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So, after I saw some people on my flist talk about Vanished, I thought I'd give the show a try, even though it wasn't on my original TV schedule.
Wow, that was boring and predictable. Highlights: the coroner guy from CSI in a minor role and the scene with the child at the beginning. Except the last one was only a highlight for a few minutes, until we actually got introduced to Gale Harrold's character, who couldn't be more annoying if he tried.
See, shows that are built around one actor hardly ever work for me. They tend to have an unnatural balance of powers, and Vanished is a prime example of this. Gale is the one who calls the shots, despite working with a female agent, Gale is the one who points out the important things when they look at evidence, Gale mouthes off because he is so cool and gets into danger because he is too stupid to call in experts, when the tunnel is bombed, though he clearly new that was a possibility, otherwise he wouldn't have worn the ridiculous looking hat. But then he gets to be a hero one more time by not only finding part of the bomb (hello? shouldn't he know better than to take it away from the crime scene?), and then he finds the secret room, because the producers are clearly little boys who want their little boy to find the secret treasure all by himself.
And he is not even that attractive! In QAF, I liked Brian/Gale in the first season, when he was an arrogant bastard who thought he was the sexiest person on the planet, thus becoming the sexiest person on the planet. Clearly it couldn't have been his body, which could have used more than a little workout, especially compared to the rest of the cast. He was still sexy when he torturing himself over Justin's accident, but then when he got all lovesick and settled down, he wasn't so sexy anymore. Not to me anyway. I could find him in this sexy too, if it wasn't forced upon me. If they let the character develop himself. If they didn't tease us with the angst of him making a mistake that killed a kid, only to take it away by not only saying it wasn't him, but also that he tried to prevent it, because he is oh so smart and the best agent ever. He'd be much more attractive to me if he was the only one convinced that he is the best agent, despite his mistakes, and if everyone else didn't believe it, and if he at least tried to act once in a while.
But even if I liked Gale Harrold in this, I doubt I'd like the show. The set-up is predictable and conventional. Not the in the grand scheme of things (I have no idea where they are going with this), but in the details, the next scene that will be shown, how it is played, what they will discover and so on. I actually tried to predict what would happen next and was right most of the time.The daughter was so incredibly stupid for no reason at all that I kept wanting to hit her on the head, hard and was hoping she and her trying-too-hard whiny voice would get killed off soon. Sadly, that didn't happen. The wife wasn't who she seemed to be, what a surprise. The ex-boyfriend from her ex-live, the one without the pretty dresses, diamonds and all the money, is... a fisher! No, really, he is shown on a boat, one attractive man between lots of old and fat fisher men, with fishes, and he wears plaid shirts! How much more cliché can you get? The only actress half-way convincing in her role was the reporter, but sadly her role was the most standard of all, and seems to be just a cheap means of making sure the viewer understands what is going on. Not the only deficiency in the writing of the show: The two-person confrontations, which make up 90% of first two episodes, show an amazing lack of writing skills and creativity. Instead of using them to highlight important scenes and dynamics between the characters, they seem to be the only way the writers are able to tell their story at all.
But I tried. I even downloaded the second episode, hoping it would get better.
Then the ME made a comment about defreezing a chicken, and I was instantly reminded of the scene in Sports Night where Dana tries to defreeze her Thanksgiving turkey above the anchor desk, and that was it.
Bye bye, Vanished, I hope others are able to enjoy you and I wish you luck. But honestly? I can't see how this was ever picked up.
Wow, that was boring and predictable. Highlights: the coroner guy from CSI in a minor role and the scene with the child at the beginning. Except the last one was only a highlight for a few minutes, until we actually got introduced to Gale Harrold's character, who couldn't be more annoying if he tried.
See, shows that are built around one actor hardly ever work for me. They tend to have an unnatural balance of powers, and Vanished is a prime example of this. Gale is the one who calls the shots, despite working with a female agent, Gale is the one who points out the important things when they look at evidence, Gale mouthes off because he is so cool and gets into danger because he is too stupid to call in experts, when the tunnel is bombed, though he clearly new that was a possibility, otherwise he wouldn't have worn the ridiculous looking hat. But then he gets to be a hero one more time by not only finding part of the bomb (hello? shouldn't he know better than to take it away from the crime scene?), and then he finds the secret room, because the producers are clearly little boys who want their little boy to find the secret treasure all by himself.
And he is not even that attractive! In QAF, I liked Brian/Gale in the first season, when he was an arrogant bastard who thought he was the sexiest person on the planet, thus becoming the sexiest person on the planet. Clearly it couldn't have been his body, which could have used more than a little workout, especially compared to the rest of the cast. He was still sexy when he torturing himself over Justin's accident, but then when he got all lovesick and settled down, he wasn't so sexy anymore. Not to me anyway. I could find him in this sexy too, if it wasn't forced upon me. If they let the character develop himself. If they didn't tease us with the angst of him making a mistake that killed a kid, only to take it away by not only saying it wasn't him, but also that he tried to prevent it, because he is oh so smart and the best agent ever. He'd be much more attractive to me if he was the only one convinced that he is the best agent, despite his mistakes, and if everyone else didn't believe it, and if he at least tried to act once in a while.
But even if I liked Gale Harrold in this, I doubt I'd like the show. The set-up is predictable and conventional. Not the in the grand scheme of things (I have no idea where they are going with this), but in the details, the next scene that will be shown, how it is played, what they will discover and so on. I actually tried to predict what would happen next and was right most of the time.The daughter was so incredibly stupid for no reason at all that I kept wanting to hit her on the head, hard and was hoping she and her trying-too-hard whiny voice would get killed off soon. Sadly, that didn't happen. The wife wasn't who she seemed to be, what a surprise. The ex-boyfriend from her ex-live, the one without the pretty dresses, diamonds and all the money, is... a fisher! No, really, he is shown on a boat, one attractive man between lots of old and fat fisher men, with fishes, and he wears plaid shirts! How much more cliché can you get? The only actress half-way convincing in her role was the reporter, but sadly her role was the most standard of all, and seems to be just a cheap means of making sure the viewer understands what is going on. Not the only deficiency in the writing of the show: The two-person confrontations, which make up 90% of first two episodes, show an amazing lack of writing skills and creativity. Instead of using them to highlight important scenes and dynamics between the characters, they seem to be the only way the writers are able to tell their story at all.
But I tried. I even downloaded the second episode, hoping it would get better.
Then the ME made a comment about defreezing a chicken, and I was instantly reminded of the scene in Sports Night where Dana tries to defreeze her Thanksgiving turkey above the anchor desk, and that was it.
Bye bye, Vanished, I hope others are able to enjoy you and I wish you luck. But honestly? I can't see how this was ever picked up.
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