After a long
summer of reruns
– truly a
“vast wasteland,”
to quote
Newton Minnow
– the fall
television season
is here
at last. And
not a minute
too soon. I’ve
watched reruns
of Jeopardy!,
Wheel
of Fortune and
Dr. Phil for over
three months.
Not to mention
some really
bad movies.
But last
week I got to check out one new series as well as an
old favorite. Here are my thoughts on both.
The new show that I looked forward to seeing is
“Manifest,” a suspense/sci-fi and “what if” concept
that sounded very promising. And I have to say that
the program lived up to its promotion. The premise
is that a plane headed to Kennedy Airport hits unexpected
severe turbulence enroute. After several terrifying
minutes everything settles down. But when the
pilot talks to the JFK control tower, things start getting
weird. The plane is sent to much smaller nearby
airport and is met by emergencies services and a lot
of officials. A short time later, passengers and crew
are informed that the plane they are on has been
missing for several years. It’s 2018, five years in the
future, but no one on the flight has aged at all. And
that’s when things really get interesting.
“Manifest” shows a lot of potential so far. If the multitude
of possible story lines are skillfully developed,
the series has a potential mega-hit on its hands. I
admit that I’m a big fan of “what if” stories. My favor ite
is “The Walking Dead,” a zombie apocalypse tale
now in its ninth season. I fell in love with it the first
time I watched it. The writing is excellent, the special
effects are amazing, and the acting is incredible. If
“Manifest” is anywhere near as good, NBC will have
a hit on its hands. Watch it Monday nights at 9 pm.
The old favorite I watched was the CBS network’s
“Survivor: David vs. Goliath.” This is the show’s 37th
season on the air. (That means at two seasons per
year, the series is beginning its 19th year.) “Survivor”
is one of the oldest reality shows still running. Each
season offers new contestants or a mix of past and
new ones. Jeff Probst is beginning his 37th season
also, and long-time fans will once again here that
popular catch phrase: “The tribe has spoken. Bring
me your torch”.
But – and as a long-time viewer I hate to say this – I
think the series is getting too predictable. The challenges
are pretty much the same. That goes for the
locations as well. But worst of all – at least for me – is
that the competitors are not that interesting. And that
could become a serious problem for the show.
Where are the folks we loved to cheer for or boo
at? Where are the ones like first season winner Richard
Hatch? Or Rupert, who won $1 million for being
the most liked competitor? Or the villainous Russell
Hantz? (Actually I really liked Russell personally.)
I’ll be watching “Survivor – Season 38” Wednesday
nights at 7 pm on CBS and crossing my fingers that
the producers can revive this series. After all, I have
18 years invested in it!
Photo Sources: imdb.com & wikipedia.org
