Extant

I enjoyed this show. Its over-all quality was superior to most currently available shows.

That doesn't mean the show was not flawed, but I suspect a lot of the criticisms I have read here were due to overly high expectations. As pure SciFi, I did not see the inconsistencies with potential reality that has become so common in recent SciFi productions, although the show did fail, as many SciFi stories do, to keep the "magic" limited. The aliens portrayed failed to use their established abilities whenever consistent use of those abilities would have prevented more exciting stories. I also found the stark black-and-white portrayal of good and evil and the frequency with which main characters switched sides unnaturally contrived.

However, the acting was excellent, covering for many inconsistencies with nuanced changes in motivation demanded by the script so that the overall experience was still captivating.

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.

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!

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.

A vision of a not too distant future, slow to start but some interesting things start happening in the later episodes. Give it a chance please as we are lacking good Sci-Fi at the moment.

Characters are good but they need more to work with. Interesting concept with Ethan and Molly's child but don't want to give anything away about that.

I like the understated technology uses in the everyday environment, it is used well in order to improve everyday tasks (which is why we make things in the first place).

This is not Sci-Fi on an epic scale, it's about the human condition - it's not perfect but it's got potential.