TiVo-ed it and just watched. Some random thoughts, maybe some nitpicks and reactions to posts so far...
- Being a fan of highly stylised TV/film, they did a poor job giving this show some identity. This show was obviously greenlit due to the success of Lost. Much of Lost's appeal is how stylish it is. It has a look that was evident from the first ep. Add to it is the audio. I would have expected the audio stuff (always a great opportunity for spookiness) to add some real character - it's just my opinion but it didn't. The opening sequence had some flair to it, but that was gone after the main characters were introduced.
- The corpses, fractal, sounds and other visuals were not interesting at all. Almost seemed like they blew most of the budget on the opening 10 minutes.
- The characters weren't bad. I really like Spiner's character and Gugino's character but then again I've liked everything she's been in and she always brings a certain lonely sadness to her characters that is flecked with fleeting moments of joy. Or maybe that's just the casting/editing.
All that said, I think that the concept is good and can be entertaining but the execution was not all that great. They have some good actors on the show, 2 I've already mentioned plus Charles Dutton who never ceases to entertain. But somehow they made all the characters and situations seem a bit flat. Goes back to my problem with lack of style. And as for some of the psuedo-science or whatever you want to call it, that stuff never bothers me. I may be somewhat ignorant when it comes to real science but as long as they follow their own internal rules and don't cheat (see B5, Buffy, Farscape) I'm okay with it. It's the characters that matter.
And about the characters - the concept of the ghost/merc is interesting and can be exploited. Putting the muscled pretty-boy with very little charisma, acting chops and screen presence was not a good move. Thusly, I couldn't care less about him. Ramsey is cool. His shortness, attitude and the fact that it didn't seem to matter that he is a little person was appealing. I wonder if the part needed someone with that look or did he win the part? Just one of the things I thought about while I was bored with one of the scenes.
I feel that it's always important to focus on a show's/writer's/concept's strengths. For Threshold I believe it's the concept that is king. I can see how telling someone about the show sounds much cooler than the actual show. That means that something was lost when put to the screen.
Since I have a TiVo that can record 2 channels at once it will stay on the Season Pass for now but it may sit there for a bit until after I catch up on other shows that are more interesting. I'm really hoping that one of the Lost clones turns out to be good, just so there is some competition. The battle between Threshold, Invasion and Surface begins... I guess.
