Extant

I would agree that Extant is far from free of melodrama, however, IMO it's nowhere near as bad as you suggest. I can easily overlook those moments because I find that the show has an interesting story to tell and realizes many elements really well, particularly the existential AI stuff (though not a great fan of the alien mind control part).

If you really want to talk about "melodrama standing on the shoulders of melodrama", then look no farther than Smallville, Terra Nova, Under The Dome, Falling Skies. Extant is way better than that.

 

That ending...yikes.

 

Often slow, but interesting

 

decent finale.

sets up season 2 (if there is one) very nicely.

 

Ok how did the kid become a super-AI in all the computers there. Or is that supposed to be a mystery for next season/series?

Overall this show failed for me and my wife. Our biggest gripe was that character motivations were confusing, conflicted, and changed depending on the needs of any given moment for the sake of propelling the action forward.
The other thing that annoyed and then amused me was all the sci-fi tropes they mercilessly ripped from other and better sources without doing anything new or interesting with them. This is basically my issue with video games but at least with games I get to kill stuff. Here, it was like watching all the cut scenes from a mediocre video game.

 

Very hip observation. To tell you the truth, far too many shows resort to the same tricks on occasion. It winds up being very, very contrived, to the point where you just can't believe it.

 

I didn't even feel like watching those...though I think I once had an episode of Under the Dome on while I was doing something else.

But I wasn't particularly looking for comparisons. If I had been, I'd prefer the compared shows involved actual thoughtful writing--doesn't even have to mean The Wire level, just a program from someone who is happy to respect writing as a way to create viewer involvement. Melodrama is cheap theatrics...for the purpose of cheap theatrics.

Lordy, even Unforgettable, which is hardly unforgettable, doesn't particularly rely on people doing stupid things just as a mechanism to advance the plot.

 

I enjoyed the whole series! If it gets renewed and is still on Amazon Prime, I'll watch it there instead of DVR-ing it. I don't mind fast forwarding through commercials, but I am so sick of all the crap on the screen advertising other stuff while I'm trying to watch a show.

 

As someone with a lifelong interest in computational artificial intelligence and who keeps in touch with the latest trends, including what is called the Singularity event, I would guess that Ethan has reached that threshold of accelerated self improvement. This is an active field of research which many feel is no more than 50 years away (which could be the time period portrayed in the show). Ethan's brain isn't just self-contained inside his body, but distributed over a wider network, which is how he was able to project his likeness all over those screens at the end.

I'll grant you, this is just conjecture on my part, but is seems to fit with trends in AI (or AGI - Artificial General Intelligence) research. If this is the case, then yes, they could have handled it better by showing more of the effort that went into Ethan's creation and development. I would have loved to see the entire story revolve around this and the alien mind control alien stuff be jettisoned. I think the pulpiest elements came from the alien side of the story (are they really still doing glowy eyes to denote alien/possessions?!).

Ref on AGI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_general_intelligence

 

Finished the series today. It was a pretty good show. I hope it gets picked up for a 2nd season.

 

Is this show broadcast anywhere other than Amazon Prime? The show has, what appear to be, areas where commercial breaks would go, the screen going black as you would see on a DVD release of a broadcast show. I found that to be a bit strange.

 

To me, this season seems nicely self-contained and I'm not really sure there is a need for a second season. Just IMHO of course!

 

I've occasionally seen that before in other shows. For example, in Fox' Fringe, sometimes they'd go to commercial after the opening credits, and sometimes they'd bounce right back to the show. I suspect there were varying act breaks for reasons they don't talk about -- like maybe a spot didn't sell. A one-hour dramatic show nowadays is generally right around 42 minutes with 5 breaks (including one at the half-hour for local stations), but it's up to the network as to how long these breaks are, and whether they do a break between the teaser and the show proper.

 

However, Amazon Prime doesn't have commercials, but Extant has, what appear to be, areas where a commercial break would go which left me wondering if the show had initially been intended for commercial television or if there had been any plans to broadcast it on commercial television at some point. It just seems strange to me that an internet only television show would have those fade-outs or black area breaks where it seems that a commercial break was intended to take place. In some cases in Extant, the show would come right back to the same scene, even the same shot or a similar shot as if the show had previously been broadcast on commercial television and the commercials had been taken out.

 

They may have filmed it that way in the event that it wouldn't be picked up for a 2nd season. It seems that there is some wiggle room either way, for a 2nd season or a one-off season. However, the story is definitely leaning toward a 2nd season. There are, at least, a couple of loose ends: The kid being picked up on the side of the road and Odin still out there. How was Ethan able to upload "Everywhere" as he put? Where does Ethan go from here? I actually found Ethan's story the most interesting in the series. I love the concept of a machine striving to become human. I guess that's why Data is my favorite character in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

 

Uh... Extant is a CBS-TV commercial network series, as far as I know, not Amazon Prime:

http://www.cbs.com/shows/extant/vid...click_id=78aa3f01-989a-37c9-bac3-0000535168ba

 

Just finished the season. Was a guilty pleasure of mine. At times interesting and suspenseful and then laughable at others. Sometimes Halle and the guy who plays her husband were just awful and then later be just fine. The guy who plays Alan Sparks is a terrific actor though and commanding in every scene he's in. I saw him earlier in the year in Bates Motel and he was great there too - really compelling actor.

 

Oh, I've been watching it on Amazon Prime. I thought it was one of their originals. I guess I was mistaken. Thanks for clearing that up. That just goes to show you how much I know about network TV nowadays. I rarely turn on my TV. When I do turn it on, it's usually to watch DVDs/Blu-rays or stream.

 

The Dome comes to mind.

 

If it returns, I'd likely watch, but the Season 1 certainly did not end with any compelling 'cliffhangers' to draw me in.

 

FYI folks, lets use spoilers here for tose who,haven't caught up yet (me, I could care less but sme folks it is I portent at least immediately after an episode is broadcast for tose who DVR it, etc.)

I agree with the bulk of what has been said here. I don't follow the show that closely however my wife has. Mu wife's complaint--they are. Troducing too many subplots without sufficient resolution or expansion for those they already hve going. she got the impression they were makingit upas they went along. Having recently caught up with all the episodes, I can see her point--what I think she's really saying is they o traduced more subplots without enough development of the main elements or those already existing which can be frustrating for some viewers particularly those that might come in mid season.

 

Woo hoo! Extant has been renewed for season 2!

 

How is this even possible? I'm in shock that they renewed it, because the ratings were not that good, and this is a very, very costly show. They should air it right after Under the Dumb and call it "Bad Sci-Fi Theater Double-Hour" or something.

 

Because it's a good show, although the flaw in that reasoning is that Under The Dumb also got renewed, but then again so did The Blacklist!

 

sorry, but i am going to be a little snide here.

'under the dome' is, in one word, garbage.

'extant' is not garbage, but.........goran vsinij (sp?) is horrible in this, brings the show down a lot, and halle berry won an oscar (rightfully so as she was wonderful in 'monsters ball") i still can't believe she even agree to do this, must be getting lots of $$$$$$

'the blacklist' has james spader....enough said.