The River

I didn't see anything that resembled a zombie show or a virus show.
Looked like ghosts or evil spirits to me, either way I hated it.

Shaky cam on tv is worse than on the big screen. Throw in the fake documentary thing and it's even more worse.

Also it was surprisingly boring.

I was looking forward to this but forgot to set the DVR. Looks like it worked out well and I won't be wasting any time on this. Thanks for the brief reviews, looks like it's pretty bad.

I wasn't planning to watch this because it looked bad. But I had it on and the first hour was mildly interesting. But I tuned out halfway into the second hour, turned the sound down and was reading.

Felt like a riff on Lost and reality TV. Isn't that kind of sick, a scripted drama looking like reality TV.

I watched it and the first episode was disappointing because I did not see what the creature looks like. The second episode was a little better, but the whole spirit tree didn't make any sense to me. It left too many questions opened in regards how it was placed there and how no civilization was in close proximity. I will give it another shot next Tuesday, but my rating is 2.5 stars out of 5.

If all you're expecting is Paranormal Activity in the jungle, then I guess it's OK. But I was also disappointed. I manged to endure both hours and enjoyed the second more than the first. But this is one of those irritating directors who use the constant shaky cam that's continuously zooming in and out for no reason, plus much of the footage was degraded to resemble low-res security cam footage. It must have been quite pointless on a HD display. I also found irritating the pointless inclusion of profanity just to bleep it out.

None of the characters are likable, so I didn't really care about what happened to any of them. Was I the only one hoping that Tess was gone from the show for good?

I may watch one more ep, but I was very disappointed after all the hype.

I didn't watch, but I agree with people in The Firm thread decrying these two hour premiere events. I just don't have two hours to devote to a single television show any more and would be much more inclined to trying something kept down to a single hour.

Wouldn't you just DVR it anyway?

Thatsalways my first thought too. I guess not as many people as we think record television shows.

I DVR shows, but still like to watch them the night they air when possible. The promos for this show looked interesting, but I didn't try it because I'm already watching:

8 PM: Last Man Standing
8 PM: Switched at Birth
8 PM: Glee
9:30 PM: Raising Hope
10:00 PM: Parenthood
10:00 PM: Body of Proof (when it comes back)

Five and a half hours of TV is too much already. If it had aired on Wednesday or Friday, there's a much greater likelihood I would have checked it out.

Of course I DVR it, but I still have to sit down and watch it. Sure, I could break it up into two chunks, but I just managed to get out from under a full DVR and putting a two hour show on means that Castle and Parenthood and whatever else is going to sit there until I get through the River premiere. Or, the second part of the River will sit there. Look, it's not a huge deal, but I like TV because I don't have to devote two hours to it like a movie, and I would just prefer if they gave us one hour this week and another the next. As it is, it is almost always two episodes smashed together anyway.

And, I wouldn't have recorded or watched this had it been 30 minutes.

Although I missed this accidentally, I record everything I watch. Why waste 20+ minutes on commercials and promos when you've got the great Fast Forrward button. We've already got enough network logos, screen crawls, seeming endless credits and other crap to put up with, I skip as much of it as possible. Mentioned this years ago, but I once saw an episode of Bones or something similar that was still showing credits 19 minutes into an hour long show. Luckily my brain seems to have adjusted and I honestly just look through them with out the slightest sensation of seeing them.

I watched the two-hour premiere and was not impressed at all. I was going to leave it on the DVR and give it another episode or two, but a day or so later I realized I just did not want to watch these people and I didn't like the shakey cam or the reality show premise. Life is too short and I've got better things to watch.

There was a much more interesting set of shows on PBS last night; a film on Niagara Falls and American Experience on Tupperware.

Don't knock the tupperware one, it's surprisingly funny and cute.

Oh, I thought the Tupperware film was great! Great view into the period and what a tragic story for Brownie. I thought it was time better spent.

Matt reviews Season One of The River here: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/320730/the-river-the-complete-first-season-dvd-review