Invasion

[Listener]

Warning:  if you have not seen Invasion yet, do not read on.

***spoiler space***

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I was not impressed.  I realize that the story has to take a long time to develop, but not enough happened in the first episode to really make me care that much about the characters.

One of my co-workers brought up an excellent point:  making this into a 26-episode season (or however many it ends up being) is going to stretch the story out far too long with useless minutiae.  It might have worked better as a miniseries or long-ish film.

Having been through several hurricanes, no matter how fast they "sneak" up on you, those people would NOT be putting up plywood as the strongest part of the storm was hitting.  They would not still be picking their kids up -- school would've been cancelled for the day. 

Sure, aliens caused the storm, or were part of it, or something, but if they're trying to invade without telling anyone, why create a storm that acts abnormally?  Why not just get into a normal one?

Clue #1 that this was not filmed wholly in Florida:  everyone was wearing too many layers.  Dave (the brother-in-law) had on a t-shirt, another shirt, and a jacket, and it was hurricane season, which in south Florida never drops below 80 degrees except maybe at night.

Other stuff I didn't like too much:
-precocious daughter who knows everything
-too many divorced families
-pregnant new wife
-everyone seems to be in an important position, which is just not realistic -- the sheriff, a news reporter, a doctor... *sigh*
-they own an airboat?
-the disclaimer at the beginning of the episode

Stuff I did like:
-the cat
-the eye of the hurricane scene in the very beginning
-the slow build-up as a storytelling tool

I think the episode would've been much better had they not had the alien try to eat Dave at the end... that was a very forced bit of dramatic tension.  They probably could've drawn out the hurricane a little more, made that the focal point of the episode, and then had the alien eat Dave in episode 2.

I really hope this show gets better, but for now, I am not terribly impressed.

[Beefy]

I agree.  Didn't live up to the hype.  It certainly could improve, but for now I only give it another episode or two.

I saw Cold Case for the first time last night.  That wasn't written for shit, either.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

havent been paying attention the the forums lately.   whats the invasion?  tv miniseries or cable tv miniseries??

[Listener]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

[Listener]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

That statement was far too intelligent for me to understand.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

That statement was far too intelligent for me to understand.

ill have to look for it.

im lucky to get past the military channel or weeds.  still waiting for L-word or Dead like me to come back (though rumored dead is dead)

[Beefy]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

That statement was far too intelligent for me to understand.

ill have to look for it.

im lucky to get past the military channel or weeds.  still waiting for L-word or Dead like me to come back (though rumored dead is dead)

Dead is dead.  Patinkin moved on to Criminal Minds or some such nonsense.  Rent Season 2.  Good stuff.

I've had a chubby for Cynthia Stevenson for as long as I can remember.

[Mr. Ubiquity]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

That statement was far too intelligent for me to understand.

ill have to look for it.

im lucky to get past the military channel or weeds.  still waiting for L-word or Dead like me to come back (though rumored dead is dead)

Dead is dead.  Patinkin moved on to Criminal Minds or some such nonsense.  Rent Season 2.  Good stuff.

I've had a chubby for Cynthia Stevenson for as long as I can remember.

whos she specifically??  is the she blonde in dead?

[Beefy]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

That statement was far too intelligent for me to understand.

ill have to look for it.

im lucky to get past the military channel or weeds.  still waiting for L-word or Dead like me to come back (though rumored dead is dead)

Dead is dead.  Patinkin moved on to Criminal Minds or some such nonsense.  Rent Season 2.  Good stuff.

I've had a chubby for Cynthia Stevenson for as long as I can remember.

whos she specifically??  is the she blonde in dead?

The mom.

[Beefy]

Episode 2 wasn't great but it wasn't bad, either.  The show is smart in subtly introducing William Fichtner, a great character actor, as a bad guy.  It also aids in that his wife doesn't feel villainous at all as of yet.  Her ex-husband still just feels like a generic pretty boy, and certainly not old enough to have a son of that age.  I wonder if they have larger plans for this show, for a vast conspiracy to be revealed between law agencies and the aliens, and that this family will have to go on the run to survive.  That's the kind of narrative shifting these programs need to stay interesting and fresh.  It's one reason I still hold out hope for Threshold - it's meant to be a three year story and no more.

[Gamplayerx]

Threshold's pretty awesome so far.  I gave Invasion another shot last night - episode 2 kept my attention way better than episode 1. 

[Mr. Ubiquity]

TV show on ABC.  Had a lot of buzz, so far not so buzzworthy.

so the preferred buzz for it right now, is the buzz of the tv being on the wrong channel ??

That statement was far too intelligent for me to understand.

ill have to look for it.

im lucky to get past the military channel or weeds.  still waiting for L-word or Dead like me to come back (though rumored dead is dead)

Dead is dead.  Patinkin moved on to Criminal Minds or some such nonsense.  Rent Season 2.  Good stuff.

I've had a chubby for Cynthia Stevenson for as long as I can remember.

whos she specifically??  is the she blonde in dead?

The mom.

the mom da bomb.