Extant

The series started with a sharp style that promised good things. Excellent photography, good casting, a neat feel to the storyline, plus a good dose of mystery to interest the viewer. Yes, some of the features have been seen in a lot of other sci-fi dramas/films, but that didn't lessen the programme's strength. And until about episode 8 this panned out well.

Then it started . . . What I now call the delaying effect! We see it too often these days in TV dramas. The storyline began to meander all over the place; extra characters were suddenly introduced who then misleadingly became major players; key characters were lost through death; plus extra backstories of the characters were suddenly introduced and then played out as a main feature in the drama . . . In other words it looked like a hundred other storylines were being introduced just to keep the viewer hooked.

There was no longer any purpose to the story, or clarity in its vision. The plot became more & more convoluted. Some of the characters - who had been at least basically believable - started to do stupid things that didn't fit their nature, or their job level/IQ. And something the US studios love to subsume viewers with in their dramas: conspiracy of the worst type . . . The endless type!

Steven Spielberg notwithstanding, there was no way we could carry on watching this production.

We watched the first 10 episodes of series 1, and halfway through episode 11 . . . And then watched no further.

I had intended, after episode 10, to watch to the end of the first series, and THEN decide if I wanted to carry on viewing into series 2. But I couldn't stand watching it to beyond halfway into episode 11, let alone to the full 13 episodes of series 1!

I think this is a first for me, not to watch even a full episode before I quit watching a TV programme! But at episode 11 I could see that the growing fears I had sensed earlier - of rambling, misleading story threads - were coming true. And that was it. We switched off mid-episode. With (sad) relief. What a lost opportunity. For what could have been a good - and succinct - drama.

I was intrigued at by the story and the series starts fairly well.

However, it didn't take very long to realise that not a lot was happening by the end of each episode.

It kept teasing that something would happen, but it never did. The pace of the story is too slow in my opinion and then a whole slurry of events happen all at once.

That wasn't a show stopper for me, just a minor gripe.

My biggest problem is Halle Berry's character.

She becomes increasingly annoying as the episodes progress. It came to the point where I just couldn't watch anymore as her character just became to annoying too bear anymore.

Lots of promise, but sadly poorly executed!

Extant has an interesting premise but the execution feels clumsy and overworked. While it is still a good Sci-fi show I think it still needs some time to develop and find it's stride. The positives include the great production values and that it has a blockbuster movie feel. I also think it has the potential to be better it just needs to up the excitement level.

Personally, I'm not thrilled with the casting and find Halle Berry's performance to be quite weak. She needs drama roles to shine but doesn't fare so well with "everyday/normal" roles. It just feels too bland and forced. The rest of the cast are fine, not fantastic, but they do their job.

Overall I think as the story unfolds it will keep me interested. I have noticed that each episode is slightly more interesting than the last so that's a good sign.

It has a good developing story line and I have found the early episodes built up a level of suspense.

The actors have done a good job to get you trapped into it but I have found it a bit confusing having Hiroyuki Sanada playing yet another inscrutable Japanese hate character so soon after Helix.

The series is definitely work watching but I am concerned at the very slow pace. You get to the end of each episode feeling that not much progress has been made. I can only hope that this is not due to a lack of story direction.

I am starting to feel like saving the rest of the episodes of this series and watching them all in one hit to get some sense of pace.

In all, not a bad bit of SciFi and, hopefully, it will start to progress a bit quicker as the plot broadens.

Extant is an exciting well made new show which touches on multiple common science fiction themes weaved into some of the more mundane problems in life.

Only the pilot was available at the time I wrote this, but already there is a strong sense of where the show is headed thanks to the quick introduction of the story elements.

There is a mysterious occurrence told through flashbacks that happened when Halle Berry's character was on a routine space mission she has since returned from, and a spin on the classic Science Fiction debate of Artificial Intelligence, in this case directly impacting Berry's character's immediate family.

The budget felt like it was generous, the actors scripts and effects were all more than adequate to be believable, and they told just enough of the story to whet your appetite and have you postulating wildly.

I would strongly recommend this show to anyone who likes science fiction. If you aren't married to the genre its still well worth seeing, but the pilot's pacing was the measured introspective pace of much science fiction (the movie Moon is a prime example, although this is faster) and while I don't think it will be a problem for the majority of the audience, if you're on the fence and don't think you can handle a slowly unfolding mystery this might not be for you. I personally loved it.