Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

J.J. Abrams' Fringe

By John J. Joex

Pretty much all of the shows that bowed this Fall have wrapped up the first half of their seasons and are headed into their Winter hiatuses (or oblivion for a few). While this was the most active season yet on the small screen for shows in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre, I can’t rank it among the best because the quality of programming was just not up to par. Oh we had a few standouts, but more shows than not just seemed to amble along or tread water during the fall season.

Consider the new shows:

J. J. Abrams’ Fringe had the most pre-season buzz, but it didn’t really live up to its hype. The show has covered some well-trodden ground without adding too much to distinguish itself from its forbearers. It did start to find itself toward the end of its Fall run and could really take off when it returns in Spring, though.

CBS’s entry The Eleventh Hour covers some of the same ground as Fringe, but it sticks closer to plausible scientific explanations. This however, has made the series seem like yet another CSI-clone with scientific buzzwords thrown in to capture genre interest. Rufus Sewell does a good job with the Jason Hood character (taking up the mantle from Patrick Stewart who played Hood in the original British version), and provides some incentive to check out the show from time to time.

CBS’s other entry, The Mentalist, has delivered some decent episodes, but it is really doesn’t belong in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre. Patrick Jane admits right off the bat that he was a fake psychic and nothing more has been done with the potential supernatural elements. Not a bad show, but it’s nothing more than a crime drama.

NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy did nothing more than waste the talent of Christian Slater. It threw a contrived and highly improbable concept at us and followed it up with confusing and hackneyed scripts. The show deserved its early death, though Slater deserved better.

NBC’s other new entry, Knight Rider, was even worse. The sad fact is that hodge-podge of espionage and fast-moving cars could have registered high on the guilty pleasure scale if they had writers maybe one notch up in talent. Instead, apparently the majority of the budget went to fancy vehicles and explosions.

The CW’s Valentine took a quick exit after the network’s failed attempt to outsource Sunday nights ended in disaster. This series about Greek gods living in Hollywood and trying to bring some love to the world found itself awash in mediocrity and never registered with viewers.

On the Sci Fi Channel, the web-series convert Sanctuary got off to a good start, then seemed to descend into a monster-of-the-week formula. Much like the Stargate series that it shares creative talent with, it has some interesting story ideas, but never really delves into them.

The Cartoon Network’s two new entries Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Batman: The Brave and the Bold were mildly interesting but nothing spectacular. Clone Wars started out strong, but before you knew it Jar Jar Binks showed up to ruin the day. And Batman provides a bit of a throwback to the earlier days of the comic book but seems primarily aimed at a pre-teen audience.

The syndicated Legend of the Seeker seems determined to cover every Fantasy / Sword and Sorcery cliché within its first dozen episodes and it is definitely on track to do just that. Still, Bruce Spence is great as Zed and this show scores some points in the guilty pleasure category.

ABC’s Life on Mars (yet another remake of a British show), has shown promise as it follows detective Sam Tyler trying to figure out why he traveled back to 1973. It’s more than just a crime drama with a twist, though it did tend to meander a bit before it wrapped up its Fall run.

HBO’s True Blood also seemed to really catch on after getting off to a pretty slow start. While the vampire series made me nostalgic for the much-missed Moonlight, it started to develop its own place in the toothy sub-genre as it wrapped up its first season.

Then there were the returning shows:

Heroes was tops on my list of returning shows in the Fall and even though it got off to a pretty strong start, it really went astray as the season progressed. How many times can a character die only to return in the next (or same) episode and how often can you rely on the time travelling device to change past/future events? The series experienced some behind the scenes shake-ups, apparently NBC’s way of telling the creative team to get things back on track, so we can only hope for better things when the series returns in February (when Bryan Fuller could be back on board).

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles also lost its way this season. Its first season showed real promise, but during its sophomore year the show got of course with uneven and at times confusing episodes. And Shirley Manson’s Catherine Weaver character added nothing to the show. With its abysmal ratings, this one had better get on track soon or the battle for the future will come to a quick end.

Defying expectations, Pushing Daisies managed hold up the quality of its first season as it returned from the extended hiatus caused by the writer’s strike. Unfortunately, viewers had moved on and too few chose to return to the Pie-Hole leading ABC to pull the plug on this delightful series despite a significant fan effort to keep it on the air.

Supernatural has really soared this season and taking its viewers on quite a rollercoaster ride. It has to hope that the CW will stay viable, though, to continue its run. If the network does fold, expect another provider to show some interest in picking it up.

Chuck seemed to keep up the same quality of light fun that it had in its first season, though its viewership has definitely taken a hit in its second season. The Ghost Whisperer and Smallville have remained on track with the quality and ratings from their prior seasons.

Final thoughts on Fall 2008:

I definitely feel a bit of a letdown at this point with the cancellation of Pushing Daisies, the drop ing quality of Heroes and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, along with the underwhelming starts for shows I had high expectations from like Fringe and Legend of the Seeker. On the other hand, I feel I shouldn’t complain too much because we have so many options within the genre. Still, I will take just a handful of really good shows over a plethora of mediocre ones. Remember back to the 2006-07 when we didn’t have a whole lot to chose from, but we did have the first seasons of Heroes and Jericho along with Lost and Battlestar Galactica (and Supernatural to boot)? Those were good times.

See also my prognosis for the upcoming Spring 2009 shows.