Next (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

Just saw an ad for “Next” starting this coming Tuesday and I’ve already forgotten the network. Apparently it’s about a big, bad A.I. Wanting to take over. Anyone heard anything about it?

 

[Matt Hough]

It's on Fox. I'm going to be watching the premiere to see if I want to stay invested in it. Sounds intriguing.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Just saw an ad for “Next” starting this coming Tuesday and I’ve already forgotten the network. Apparently it’s about a big, bad A.I. Wanting to take over. Anyone heard anything about it?

It's a Fox show, one of the few scripted new shows on that network since the Murdochs sold most of their entertainment assets to Disney.

The reviews have not been kind, but I love some of the cast (John Slattery, Eve Harlow, Elizabeth Cappuccino), the premise is right up my alley, and the trailer was intriguing so I'm going to give it a shot.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It appears the premiere is up for early viewing on Hulu.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It appears the premiere is up for early viewing on Hulu.

Thanks for the heads up! It was buried under the Fox channel listing within the app, so I never would have found it if you hadn't posted.

Just finished watching the pilot. It's chock full of cliches, so I definitely understand why the critics didn't like it.

John Slattery is basically playing the tech visionary equivalent of House: a complete asshole who is brilliant enough to get away with it. Only, instead of a drug addiction, he has a degenerative neurological disorder.

It's cast like a procedural, with a lot of big personalities/colorful backstories matched with defined skillsets, but interestingly enough the pilot does not leave things off in a procedural place. If it does become a procedural, it won't happen until sometime after the second episode.

The hook of the series, however, is very effective: The show is basically about Skynet, after it achieved sentience but several months before it launched Judgment Day. It's the latest iteration of a certain kind of paranoid thriller -- a line can be traced from The Conversation to Enemy of the State to Eagle Eye to this. What makes this even more scary than those is that there are a lot more devices listening and watching than when any of those were made.

Especially because there are so few network shows worth watching right now given the pandemic, I'll be back for episode two.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It looks like it’s being run by some former 24 and Star Trek folks so that might be enough to spur my interest. I’ve been having a hard time getting into new things lately and I might wait a little while to see if this is telling a serialized story or if it’s more of a procedural. That hybrid model can work well but I’ve also grown frustrated with shows that dangle world-changing stakes in serialized episodes and then throw in procedural stand alones that, given the gravity of the main story arc, seem so inconsequential and beside the point. (X-Files, for me at least, was very frustrating in that regard.) But I’m open to trying it out at some point.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It looks like it’s being run by some former 24 and Star Trek folks so that might be enough to spur my interest.

The creator is Manny Coto, who was the showrunner for "Enterprise" after Brannon Braga.

John Billingsley has a very prominent guest role in the pilot.

 

[Matt Hough]

I don't have Hulu, so I guess I have to wait until Tuesday.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Two episodes in, and I'm enjoying it, but it feels more like a miniseries than a network show. One of the leads has a terminal illness, and the cat-and-mouse game between the protagonists and the evil AI can only go on so long before either the protagonists defeat the AI, or the AI succeeds in whatever evil plan it's up to. I think either it will be a one season and done, or it's about to transition into something a lot less interesting.

 

[Matt Hough]

It's likely to be one and done, but I'm OK if the story they end up telling overall satisfies. So far, I'm enjoying it.

 

[jcroy]

cancelled

‘Filthy Rich’ and ‘Next’ Canceled After Single Seasons at Fox (EXCLUSIVE)

"Fithy Rich" and "Next" have been canceled after single seasons at Fox, Variety has learned exclusively.

variety.com