the rest of the show is some of the clunkiest expository dialog ever filmed:

"Hmm... I happened to be looking at a calendar and it was April 12th, then I looked at me watch and it was 10:57 and 32 seconds a.m! (flash, flash, flash!)"

"Yea, well I was taking a dump and happened to notice it was April 12th too! (flash, flash, flash!)"

"I'm dead, whimper, whimper (no flash, no flash, no flash!)"

"I was banging a stud muffin, thereby developing this show's Triangle from Hell! (flash, flash, flash!)"

Apparently this show is going to feature people remembering plot twists from their flashes, and then -- (flash, flash, flash!)

And the survelience tape scene! Bwwwaaahahaha... she's watching hours of surveillance tape and then notices a wee, tiny, minuscule pixel wiggling in the upper grands of a baseball game, blows it up to reveal a sinister Eeeevil dude lurking around (and I suspect stealing peanuts from a passed out vendor).

Good God Almighty -- spoon feed the audience much, or what? Anyhoo... I was entertained enough by its silliness to watch it again next week.

P.S. Am I the only one who yelled "Waa-aalt" when the bird smacked into the window?

[LPU]

The hospital was dead because there still isn't universal coverage six months from now.

[CalvinHobbesLocke]

I liked how they started putting the board together...no wait..that card goes there!

[Homer Noodleman]

Yea, the board.

[World Walker]

Originally Posted by Homer Noodleman

P.S. Am I the only one who yelled "Waa-aalt" when the bird smacked into the window?

*Raises hand* You're not the only one!

[yoyoj06]

dont be so hard, i think it showed a lot of promise

[John]

Originally Posted by Homer Noodleman

Good God Almighty -- spoon feed the audience much, or what? Anyhoo... I was entertained enough by its silliness to watch it again next week.

Spoon feeding is a very good analogy, and I agree to a point. The advertised basis of the show is that it's supposed to be a character drama. However, it's set in a rather odd scenario, and it's also the show that is supposed to replace LOST. (Good luck with replacing the first season.)

This show has also premiered a year before LOST ends, presumably to give it time to gain some momentum. Will it need that time? Probably, and that's likely the reason that we're seeing it now. It didn't start with a bang like LOST did. It started with a thump.

Given the set of goals that I mentioned, I think it's fair to say that the show had a lot (maybe too much) to accomplish in a one hour slot. Could it have been done better? Probably, but maybe not without losing the majority of the intended audiences, and that left many of the connesuirs among the population to sit back an guffaw at the audacity of the cliches.

All said and done, I think the primary objectives of the premier were present and accounted for. The basic character base was established, the basis of the major story arc was set, and enough nods to LOST were presented, that the majority of the intended audience was probably pleased with the presentation, assuming that they tuned in.

Now, the real question is whether or not the show can make a positive move from here. I've seen many series start off with a semi-gloss pilot and go both ways. I won't give examples, because we've all seen it happen. What matters now, is how the next two or three episodes play out. That will make or break the series.

[Master Xander]

Do you think the show would have been served better by a two-hour pilot (like Lost)? Why or why not?

[John]

I think it would have, because of the usual reasons. There would have been more time to detail things, like character development, scenario backfill, and general pacing, which I felt was off in many scenes.

[snakey]

stealing peanuts? I didnt watch but now since there is an evil peanut thief, I'm on it.