i fear that each week will focus on one or two characters and we will forget the previous ones before we get back to them. the girl lead in episode one was a dreadful actress, just dreadful, as was her brother. if they don't move this quickly i will be out in week 3 or 4, but i will give it that much just because it actually has some potential.
Finally had time to watch the pilot, and I'm not getting a good vibe from it. To me, this is somebody trying to combine the mystery of Lost with the time-travel "feel good" family thing of This Is Us, and not successfully. It feels as phony and contrived as The Event, Revolution, Alcatraz, Zero Hour, The 4400, Flash Forward, and quite a few others. I'll give it one more episode, but ehhhhh...
I didn't think it was that bad actually, especially after reading all the opins here prior. I'll stay with it for a while (not that I have high hopes, or anything).
I did too. I watch very little TV (I'm no expert) therefor I expect very little from it. The premise seemed interesting, watched it, and thought is was pretty good. I do wish they had spent more time on the actual flight and initial discovery of what had happened … they went to the aftermath too quickly for my tastes, but will be tuning in tonight.
I usually give shows at least a one and done but this held no interest for me to waste my time on even one episode.
I rather likes The 4400, except for the obvious way they plotted the revelations to coincide with cynically planning the events on a television schedule, rather than how they made sense in a storyline. I can see Manifest, as well as about 5 other of these "Lost-ish" shows as being more on set-up, less on payoff, and networks losing their faith in each and every one of them once their solid-but-weak-audience numbers can't sustain their reason to retain the show (at least as much as the stars the net execs will have in their eyes, imagining the potential ratings of their successors).
What's funny to me are the shows where they made drastic changes midstream, when things didn't work out and they had to suddenly go in a different direction. Zero Hour was by far one of the wackiest shows I've ever seen, but nobody saw it. The last 3 episodes had about 9 hours of plot crammed into 3 hours, just total craziness. Alcatraz was a show where they just pulled the rug out on the audience, basically running us over with a bus at the end. Haaaaarible. Manifest I think is trying trying very, very hard to go into this very proper "moral" direction with religious overtones, which I think could push away the fantasy fans who are looking for a mystery with more malevolent implications. Even in the case of Lost, they made it clear there were good and bad forces at work... and in some cases, the good forces did terrible things to people, yet with good intentions. That show went completely off the rails for me in that final season, and I've always said that Lost is the poster child for shows that had a great initial premise, but the writers & producers could never find a way to end it in a way that was rational and dramatically satisfying for the audience. As bad as The Event was, by god, they wrapped it up for real in the final episode. The producers of Manifest claim they have a "five year plan" in place and that there will be a larger plot and major stories to tell. We'll see. Ratings are great on it for the moment.
NBC's market research must show that the pious morality crowd really tunes in when exploi-...I mean catered to b/c these types of themes seem to be woven into a lot of their products - even The Voice and certain segments of the Today show. I think this crowd may carry more market power than the fantasy fans, whose shows typically seem relegated to the Friday/Saturday night slots.
'Manifest': Jeff Rake's drama breaks ratings record for NBC 'Manifest' Cements Status as Premiere Week's Top Series Debut in Live-Plus-3 Ratings
My guess the detractors are watching, along with those that like the show. So far so good for me … but that could also change at anytime. As far as religious overtones, I guess I'm just not that sensitive, or on the lookout for that type of thing. I remember a pillow and a comment maybe, but to bring out the "pious morality crowd" label for whom may be watching is a little premature imo.
I look forward to it every week. I'm still in there … but there is a hint it could go off the rails. I hope not.
last night i thought i was watching 'a million little things' or 'this is us'. yes it was that bad as far as advancing the storyline goes. the whole thing was centered around relationships instead of what happened to the plane and why the people are affected like they are. it was really and truly bad bad bad i think i'm out, but i might have trouble convincing my wife, but she loves 'this is us' and she thought last night's show was actually good. it as not.
My wife and I watched the first episode because the promos/previews seemed intriguing. When it was over we looked at each other like "Meh (shrugs)" and we haven't been back since.
Gotta buck the trend here and admit that my wife and I are truly enjoying this show. I agree that programs like this tend to lose steam and veer off course quickly, but so far, so good, at least in my opinion. Two weeks until episode #6.
I couldn't agree more- it's like the writers never had a definitive reason why the plane went missing to build upon, but they had to deliver episodes, any type of episode, until they figure out how to advance the main plot. I don't see how it's going to get any better- I'm out.
During every episode, I pause playback at least once to complain about how bad it is. Yet I keep watching it. I'm not sure what that says about me. I have a theory about the plot: they didn't go forward in time by five years. The entire rest of the world went backward five years! I know it makes no sense - but neither does the unfolding storyline.
if there were an unfolding storyline............................ it really is a terrible show. did it really get good ratings, or was that just ********? the acting is so sub-par it hard to imagine the producers, writer ad creators watching and approving of this crap.
I find it amusing that those that don't like this show almost have an anger about it … that it's not enough to say they don't like it, it has to be shouted with demeaning phrases, names and adjectives. Easy, we get that you don't care for the show.
