October 29,
2003 -- THE thing you gotta wonder about "Tru
Calling," Fox's new show about a young woman who can see deaths before
they occur, is whether or not she can see the network killing off this show
before too long.
But, then again, you don't have to be the Amazing Kreskin to see this one
coming. In tomorrow's premiere, the lead character, Tru, (no, her last name
isn't "Calling,") played by Eliza Dushku, (Faith on "Buffy") - whose
mother was murdered when she was little - has just graduated from college.
This is strange enough, considering she looks six at her mother's funeral
and then 10 years later she's old enough to be a college grad, who is also old
enough to be sleeping with her professor.
Good thing Tru gets some sleep because it's the only time she's not
literally running someplace. She runs to her college graduation, she runs to
and from the morgue where she's taken a job, (I swear), then after she starts
having visions, well, what's a girl to do? She runs from future victim to
future victim.
The producers liken her running to "Run Lola Run." While I don't usually
charge for my own personal psychic insights, they are the only ones,
trust me, who will make this comparison.
No, Tru doesn't walk, she doesn't ride a bike, she doesn't drive - she
runs. Take a cab for God's sake - you live in a city where there is apparently
no traffic whatsoever. What could it cost? The running is so insane, the show
should be called "Marathon Psychic."
To make matters worse, or maybe just to make the whole thing seem even more
mysterious, the timeline is all screwy when Tru's having visions. For example,
she sees a murdered stiff in the morgue, then immediately sees her sister
(Jessica Collins) fall off the wagon, and also envisions her brother (Shawn
Reaves) get beaten up after a card game by Asian guys.
Suddenly she wakes up, and she's not in the morgue, but in the prof's bed,
(again), and guess what? The same thing happens to her all over again. This
means that yesterday won't really happen until today, so she has
another day to stop the stiff from becoming one, slip her brother a card and
try to stop her successful business sister from becoming a big, annoying
cokehead.
Thank God for the stiffs in the drawers - or there wouldn't be any
believable acting in the whole thing.
"Tru Calling"
Tomorrow at 8 p.m.
