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"Heroes" sent its heroes off in a blaze of glory in its
first-season climax. "Lost" is lost to the summer hiatus and is not
scheduled to find its way back to original episodes until winter 2008. "Battlestar Galactica" resumes its voyage next year for
its fourth and final season. The "Star
Trek" franchise has had its missions canceled ever since "Enterprise" went into dry dock, and "Stargate SG-1," to date the longest-running sci-fi
series on American TV, ended its ten-year leap into the abyss earlier this
year (the spin-off, "Stargate: Atlantis," hasn't quite found the same
following).
So you're sick of reruns and you've been through your DVDs of "Firefly" and "Farscape" a few too many times. What's a sci-fi geek
-- or, if you prefer, an aficionado of fantastic television -- to do?
Go off the network and hit the wild frontier of first-run cable, where
science fiction is prospering with shows that flaunt ideas over spectacle.
And not just the Sci-Fi Channel (which I've only recently forgiven for
canceling "Farscape"). Big-sister channel USA is finding fascinating drama
in shows with science-fiction and metaphysical dimensions, and other
networks are starting to follow suit. Where science-fiction TV was once
(with few exceptions) limited to pulp adventures and rocket-propelled
Westerns, it's now a launching pad for human dramas and speculative
stories, and summer is launch season. Let the countdown begin. |
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"The 4400" (USA)
The USA network's most successful foray into territory dominated
by corporate little brother Sci-Fi Channel began life as an
alien-abductee mini-series with a superhero hook and a terrestrial
time-travel twist. In just a few seasons, the series took its key
themes -- alienation, prejudice and an almost biblical sense of
destiny in the hands of 4,400 gifted humans -- and wound it into
political conspiracies and battling ideologies. This is a show where
the only thing scarier than a telekinetic terrorist is a military
contractor who wants to turn him into a guinea pig in a weapons
research lab. Caught between the warring factions are a pair of
Homeland Security agents (Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie) torn
between duty and conscience, and a gifted healer (Patrick Flueger) dedicated
to helping mankind while protecting his own kind against a hostile
government. Billy Campbell co-stars
as the corporate millionaire-turned-visionary guru who helps turn
the 4400 into a kind of cult with a holy mission. He brought last
season to a close with a dramatic blast across the bow of human
evolution: He let everyone unleash their latent powers and discover
their inner 4400. You don't need to see the future to realize that
the new season will be interesting. Watch for Mahershalalhashbaz Ali to
finally take his place among the most powerful of the
4400. | |
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"The Dead Zone" (USA)
Anthony Michael Hall is
Johnny Smith, a man who awakens from a six-year coma with the power
to see both the future and the past with merely a touch, in this
inspired spin-off from Stephen King's novel and
David Cronenberg's film
adaptation. Every week seems to bring a new mystery or investigation
Johnny's way, an opportunity for imagery that is quite dynamic for a
budget-conscious cable series. But the dramatic foundation of the
series is an apocalyptic vision tied to opportunistic, thoroughly
corrupt Congressman Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery),
who slithers through the series consolidating his power while even
shadier forces pull the strings to his advancement. The complex
relationships of the series (Johnny's son, born while he was
comatose, is being raised by his onetime fiancée and her husband, a
man who becomes a close friend) are remarkably mature. For five
seasons, this smartly developed series seems to have flown under the
radar of most TV critics, but fan loyalty has rewarded it with a
sixth season ready to crank up the apocalyptic fever. Combined with
the new season of "The 4400," it gives USA a potent paranormal
Sunday-night combination. | |
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