Intelligence (CBS) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Just as "The Mentalist" was a blatant "Psych" ripoff for the CBS target audience, this is a blatant "Chuck" ripoff for the CBS target audience.That being said, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to. For one thing, it has a budget that "Chuck" never had, with special effects that would have been cutting edge for feature films a decade ago. For another, it plays kind of like a fun "what if" scenario from "Chuck": what if the Intersect had been downloaded to the alphabet soup agencies' ideal candidate? As helpless as Chuck was, Gabriel is capable. And Josh Holloway is compelling as the lead.I also like Meghan Ory as his secret service detail that he ends up constantly protecting, but who proves valuable in other ways. She brings a sharpness that Elizabeth Keen on "The Blacklist" could have used. I also like Marg Helgenberger who brings interesting, slightly nuanced shades to the archetypal cop procedural boss role.David Semel directed the pilot, and he also directed the pilot for "Person of Interest". While this show is far more standard CBS fare than that one, he brought a similar crisp sophistication to the pilot. If future episodes maintain this quality level, I'll be sticking around.

 

[Stan]

Being on the west coast, this hasn't been broadcast yet. Not to worried by spoilers so read your post, still looking forward to this.

Nice to see Marg coming back to TV, even if it does turn out to be kind of a standard crime drama.

 

[jcroy]

I was hoping for more from the first episode. But it seemed kind of lackluster, after watching it two times.

This episode didn't really catch my attention at all, despite the show's premise being something that is of interest to me.

Nevertheless, I'll watch next week's episode to see whether this show improves.

 

[David_B_K]

I enjoyed the pilot. I got a sort of Human Target vibe from it. The location with trees and a cliff looked like the same location used in a Human Target. And Gabriel was a manly hero in the Christopher Chance mold.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I like the cast, but I'm probably going to have to real shut down my analysis of the technology to enjoy this show. With Chuck, the tongue in cheek approach to the material allowed me to just 'go with' the show and not question the tech. Intelligence's tone (based on the pilot) doesn't lend itself as readily to that type of viewing, at least for me. Sticking around for now. It is nice to see Josh Holloway (one of the very best things about Lost) back on the screen.

- Walter.

 

[jcroy]

I like the cast, but I'm probably going to have to real shut down my analysis of the technology to enjoy this show. With Chuck, the tongue in cheek approach to the material allowed me to just 'go with' the show and not question the tech. Intelligence's tone (based on the pilot) doesn't lend itself as readily to that type of viewing, at least for me. Sticking around for now. It is nice to see Josh Holloway (one of the very best things about Lost) back on the screen.

- Walter.

Over the years I've found that I've had to "suspend disbelief" for just about every sci-fi themed tv show and movie I have ever seen. For that matter, I've found the same thing can be said of numerous "non-fiction" tv shows and documentaries I have watched over the years.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I liked the pilot more than I thought I would. The shows that revolve around a gimmick premise, tend to turn me off. I did not care for Person of Interest, it struck me as more procedural than most, it had a pattern that was so routine after a while.

Anyway, the show's well cast, that's a big plus.

 

[jcroy]

A huge tumble in ratings, from 2.4 (epsiode 1) to 1.1 (episode 2) in the 18-49 demographic.

Episode 2 had 6.11 million viewers (live+sd), while episode 1 had 16.49 million viewers.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/01/14/tv-ratings-monday-almost-human-rises-sleepy-hollow-returns-steady-the-blacklist-falls-to-low-intelligence-takes-a-huge-slide/229196/


Wonder how much longer this show will last.

 

[Walter C]

I hope CBS will give it a chance, but worry that it will get pulled because this sharp drop isn't tolerated at all.I have only seen the Pilot, and it was entertaining enough to keep watching. I wish they would have kept it on Tuesday, where it would have had a better chance of survival.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

A pretty shocking development for a second episode, but

Spoiler

something tells me that his wife's not really dead. We know that she set things up for Gabriel to be in that hospital at that moment. We know there was an explosion. But we don't see her die, and we only have her word that the edible explosive was inside her. We also know there was a reinforced lead-lined X-Ray room 87 feet away from where she was standing. But what this development does do is free the show from some of the baggage.

