JJ Abrams: Believe

The last show in our JJ Abrams series is Believe. It premiered in 2014 on NBC and lasted one season.

Again, I thought this show was Fantastic. I don't know if it failed due to lack of promotion or if, once again, the public wasn't all that fond of strange science (I use science loosely) combined with the idea that our government just might not be the good guys. I said before that both of these ideas were explored in Fringe and Revolution (albeit in different ways). This is the first show that presents both of them up front (as opposed to focusing on one and segueing into the other). Turns out that it didn't make a difference.




I thought the actress who played Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) was outstanding, and I'm sure we'll see her again in something else.

Did you watch Believe? What did you think?

JJ Abrams: Almost Human

Despite the disappointing lack of interesting in my JJ Abrams series, I'm pushing on. Besides, there are only two more shows left (and one that is slated as post-production, but I haven't seen anything about it on the air).

In 2013, Almost Human premiered on FOX. Frankly, this show was awesome. I can't think of even ONE thing I didn't like about it. And yet, it didn't last longer than one season.





Did you watch Almost Human? If so, did you love it or hate it?

JJ Abrams: Revolution

This is the next installment of JJ Abrams' TV shows. Revolution began in 2012 and ran two seasons.

In a previous post on Fringe I mentioned that the show was about fringe science until the final season. It took a hard turn and focused on an out of control government and the loss of personal freedom.

Fringe was cancelled.

So, JJ Abrams teamed up with Eric Kripke and brought us Revolution. This show focused on what would happen if the lights went out forever. Batteries didn't work. An instant thrust into the "stone age." Governments fall. Militias rise up. It gets pretty crazy. As in crazy good.




Then, in season two Revolution took a hard turn into fringe science. And it was cancelled.

Oh vey.

Two topics that don't go together: revolution and fringe science. You'd think he'd learn this one... but... Wait a few days... because Ooop! he does it again!

Did you watch the fabulousness that was Revolution? What did you think when it veered into fringe science?

JJ Abrams: Alcatraz

Alcatraz lasted all of one season. 2012. One and done.

This is another show I didn't see, but after watching this trailer... I want to! Wowza. I don't know why why this one was cancelled; it looks fantastic!




Did you watch Alcatraz? Know why it was cancelled? What did you think?

JJ Abrams: Undercovers

Still working our way through JJ Abrams' TV shows.

I didn't watch this one, so I'm relying on IMDB and YouTube. IMDB says that the show aired from 2010-2012, but there were only 13 episodes. Not sure precisely what that meant, but I suspect that the show was on. Then off. Then on. As a viewer, I imagine it was hard keeping up. (Maybe that's why it failed?)

Here is the trailer:



Did you watch Undercovers? Love it or hate it?

JJ Abrams: Person Of Interest

In 2011 JJ Abrams partnered with John Nolan to bring Person Of Interest to CBS (starring Michael Emerson and Jim Cavaziel). This is the ONLY JJ Abrams show still on the air (right now), but not the last he'll put out there.

This is not the show I was alluding to regarding personal freedoms and such in the last past (on Fringe), but I realize, even more than I did, that this issue is near and dear to his heart. Person Of Interest addresses personal freedom in a BIG way. Finch (Emerson) created an AI that monitors every electronic communication we make and gives that information to the government. In this scenario, Finch set it up so that they only received the Relevant Numbers (Social Security Numbers) of people who were "threats." Finch back-doored the system so that he got the Irrelevant Numbers (SS#s) of the people who would either die or kill someone (victim or perpetrator). However, he doesn't have the capacity to actually prevent these murders, so he seeks out Mr. Reese (Cavaziel).

Over the years, the scenarios have dived far beyond receiving an Irrelevant Number and stopping a murder. I'd tell you, but that would be spoiling it for you. And this show is worth watching from the beginning. It just gets better and better.





Have you watched Person Of Interest? Please tell me what you think....

JJ Abrams: Fringe

Lost premiered in 2004 (with much success). In 2008, Abrams launched a totally different show on Fox: Fringe (which also premiered with much success).

Fringe was about fringe science. Or weird science. Let's say extremely weird science. There were five seasons and seven openings of Fringe.

This video features all seven openings. The openings very much walk in lockstep with the content of the shows. Notice that the first six (the first four seasons) are all different, but the same. And then there is the last one (season five). If you want to watch the first and then skip to the last, jump to the two minute mark.




Season five was a totally different Fringe... a hard turn for the show that some viewers loved, but others not so much. And the network... not at all. It was cancelled mid-season (with a wrap-up for the show).

Let's look at a trailer for season one.




In season five, as I already said, the show took a hard turn from fringe science to much more basic issues of freedom and personal control versus government control. Fox cancelled it. However, JJ Abrams wasn't done with this idea, and it would be revisited several years later in a new show on a new network. The irony: it would be cancelled because this time he couldn't keep it about the concepts of freedom and personal control. In season two he introduced.... wait for it... fringe science.

He also went for show number three incorporating all of these issues in season one, and it was cancelled after season one. Do you see a picture yet????

Do you know the later shows to which I'm referring? Did you watch Fringe? What did you think about Season Five?

JJ Abrams: Lost

I started watching Lost (2004-2010) late in the game (2009). I bought it on DVD and caught up and watched the end with everyone else. Man, that show was excellent. Every episode was a surprise. Twist after twist after twist. The other thing you can count on: hard choices. For these characters, it was always one hard choice after another. I don't know about you, but I was constantly asking myself, "Could I make that hard choice if I had to do it?" Of course, until you walk that mile in those shoes, you just don't know.

This is just one of many hard choices...





Did you watch Lost? Were you on the edge of your seat week after week?