Tracey, I sent the below back on the day the show premiered. I was so-so on it, and then lost touch (usually watching "Army Wives" with my wife). Checking my old messages, I see there were a couple dozen posts about the show over the next week or so.
keith ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Keith Johnson" <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2009 10:13:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] "Defying Gravity" on ABC now Anyone watching ABC's entry into the "Big Brother in Outer Space by way of BSG-style drama"? It deals with a seven-year mission in the year 2052 that sends eight astronauts to visit six planets in the Solar System. Very quickly into the show, we're made aware there's some kind of secret involved. The two most experienced astronauts in the program (one of whom is played by Malik Yoba) are initially left off the mission aboard the spaceship "Antares". Later, when some kind of heart problem keeps cropping up among the crew--evidently tied to the "secret"--the two astronauts are blasted into space to join the mission. One comment I overheard makes me think some kind of sentient race has been encountered by humanity--perhaps on a previous tragic mission to Mars in which one of the current astronauts had to leave three of his fellows behind. Perhaps this sentient race is controlling the mission somehow? Not sure. Also not sure yet if I'll like the show. It has some decent actors and decent lines. But just when I'm starting to get into the mission and the scifi aspect of it, I'm distracted by overpowering music that attempts to heighten a scene, the lead astronaut's self-reflective monologue, too much of the newly-hot camera work (a la BSG and Star Trek) with a shaky cam to convey reality. Or I'm watching two astronauts make nekkid love in zero g and feeling vaguely manipulated at an attempt to make me feel awestruck or something. There's a lot of flashbacks and flashforwards that make following the story a bit confusing at times. "Lost" this ain't. There's also a odd flow: a mix of serious drama, melodrama, camp soap opera type moments, silly humour supported by "Desperate Housewives" type music, and a lot of titillation. It makes it hard for one to get a feeling of the overall nature of the show. Is it a drama, a reality-type show like "Virtuality", a mystery? Don't know, but I found myself losing interest a lot, then picking it back up, then losing it again as the standard nighttime soap feel comes back in the mix. Lots of TV veterans, including the blonde lady from "The 4400" (the one who feel inlove with a black man), and Cristina Cox "Blood Ties", who's been a guest in more series than Michael Michelle. They're all okay, but again, the uneven pacing, writing, and flashbacks undermine their acting. The constant shift from a high-tech spaceshp to mundane scenes on Earth are abrupt and off-putting. Like "Virtuality", this show seems to be another clone that tries to copy the delicate balance of reality-type drama mixed with scifi that BSG (mostly) did right. and like "Virtuality", it bores me as much as it intrigues--something that BSG didn't do in the main. Not sure if the show's even being picked up, but if it is, not sure I'll keep watching. Anyone else's thought's?