 

[Josh Dial]

I think I might drop the show, despite the fact that I like the premise and really like Josh Holloway. The show simply commits an offence that is all too common these days on American networks: it assumes the viewer is a complete idiot. Absolutely everything is recapped, re-stated, summarized, and plainly set forward for the viewer to effortlessly consume. After virtually every scene, one of the characters idiotically summarizes what just happened, as though the viewer was not paying attention.

I don't mind this practice to a certain extent--it's done once or twice per episode on Person of Interest--but it was just too much on Intelligence. Compare Intelligence to the pilot for True Detective. The latter treats the viewer with complete respect, allowing him or her to draw conclusions, make assumptions, and, in some cases, to purposefully suffer in not understanding what is going on. The former holds the viewers' hands, constantly asking "do you understand what just happened?" and saying "here, let me explain it to you."

I know why shows do this, but it annoys me. I'll probably watch one more episode to see if the show kicks the habit.

 

[TravisR]

While 10 million is a huge drop, I wonder how much of that can pinned on having a weaker lead-in this week. Needless to say, its drop can't be blamed entirely on the lead-in but I'd be willing to bet that the drop would have been much less severe if it had been on Monday last week too.

The show simply commits an offence that is all too common these days on American networks: it assumes the viewer is a complete idiot.

In fairness to the networks, the vast majority of their audience are complete idiots.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The show simply commits an offence that is all too common these days on American networks: it assumes the viewer is a complete idiot. Absolutely everything is recapped, re-stated, summarized, and plainly set forward for the viewer to effortlessly consume. After virtually every scene, one of the characters idiotically summarizes what just happened, as though the viewer was not paying attention.

I wouldn't disagree. There are some shows that manage to do it less or with more subtlety, such as Person of Interest or Elementary, but the practice of regurgitating what happened is far too frequent on network television. I'm pretty disappointed with the writing so far. The plot lines have been okay, but the details of the writing (in terms of dialog and character interaction) just feels weak.

I'll stick around for a few more episodes but this is shaping up as another series I'll be dropping.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

CBS as a network is particularly guilty of this. "Person of Interest" is one of their least offenders when it comes to over-exposition.

 

[NeilO]

It is amazing how easily office or hospital windows conveniently break in some shows.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So now we know what happened to Broyles after the FBI disbanded the Fringe division: He changed his name and got himself appointed the Director of Central Intelligence.

 

[jcroy]

Episode 3 got a rating of 1.1 in the 18-49 demographic, and 5.77 million viewers overall.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/01/22/monday-final-tv-ratings-how-i-met-your-mother-adjusted-up-beauty-the-beast-adjusted-down-final-sleepy-hollow-numbers/231083/


It looks like Intelligence is getting ratings + viewer numbers similar to the CBS show Hostages, which was in the same Monday at 10pm slot over fall 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostages_%28TV_series%29

 

[jcroy]

Hard to say what exactly CBS will do with such lackluster ratings for this show.

Though looking at the viewer numbers for the CBS show Hostages, it was maintaining around 4.5 to 5 million viewers over its entire run during the fall of 2013.

If CBS decided to keep Hostages around despite the low ratings, wonder if they will do the same for Intelligence ?

If Intelligence has 13 episodes (hypothetically) and CBS runs a new episode every week without any reruns (even during the upcoming Olympics), then the season could end on Monday March 31, 2014.

 

[NeilO]

I don't understand how the events of episode 3 even occurred. Why didn't they clear up the scene in the pilot episode? They should have taken Amos and Wei Chen away right then.

Still, even given that I am surprised that Wei Chen adapted to her chip so quickly. I would have thought it would have taken longer. At least they've cleaned up the loose thread of Amos now.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I figured this show would ride out cases of the week for at least half a season, so it's been a pleasant surprise that every episode so far has propelled the show forward.I was a bit surprised that Mei Chen was an American, given that all of the bad guys who put the chip in her head in the pilot were Chinese. The actress did a nice job balancing ruthlessly efficient operative and twisted psychopath.Given the cost of the show and the ratings it's been getting so far, I doubt this will return next season.