Revolution season 1 thread (1 Viewer)

[Lou Sytsma]

My hope rests on the behind the camera pedigree. Showrunner Eric Kripke was responsible for the first 5 - mostly excellent - seasons of SuperNatural. So he has a track record of tying character and mythology together. Which is why I'll give it half a dozen episodes to create a 'spark' with me.

 

[JohnS]

I wasn't too impressed with the pilot.
I'm trying to be really selective with my new shows.
Before I was giving handfull of shows a chance, with hope they would get better or seeing where it goes.
After a few disappointments in the past, I've now been very critical.
With Lost I was really hooked a few minutes in, and especially the way the pilot ended.
Plus it had great characters.
But with this pilot, I just wasn't hooked in. and was really bored by the characters.

 

[TravisR]

Showrunner Eric Kripke was responsible for the first 5 - mostly excellent - seasons of SuperNatural.

Another aspect of Supernatural that might give hope to some people here is that the questions raised and plots never really went beyond one season in that show. Or to put it another way, I think they'll reveal what killed the power by the end of this season. Plus, producers have learned over the past few years that audiences have no patience so that also will be a big factor in making them reveal it before the end of the season.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I hate the kid brother already.
Charlie's pretty when she flashes a smile, but Tracy's (Charlie) acting range is limited.

 

[Jeffery_H]

I wasn't too impressed with the pilot.
I'm trying to be really selective with my new shows.
Before I was giving handfull of shows a chance, with hope they would get better or seeing where it goes.
After a few disappointments in the past, I've now been very critical.
With Lost I was really hooked a few minutes in, and especially the way the pilot ended.
Plus it had great characters.
But with this pilot, I just wasn't hooked in. and was really bored by the characters.

I quite agree with that assessment for the most part. To me, this show is a joke and very poor in most all aspects from the plot to the characters. It doesn't even get in the same ballpark with a show like Lost and is more in line with all the other poor sci-fi shows NBC has attempted. Also, to me, there is a bit of an undertone of some political grandstanding too with some of the script. While we don't yet have the full picture or know more about the power outage, it just smacks of all the other NBC shows that were cancelled.

 

[David Weicker]

While I'm willing to go with some type of world-wide outage, I can't see power not being restored in a short time.
Unless the physics of the Universe was altered, electricity can still be produced. If you have magnets and wire, you can build a generator. It can be run off of steam, or flowing water, or windmills, or even one of the Professor's bamboo stationary bikes. Or you can stick wires into a potato and build a battery.
I have a feeling that the reason they didn't give us answers is because there are none to give.
The characters will have to get a lot more interesting or I will lose interest (and I liked Flash Forward, so high concept isn't a turn off for me).
As for the likelihood of the girl finding her uncle so quickly, I put it to storytelling convenience only. I understand the Dad told the girl where to go, but how would the Dad know? I got the impression he'd been living in his isolated community for quite a while, so he wouldn't have recent or personal knowledge of where his brother was. And since they were both 'important', they were obviously trying to stay under the radar, so it would be unlikely he would have heard anything about his brother either.
David

 

[JohnS]

I quite agree with that assessment for the most part. To me, this show is a joke and very poor in most all aspects from the plot to the characters. It doesn't even get in the same ballpark with a show like Lost and is more in line with all the other poor sci-fi shows NBC has attempted. Also, to me, there is a bit of an undertone of some political grandstanding too with some of the script. While we don't yet have the full picture or know more about the power outage, it just smacks of all the other NBC shows that were cancelled.

You know...I really hate to use Lost to compare any kind of future shows I plan on watching.
Lost had everything and was structured so well (for the most part)
But when a lot of these shows try to be like Lost, I can't help but make the Lost standards.
I'm glad these someone other than myself that thinks like I do when it comes to television.

 

[rollinsmoke]

Nice start....But Like "LOST" it is so fragmented. This is ok if you can put in perspective as you go on.
I already have a note book of questions. that said, wow me.
contact back if you want to compair back my observations?
Steve

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I have a feeling that the reason they didn't give us answers is because there are none to give.

Now that may turn out to be the case, but it's not really a fair conclusion from the pilot alone. Especially since the showrunner previously executed a satisfying five-year plan on "Supernatural."

 

[joshEH]

Jeez. 11.65 million viewers, and a 4.1 share. Highest-rated drama debut in three years, and NBC's biggest since The Bionic Woman-redux (although we know how that turned out).
I'm interested in seeing how many people stick around next week.

 

[Joe_H]

I think most people who cared enough to watch the premiere will at least watch the second one to see if it fizzles. I didn't think it was as bad as some here thought, but still will probably only give it another 2 episodes or so to pick up steam.

 

[Hanson]

I think the problem with this show is that it's going to take an entire season to find out what happened. B-o-o-o-o-r-r-ring. Can someone make a show that actually resolves something in one or two episodes?

It would be more interesting to make this episodic to show about what it would be like living in future society without electricity. Sort of like that Dino World series on Fox but less shitty. But you can smell the dragging out from a mile away.

I will probably watch episode two just to see if they can shake off this, "if you stick around for 20 episodes, maybe we'll reveal something" glacial pace that every Lost imitator has succumbed to.

And I agree that none of the actors nor characters were in any way compelling. Well, except for Giancarlo Esposito, because Buggin' Out is awesome. Even his name is awesome. But when they shot the dad? I could not give two shits. He was a plot device, not a character.

