SAF3

First of all, they must have racially-targeted black actors (according to skin-color) in order to find the one black man on the planet who can swim in salt-water with his eyes open. Second of all, the dude he was swimming to rescue- was simply chillin' in a helicopter seat underwater... just because he can't get his seatbelt off by himself. He calmly takes a breath from his little oxygen tank and points to the seatbelt when the black guy (who somehow found him at night, in salt-water, with no flashlight or mask, after somehow finding the sinking helicopter in 300 billion gallons of water and locating the door-latch) comes to rescue him. Have you ever tried to open your eyes underwater and see anything in focus more than 2 feet away?!?.. much less in SALTwater?!?! And then the radio says "all searches have been called off until the storm passes", when the wife waiting at the station asks "durrrhhhh what does THAT mean?!?"... Then, in all-out-hatred against black women, the media AGAIN puts the black-lover-man into the latina woman... RACISTS!!!

First, I very much like the concept of emergency service personnel (our day-to-day heroes) although injured in the line of duty, able to return to work, albeit obviously changed human beings. JR Martinez brings his personal horror story of injury & facial derangement to his role & I sympathized greatly with not only his pain, but his social discomfort & sadness. Dolph...well...is Dolph. ...great in the typical quasi-militaristic plot but a tad sketchy in those little personal drama scenes. Texas Battle is good & believable, as is Karl Thaning. The plots have evolved nicely. (Among others, I enjoyed the container that submerged containing trafficked humans, and their rescue.). I would like to see improvement in the female role though. Why are their shoulders/arms so pitiful? Come on Lydia, Jocelyn & Katie, pick up some weights. Carry a hose pack. Work out for gods' sakes. This is not 1990 you know. I also liked Danielle Caley Anderson's playing of Kacie. She brought some fresh drama to the role of a non- emergency person/fairly abandoned kid's confused life. Inter-agency cooperation is tricky in real life with egos on the line & in the end, real life at stake. The season's second half showed much improvement in all ways and I'm looking forward to more rescue stories next year!

I watched the show specifically for Dolph and Texas Battle, I'm a fan of both. J.R. Martinez is pretty good in this, despite the weak material given to him and his fellow actors. The latino lady comes off as stereotypical spicy, but I can work with this. Most of the cast looks like they're reading directly from their script in hand, but I hope that's because they are first time actors, maybe? Texas has a great sense of humor in this and it shows, and Dolph and JR. have a slow burner storyline, but the rest of the girls and the other two guys aren't too memorable, they need some characterization and to show us their background and story, but this show is still more diverse than most shows on TV. Hopefully the acting will improve but I've been watching every episode, something won't let me stop.

On my first draft of the review I felt like I was ripping the whole episode to shreds on soundtrack, camera-work, overacting and poor acting and even continuity and makeup issues. I know professionals put huge amounts of effort to get a show on air and viewer support and reviews are their lifeblood.

I often prefer television dramas and I hope that most of these issues smooth out so we can accept the world they are attempting to bring the viewer into. A premier episode should try to be a best foot forward and this feels more like an unaired pilot episode for those that have seen them and know what I'm referring to - These Pilots are often unpolished and are often trying different aspects of production to see what does and does not work. Up to this point I believed most went through trial viewings with audience reaction reviews which I have participated in a fair number of times over the years. The goal being to get the responses needed to take the show from a concept to a more polished work. To make the best possible product or in many cases, whether to go forward with production at all. I have previewed many that seemed stronger than this yet never were produced.

Chill out everyone. It's a television show, not the opening negotiations for disarming nuclear armed North Korea. Good looking guys (who cares), hot women in bikinis (I care), in beautiful surroundings. Dolph Lundgren is a known going in. He brings what he always brings. J.R. Martinez grows as an actor with every outing. Fresh new faces fill out the show and present the creators with chances for growth and creativity. I anticipate that season two will benefit from the growth in season one and that new story lines will break this show open. Face it, in a world where Brooklyn Nine-Nine can win a Golden Globe as Best Sitcom, SAF3 is a sure bet to be around for a long time.