Miracles - Premiere 1/27/03 (1 Viewer)

[Jason Seaver]

I thought it was very good. I was interested to see what Greenwalt would do, and I'm very impressed.

Well, to be fair, we haven't seen "what Greenwalt would do" yet - he signed on to be show-runner after seeing this pilot; his contributions will start to show up next week (although I gather he was involved in cutting some 8 minutes from this episode to fit the timeslot).

I liked it, a lot. I'm burned out on people always having a ready quip, and that Ulrich's character took his job seriously and was genuinely amazed by the paranormal events was a welcome change. It was also a neat - if unorthodox - move to keep the focus entirely on him during the pilot, not introducing the other regulars until the last act.

I hope that future episodes have a good balance between real miracles and stuff he debunks - part of the big weakness of "The X-Files" was that Scully seldom had a chance to be right, and I think it would make the show more interesting.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Robin,

No HDTV broadcasting in my area for the foreseeable future(damn!), just old fashioned FM modulated MTS stereo with ProLogic II enhancement here!

But, it still startled me.

Dan

 

[Martin Rendall]

Does anybody know if the show is framed 16:9? While watching, I got the feeling that things would look horrible at 4:3... didn't even look like it was 4:3 protected. Or is it the other way: framed 4:3 and protected 16:9? What's the deal?

Martin.

 

[Michael Martin]

Does anybody know if the show is framed 16:9?

If it was, it would explain why some shots looked awfully odd (or just awful ) on my 4:3, air antenna TV.

There were a few shots in the beginning especially that looked "squeezed" on the sides, as if it had been a 1:85 film and had been squished to fit on the screen.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Watched my recording last night, and thought it was very good. Funny, the hand slamming down in the diner scene startled me, and I knew it was coming from reading this thread yesterday. When the scene first started I was looking for it, but then I got engrossed in the scene and by the time it actually happened I wasn't looking for it anymore and still jumped (so did my wife).

I think there's a lot of potential material to explore here, and Skeet did a pretty good job in the lead role. It will be intersting to see how well-intentioned the motives of this secret organization are. Definitely reminiscent of Millennium in that regard.

RE: framing, some shots certainly looked like they were framed for 16:9, sometimes it wasn't so clear. At the least, I think they're having to go open matte or Pan-n-scan for 4:3 as opposed to just taking a center-cut, because there were quite a few instances where the focus of the shot was to one side and would have looked really terrible in center-cut 4:3. There were also a few scenes I noticed that were making effective use of the entire 16:9 frame.

I hope ABC gives the show a real chance to survive and doesn't just cancel it right away when it's not an instant hit. But I'm not too optimistic considering their track record. Anybody know exactly what the ratings were? I also think they might have made a mistake naming the show "Miracles", I wonder how many people didn't pay much attention to the previews and just assumed it was going to be a Touched By An Angel clone.

 

[Richard_D_Ramirez]

the writing that the Ulrich character sees clearly says "God is now here."

8^B

 

[David Judah]

I'll give it a chance, but, IMO, its going to have to come a long way before it reaches the quality of Millennium.

DJ

 

[Craig P]

Well, yes, I certainly understood that. I was simply clearing up the fact that there was no ambiguity intended about what Callen actually saw. I didn't remember well enough, and I (and I think at least one other person in this thread) thought after Keel's action that there might be some uncertainty.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I'll give it a chance, but, IMO, its going to have to come a long way before it reaches the quality of Millennium.

After a relatively strong start, it took Millenium about a year to really reach the quality of Millenium. After the second season, it only took one summer to destroy it. :frowning:

Regards,

 

[Jeff Kohn]

After a relatively strong start, it took Millenium about a year to really reach the quality of Millenium. After the second season, it only took one summer to destroy it.

Tell me about it. Season 2 was tops, but CC & co pretty much ruined the show in season 3. I'm not ready to say Miracles is as good as Millennium, but the Miracles pilot is the first show I can think of where I would even consider the comparison. What remains to be seen is whether the show-runners feel the need to add such tired devices as comic sidekick or superfluous love intersts to the mix in hope of getting the formula right to have a blockbuster hit. I sure hope they can resist the temptation to do that...