 

[ScottH]

Originally Posted by Hanson /t/320702/revolution-premieres-9-17-2012-on-nbc/60#post_3977182
Can someone make a show that actually resolves something in one or two episodes?

Couldn't disagree more with that statement. There are more than enough shows on the air that do that.

That said, I do agree that I think this show would be more interesting if it were more about the people surviving without electricity (but not episodic).

As it stands, I'll give it a few more episodes. I can't help but think a lot of these post-apocalyptic shows have sort of a sameness to them, and this one seems no different.

 

[Hanson]

That's interesting -- I find that there are too many shows that drag out their premise because in many ways, the premise is self limiting. Once you reach the conclusion, the show is essentially over. It's like every new hour long wants to be like Lost. And they all fail miserably, mostly because they dispense the reveal so slowly that most of the season feels like its stuck in place. Half of the hour long dramas seem to fall into this trap.

 

[ScottH]

Originally Posted by Hanson /t/320702/revolution-premieres-9-17-2012-on-nbc/60#post_3977193
That's interesting -- I find that there are too many shows that drag out their premise because in many ways, the premise is self limiting. Once you reach the conclusion, the show is essentially over. It's like every new hour long wants to be like Lost. And they all fail miserably, mostly because they dispense the reveal so slowly that most of the season feels like its stuck in place. Half of the hour long dramas seem to fall into this trap.

I think you're too fixed on network TV. There are plenty of shows on basic and premium cable that are serialized in nature and do it well. I suppose what you say might be true of network TV shows, although it seems to me 90% of the dramas on network TV are either reality or scripted episodic shows. So in that sense I guess I agree with you - it does seem that most of the serialized shows that do make it to network TV rely too heavily on the "gimmick" premise. That's why I mostly try to avoid network TV.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I am not suggesting that "everything" be revealed in the first season (how optimistic of me), but the show does need to find the correct balance between revealing too much too rapidly and proceeding with revelations at a glacial pace. For me, the lack of progress in the main narrative is what killed my interest in Flash Forward. It has already been stated in the thread; but I am hopeful for this series in terms of its narrative because of Eric Kripke's involvement. We'll see.
- Walter.

 

[Hanson]

Originally Posted by ScottH /t/320702/revolution-premieres-9-17-2012-on-nbc/60#post_3977197

I think you're too fixed on network TV. There are plenty of shows on basic and premium cable that are serialized in nature and do it well. I suppose what you say might be true of network TV shows, although it seems to me 90% of the dramas on network TV are either reality or scripted episodic shows. So in that sense I guess I agree with you - it does seem that most of the serialized shows that do make it to network TV rely too heavily on the "gimmick" premise. That's why I mostly try to avoid network TV.

I am in the sense that non-network series usually last 10 or 13 episodes, which gives the creators less time to dicker around. But 23 episodes is too long to spin your wheels. It torture for the viewer.

Then there's stuff like The Killing. It took them 26 episodes over two seasons to reveal the killer. So this kind of elongation and inertia is creeping into the cable series as well.

 

[ScottH]

Originally Posted by Hanson /t/320702/revolution-premieres-9-17-2012-on-nbc/60#post_3977200
I am in the sense that non-network series usually last 10 or 13 episodes, which gives the creators less time to dicker around. But 23 episodes is too long to spin your wheels. It torture for the viewer.

Then there's stuff like The Killing. It took them 26 episodes over two seasons to reveal the killer. So this kind of elongation and inertia is creeping into the cable series as well.

I can buy that - 10-13 episodes can make it work better.

But I loved The Killing and had no issue with how long it took to reveal the killer.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I think the key to success in this type of series would follow JMS's approach in Babylon 5. Set up a question and then answer it, but the answer only opens up even more questions about something else. So in this series they search for the people that know the answer to "how did the electricity get stopped", which would then open up the question as to why because those that did it didn't know why they had to do it. Then you find out the why, which can then lead to another whole set of questions and setup depending on the answer to why. Say an out there type premise like an alien scout comes to Earth and says that if we don't stop sending out signals, a faction of his race is going to pick up the signal and take over the planet so we have to go dark. However the aliens were only going to be in range of Earth for 20 years, which was forgotten about and needs to be rediscovered so by the end of the series we can restore electricity. Or that aliens crashed on Earth and were going to use our technology to send a signal so we had to go dark. Then the final act will be our heroes finding them and their lifespan was short so we can now turn the electricity back on.
So the most pressing question of the moment isn't the question we should be asking and therefore it can be answered within a season rather than dragging out drips and drabs of clues. Even better is when they set up a big question that has many mini-answers so we always get a decent piece of the puzzle every 3 weeks. Also important though is that future revelations don't undo previous revelations in logical progression although they can change the interpretation of them. X-files had this problem of "But if what you just told me is true then that stuff in the past makes no logical sense" on occasion.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Based on the pilot alone we are speculating in a vacuum.
The next handful of episodes will be most telling but if the showrunners have gathered any pilot feedback, they should be aware that most of the questions relate to exactly how the power has been turned off. And that should be their number one priority to clarify ASAP.
If it is... magic instead of science, say so, and let's move on. Dragging that mystery out would be a mistake IMO.
Then the series would turn to dealing with finding something - person, talisman, or both that has the answer.
Tell us how things broke. Make the focus of the show about finding out how can it be fixed.
Sounds like Eric Kripke has a plan in mind with this excellent interview by MoRyan over at Huffington Post - http://tinyurl.com/9df3j82