Two Bombs -- Only One Intentional

I checked out two more new shows tonight, and once again, I'm not sure either of them is going to make a long-term dent in my schedule -- but for different reasons this time.

First up was Jericho, following the people of a small town in Kansas as they deal with the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. I actually quite liked this first episode. In a way, it touched some of the vibes that the Battlestar Galactica mini-series hit (though, to be clear, not with the same exceptional quality). There was definite moodiness to the entire hour. There was a true sense of something terrible having taken place. And truly heroic moments were mixed with truly terrible ones. (Sure, Skeet Ulrich's character saved a school bus full of children -- but let's not forget the couple he killed earlier by smashing into their car.)

There are two troubles I see facing this show. The first is creative. Where does this story go from here? Is there going to be sustainable drama in watching these people trying to survive week after week? Lost is mining similar territory, in a way, but rather than focusing on the castaway's efforts to survive (they really seem to have no trouble in that regard), the show makes its drama out of the lives of the characters prior to the crash, and the mysteries of the island. There's nothing approaching that richer backdrop here.

The second trouble facing Jericho is one of marketing. A show about the apocalypse on prime time's lead-off hour? In the middle of the week? On CBS, the "families and older demographics" network? Maybe I shouldn't be worried that this story seems to have limited places to go.

Later, on NBC, I caught the pilot episode of Kidnapped. This one was just boring. It mined no new territory that hasn't been thoroughly tapped out by countless other television shows and movies. We had all the time-tested abduction cliches, from victimized parents delivering ridiculously overwrought monologues, to a bait-and-switch as a SWAT team closes in on a supposed location of the victim, and everything in between. Hell, we even had Delroy Lindo playing basically the exact same character he played in the movie Ransom. Yawn. I've seen all this before. And two weeks from now, it's going to be airing at the same time as The Nine. That all makes this show a no-brainer "opt out" for me.

So far this season, it looks like my TiVo will be thanking me for the extra rest.