Believe - new NBC series (2014)

I just caught the pilot of this one, which initially seems to cover fairly unoriginal territory: a 30-something guy on death row is met by a priest on the evening of his execution, and the con is eventually convinced to help protect a precocious 11-year-old girl who seems to have extraordinary powers of telekinesis, mind-reading, and precognition. Apparently, there's a worldwide conspiracy dead-set on capturing the girl, and a small (but apparently well-funded) organization is set up to protect her. The adventures each week will involve the girl meeting new people, stopping grave events from occurring, and slowly learning to control her new powers... while staying one step ahead of the bad guys.

The series is from Alfonso Cuaron (who just won several awards for Gravity) and the redoubtable J.J. Abrams, so the pedigree is pretty impressive. I just watched the pilot last night and thought it was merely OK, but the problem with shows like this is that there's a little bit of "been there/done that" with it. Quite a bit of it felt a lot like past episodes of Heroes and the recently-cancelled Kiefer Sutherland show Touch, which was about an autistic child with incredible mathematical abilities who could essentially predict the future (when his scribblings were decoded). The trailer is here:



The pilot raises a lot of questions: for example, why couldn't the little girl foresee her own catastrophes? Why let her foster parents die? How long has she been running? Why hasn't she been caught yet? Who's financing the operation? Why can't the kindly priest (who, of course, is not a priest at all) just adopt and protect her? Who are her birth parents? [And there's a possible giveaway at the end of the pilot.]

But the acting is very good, the production is lavish, and it's clearly a very high-profile show meant to gain a big audience. One troubling issue: the pilot was shot a year ago, and there's been several behind-the-scenes scuffles, resulting in Cuaron and Abrams firing two different show runners (Mark Friedman and Dave Erickson), which delayed the introduction of the show until this month. This tells me there's a lot of dissent on determining the tone and direction of the show, which are always vague and difficult to articulate. I like lead actor Jake McLaughlin very much, and Delroy Lindo is always good. The conspiracy against the girl, which is headed up by Kyle MacLachlan of Twin Peaks (no relation to Jake), does seem very predictable and cliched, and it's one of the things that makes me hesitate to recommend it.

Still, the pilot had some moments, and it might be worth watching. You can catch it at this link on NBC's website if you missed it:

http://www.nbc.com/believe/episode-guide/season-1/series-premiere/101

Note that NBC's website is filled with critiques from viewers, some of whom bring up some good points... particularly with the assassin trying to apparently kill the girl at a hospital. There are a few "WTF" moments like that in the show that make me leery, but I'm crossing my fingers that it gets better. Heck, I stuck with Touch to the bitter end, and thought it had some good moments as well.

 

The pilot was pretty good (directed by Cuaron), I especially liked the car crash sequence with the camera inside the vehicle the entire time.

I'm afraid I can't agree about Jake McLaughlin, nothing really against him as an actor but I felt he was miscast in this role. I kept imagining what it would be like with someone like Matthew Fox in the lead instead.

As I no longer trust Broadcast TV farther than I can throw it I won't bother watching any more until it is renewed for a second season.

 

Yeah, the car crash was tremendous. I told a friend of mine the other day, when I had a similar horrific car crash back in 1996, it looked exactly like this TV show's POV shot.

I agree with you: Matthew Fox would have been a better choice. But I'll give the new guy a chance; the show itself has an interesting concept, and maybe they can surprise us.

 

I really liked Jake in "Crash, Season 2" and I think he is a decent choice for ths role, he may surprise us how he develops it. And Lindo is always a treat. I'm in for a few more episodes to see how it goes.

 

this looks like Touch!

 

I was hoping there was a thread on this show. I just watched the pilot. Great comments about this show Vidiot. I watched it because of Alfonso (If I had known it was JJ Abrahms also I might not have).

A comment about the first sequence. That was possibly the best use of surround sound I have heard on a tv show, or almost anywhere. The surround sound was used extremely well throughout the episode. The sounds inside the car followed the camera almost perfectly, placing me in the car. In a later sequence in the street as a musician played the sound followed the camera point of view. Truly heightened the drama.

You are right, this is the same ground Touch covered and I had to bail on that show after a few episodes. I expect this to go in a similar, chase me chase me direction but I like the characters so far.

There are parts and the ambience sometimes looks so similar to Children of Men, my first introduction to Cuaraon and my first thought as I watched the show. That's good for me, because i enjoyed the mixture of bleakness and hope he managed in CofM.

To your comments about the little girl, I think she can sense things with people and she is clearly telekinetic in some form but I don't think she can predict things. Maybe I didn't watch closely enough. And I called it on the ending of the pilot. I don't like to do that because it takes me out of the show but in fact, it's a neat character, plot device.

I will hang in for a while.

