Zero Hour

I think some shows are just to intelligent for most people. Maybe People like easy, action and not very smart shows. If you look at what happened to "touch",first season was great and original, then in order to adapt to an audience that wanted action, the script was changed and became completely vulgar and predictable. I loved Zero Hour! It reminded me of a lot of god books i read and it had everything: a smart story, action, original script, and a way of telling the story that surprises you with the unpredictable. It is more and more difficult to find original story's that surprise us. Everything seems so "haven't i seen this before". And maybe story tellers can not do better because the audience demands more of the same.

I was outside the USA and have seen the show all the way through from foreign broadcasts. This gives me a lot better perspective on it. So I have to speak in defense of the show against some attacks I see as based on lack of knowledge.

First, they do fully resolve the plot. This isn't a show that is canceled in mid-stream like Threshold where there is never a satisfactory answer as to what is happening and why. The show apparently was intended to only go thirteen weeks so the resolution was much clearer and more complete than say Lost's was.

Second, not every cliché was used the way that we expect. Against the Evil Nazi Mad Scientist, they had the Good and Human Nazis.

So was it great art? No. Was it over the top and crazy? Yes. Would I say the ending was politically correct? I'd say yes, but it was feel good. Did it foreshadow many of the events ALL the way through? Yes. Some were painfully telegraphed, and a couple of them you KNEW they would do without motivation by the characters.

As a religious person, I also liked that there was an almost semi-favorable representation of a name brand religion by a TV show in this day where constant attacks on religion seem to be fashionable in Hollyweird. So I'll give it a seven. One extra point above average for mentioning God as a good idea and one for actually finishing out the story.

I watched the pilot online before the official broadcast because friends recommended that it would come across as just plain bad in its broadcast time slot (8/7pm).

--- Emotional reaction ---

The overall tone is hilariously overwrought. The scenes are hacked together. There isn't even an attempt at a pretense of internal logic. Even in the context of a portion of an individual scene, the characters' actions often are absurdly nonsensical. The silliness, stupidity and illogic come flying at you at such a pace it is impossible not to laugh -- I was laughing well past the end of the credits.

Watch it with friends and wine/beer/... and debate questions such as: Is this good enough to be a bad parody of "The Da Vinci Code" and the like? Is Anthony Edwards starring because Nicholas Cage said that there wasn't enough money ...?

--- Analytic reaction ---

Quick cuts between short scenes are typical of this genre, but to be successful, it requires audience involvement, either with the characters or the cause (idea, threat, ...). There is none here.

Nazis as villains is so overdone and outmoded in this and related genres that it hurts audience buy-in. Even if this isn't the case, it is just so badly done -- so over-the-top and comic. This is an enormous red flag that the show's creator has no creativity or imagination.

The genre appears to be race-to-the-treasure. This requires the lead characters to buy into the high-energy craziness, such as Nicholas Cage in the National Treasure series and the gaggle of comics in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (1963). Anthony Edwards is badly suited to play this role, both from the type of actor he is and audience expectations from prior role. And worse the script saddles him with two conflicting roles. The other one is that of the skeptic/voice-of-sanity (comic relief, exposition, whatever). Although the actor is much better suited to this role, the writers give him no support (I remember only one line, and it was a throw-away). The Anthony Edwards character could have been the "reluctant hero", but actor and the setup in the pilot preclude this.

There are multiple statements by characters to tell the audience that things are not what they seem, but rather than ambiguous hints to draw you in, they are ham-handed signals that the writers don't have the finesse to handle this genre.

I loved this show and would highly recommend it. It may take a couple of episodes for someone to really get into it but it's definitely worth it. It has a lot of conspiracy theories, paranormal indications, religious undertones, and Nazi/world war II connotations. It's smart and creative; like nothing else out there. Very mysterious and lots of twists! I wish there was more.

I watched this series because I really missed the late Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, and he absolutely excelled and shined as brightly as he ever did.

And I really liked Anthony Edwards and Jacinda Barrett, and Carmen Ejogo was a stunner. She was perfect.

May Michael rest in peace.