I liked it. I missed out on the first seasons of X-Files, so a lot of what they’ll probably rip off will be new to me. It’s funny – both Bones and Supernatural mentioned Mulder and Scully.
I didn’t realize Steve Railsback was so short.
Anyone know if they invented the Woman in White legend? Sounded wonky to me. A woman ghost hitchhikes and kills unfaithful men, after committing suicide because she drowned her children because her husband was unfaithful? Gimme a break.
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
I liked it. I missed out on the first seasons of X-Files, so a lot of what they’ll probably rip off will be new to me. It’s funny – both Bones and Supernatural mentioned Mulder and Scully.
I didn’t realize Steve Railsback was so short.
Anyone know if they invented the Woman in White legend? snip/QUOTE]
I watched it. I like it much more than Bones. Good writing, good acting, and above-par special effects. I too caught that both shows used the Mulder/Scully reference… synchronicity’s a nifty thing.
As for the Woman in White – a google search for “‘Woman In White’ Paranormal” yielded 695 results. I hope they don’t fall into a predictable freak-o-the-week pattern. I’m also setting the DVR for at least the first few eps.
The Woman in White is an established urban legend. At least the “ghost of a scorned woman leads motorists to their death part”. I’ve heard American, Mexican, and Indian variants. Not sure about the “killed her children” wrinkle.
I rather liked it. I enjoyed how it was about two experienced monster hunters, but they don’t belong to any larger organization (like the X-Files) or are themselves supernatural beings (like Buffy). They were just taught to fight and how to kill/protect yourself against various critters by their half-crazed ex-Marine dad.
The only thing I rolled my eyes over was the “I don’t wanna fight monsters! I wanna be a lawyer and a suburban dad!” subplot, but hopefully that’s been pinned to the ceiling, gutted, and set on fire.
Of course, when “My Name is Earl” and “The Office” come on, I may jump ship, but I liked this episode.
add another round of “hey, i didn’t wince while watching it!”
the possibly highest-cheese-quotiant might have been when he found his girlfriend up on the ceiling, the same way his mom went, but to my surprise i did not see it coming. possibly the cookies and “love you” note made it seem like everything was all ok.
i’ll be there next week.
oh, and in our area at least, the premiere will re-broadcast this Thursday at 9, if anyone missed it first go-round.
I had low expectations for the show, but it didn’t totally suck or anything. I couldn’t stand Jensen Ackles (the older brother) on *Smallville * last year, but he was ok here. I’ll keep watching for now, even if it is basically an *X-Files * knockoff. It’s difficult to judge most shows from their early episodes because sometimes it takes them awhile to really hit their stride and learn how to play up what’s really working on the show, and get rid of what isn’t working.
I was totally rooting for the little brother to go ahead and go to law school because it always irritates me in movies when people blow off their Stanford Law interview like it’s no big deal. At least here it makes sense that he’d decide to hit the road.
AuntiePam: I’ve met Steve Railsback, and he is indeed one tiny dude. Very nice guy though.
I was creeped out enough to take the dog with me when I went upstairs to bed. (Our upstairs hall light is burned out.)
So I’m laying awake, looking at the ceiling :eek: and thinking about the plot of this episode. Does anybody else wonder why the “thing” just killed the women, especially the first one? Dad should have been killed by the fireball, but nope, he’s suddenly in the front yard with the kids. it looked almsot like he was rejected.
That made me wonder if the women are dead, or if something is collecting them, in a splashy FX kind of way. The setup left questions. Maybe that’s a good thing.
cbawlmer That’s good to know. He’s played some nasty roles, hasn’t he? When I saw his name in the credits, I hoped he’d be a recurring character.
I agree about the dialogue, but it is what it is, and I think I’ll enjoy it if I judge it on that basis. I’m not expecting Mamet, or even Joss Whedon here.
But what you describe sounds like a blend of the aforementioned Vanishing Hitchiker and La Llorona. La Llorona is a legend of the American southwest and Mexico centered on the ghost of of a woman who drowned her child and then committed suicide by leaping into the river.
Didn’t see this thread when I started mine, so I’ll reiterate…it’s a good concept for a show, and the writing wasn’t TOO horrible, but the guy who plays Dean, the older brother, just sucked as an actor. The younger brother wasn’t THAT much better—hell, none of the actors was that good—but the guy who played Dean made me cringe whenever he delivered a line.
I liked it much better than I thought I would. I knew something was gonna be wrong with the girlfriend, because otherwise he was going to stay and go to law school. But, I thought her death would have something to do with the ghost.
I wasn’t sure if it was more of an X-Files or Angel or Buffy rip-off. And I had been under the impression that part of the reason Angel was cancelled was to bring in a third new version of Dark Shadows. But then, watching this, I felt like it was developed to compete with the new Night Stalker.
It was lacking the wit and humor of a Whedon show. And the Scully and Mulder reference was like saying, In case you’re old enough to remember a great supernatural show (as in, older than 18), we’re here to rip it off. And the one character is just way too young for anyone to take seriously as a paranormal “expert”. And chasing after their dad, is just like Mulder chasing after his vanished sister.
It seems like a show that you see on Sunday afternoon in syndication, like Poltergeist: The Legacy, which no one watches but it continues year after year, as if to fill some sort of scheduling void.
There are a bunch of new supernatural-themed shows this fall, so I’ll be curious to see which one is the best.
What happens in the last few minutes. The show went off the air by mistake with a local commercial. Oops! The are gonna repeat it on Friday but still!!
How did it end? The younger brother’s girlfriend was killed in the same way as his mother, just as he was arriving back home. He decided to skip the Stanford interview and go hunting with his brother. They have a clue about where dad might be. I didn’t watch the previews for next week. (They usually give too much away.)
My favorite part was when the fact that they finance their monster-hunting adventures using bad credit cards. A lesser show would have:
Made them independently wealthy
Left viewers to wonder how the hell they pay for all the shit they do given that it would be exceedingly difficult to keep a job given their insane schedule
What they’re doing is illegal, but at least it’s creative.
My favorite part was the end, because it meant that the show was over. This was IMO a craptacular, thoroughly unoriginal, cliche-ridden piece of garbage.