 

I liked the assassin better when she was a brunette in leather pants in one of the resident evil resurrection films

 

These kind of shows seem so predictable and they go on and on with no magic. Frequently good actors seem mediocre and the look seems rushed with little or no character development. Good people making bad tv

Now give me Hannibal. Breaking bad bates motel orange black anarchy justified

 

Most of the time she was in a mini-skirt, to good effect.

 

Yes, I agree that technically, the show is first-class. I would argue that the look of the show is too extreme with me, with that "contaminated color" thing that's done too often in movies nowadays, but it is at least consistent.

Ah, but you forget that the little girl told the young doctor that he couldn't quit the hospital because he had to be there to save an important singer. And at the end of the show, he reluctantly went back... and saved a young woman whose name reversed to become the name the little girl had predicted.

So it's clear to me that she has more powers than just telekinesis. On the other hand, if her powers were so good, why didn't she know that the bad guys were right behind them in another car? The standard argument is: their powers are not 100% reliable.

 

Is it just me, or are you seeing Jodie Foster as Space-Age-Lara-Croft here...?




Now playing on Ariel Stream: Freelance Whales - Hannah

 

May be just you . . .

 

Yes, the quality is technical absolutely. For anyone wanting a workout of their home theatre, this is a great show. The story is boilerplate typical.

Does anyone else see this as a way for Cuaron to recycle Children of Men? He is certainly on familiar ground. I hope he can explore some of those interesting aspects of that film.

Now I did forget about her precognition in that scene. I will say possibly it's the movie 100% thing. Maybe she was so focused on something else. Heck, Deeana Troy in Star Trek couldn't prevent the crew from all kinds of stuff and we want a little girl to do it?
Maybe we will get an explanation - here's mine from my experience knowing a few psychics. They can see the large movements in people's life especially when it is of some importance - like the Dr. saving the girls life. Possibly the bad guy situation was needed for her larger development and MAYBE she knew they were going to survive anyway. Just my 2 cents. JJ Abrahms, if you are reading, remember this and have some exposition to cover it. And if you do a Lost ending you are dead to me for any story you put on the screen.

 

Not that again!

 

I love how people blame J.J. Abrams PERSONALLY, when he wasn't the show runner and didn't write the scripts. It's moronic.

 

They always blame the person at the top. Like Obama getting **** for a bad website.

 

I always blame the chrome dog on the front of the Mack truck for the accident.

 

Hey, if I put my name on something and got a check for $40K a week, you can be damned sure I'd be watching dailies, yelling at people on the phone every day, reading scripts, and having meetings, even if it was just a couple hours of my time per day. I don't like the idea of "absentee producing." If the show were just from Abrams' production company without listing his name as an executive producer, that'd be something else. (Note this is a show with 10 producers' credits, including Cuaron and Abrams. By comparison, Terra Nova had 25 producers' credits, including Steven Spielberg and Jon Cassar; one of the producers on this show, Tara Butters, is now coincidentally on Resurrection.)

It's too soon to say whether the show will go off the rails plot-wise, but I always try to remain hopeful. I generally stick with these shows to the bitter end, even though -- as in the case of Alcatraz -- it was clear we were going right off the cliff with that one. At least with Believe, I think they did a tremendous job with the casting on Believe, and that's critical for shows like these. I like the emotional feel of the show, but the ratings are not doing great so far.

 

J.J. Abrams puts his name on half the movies and TV shows that come out of Hollywood. His name means nothing to me either way.

 

I watched the second episode last night and I'm not planning on watching any more. This just has too many similarities to Firestarter, The Fury, Scanners and any other movie/show about people with special powers being pursued by various nefarious organizations. I think the little girl is great and deserves a better show.

 

Abrams has a tendency to borrow from what's come before and tries to tweak it for a new audience. I haven't watched it yet because it had a been there done that quality to it from the previews I have seen. I might watch it on demand.

 

I think Alfonso Cuaron deserves a good bit of the blame here, he developed the show, directed the pilot, is one of the executive producers, etc. It's not terrible, it's just not that intriguing and I still dislike the casting choice of the main actor.

 

Agreed. There's plenty to go round. Abrams has done some good stuff at revitalizing various genres.

 

I actually think the casting is good across the board, but I agree 100% with Wayne above that the show definitely has a "been there/done that" feel. Little kids with supernatural powers? Mysterious conspiracies out to get them? Government agents trying to capture people? The two lead characters running from town to town, hiding in warehouses? I think that describes about 40 films & TV shows made in the last 20-30 years.

The ratings ain't been good, either...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-resurrection-wins-second-688999

Since Resurrection and Believe are competing head-to-head, it's an interesting battle with two brand-new fantasy/SF shows competing against each other. I'm very surprised that Believe is failing so quickly, since there's a lot more money and starpower behind it. But it does show that often, the audience will find the show that has more guts, better story-telling, and better filmmaking. So far, I'd say that goes to Resurrection.

I have both on the DVR, but I'm not racing out of my way to see Believe. I suspect NBC is very disappointed with it so far, particularly on how much money the pilot cost...