2011 NEW FALL GENRE TELEVISION SERIES
By T.K. Dehn

For fans of genre television series, the fall of 2011 has brought good news.

First, there are a wide variety of genre shows that span the spectrum from science fiction to fantasy to horror. Second, even the shows that aren’t wonderful are at least watchable. Third, none of the new ones seem in danger of immediate cancellation – indeed, ONCE UPON A TIME has already received an order for its back nine episodes (to bring the season to twenty-two episodes total) and AMERICAN HORROR STORY has been renewed for a second season.

In listing the fall genre series, there’s a question of order: quality, alphabetical by title, premiere date? We’ll go with when the shows air within the week, starting with Mondays.

TERRA NOVA, Mondays, Fox at 8 PM: This science fiction series, set primarily in Earth’s past 85 million years ago, with some side trips to a dystopian future in 2149, comes from producer Steven Spielberg and show runners/STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION veterans Brannon Braga and Rene Echevarria. The title of the show refers to a colony formed in the distant past by time-traveling settlers, who have left their polluted lives behind to start afresh in a lush jungle inhabited by dinosaurs (and some uncooperative fellow time travelers). The main characters are the Shannons, policeman dad Jim (Jason O’Mara), doctor mom Elisabeth (Shelley Conn), their two teenagers and their five-year-old, plus the camp’s commander, Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang). The dinosaurs look as terrific as we’ve come to expect from Spielberg, who brought us JURASSIC PARK, and the Australian locations look persuasively prehistoric. Furthermore, O’Mara is charming and has good rapport with Conn, and Lang is suitably both intimidating and avuncular. However, there is something flat and predictable about the situations and the characters. Jim is a hothead, but he’s a very good guy, while Elisabeth seems irreproachable. Sure, they may make a few blunders, but the odds of them doing anything that might really challenge our sympathies appear remote. There’s nothing wrong with characters who remain in a comfort zone (there’s room in the universe for moral scales other than those of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and GAME OF THRONES), but once the well-done escape from the future sequence in the pilot ends, we don’t feel much emotional or intellectual tug from the story. Seeing dinosaurs chasing after humans has its entertainment value, and it’s pleasant to see good acting, but the show doesn’t cry out to be watched every week.
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