# Almost Human - Who's Watching? \[Open spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155 "2013-11-18T00:47:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/81 "2013-12-12T16:47:30Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I almost drowned in a sea of clichés. > > - Protagonist watching home-movie or equivalent of lost lady love over and over? Check. > - Gritty cop who doesn’t “follow rules?” Check > “- If it was good enough for my father, it’s good enough for me” dialogue? Check > - Coworker who is hostile to the protagonist for no apparent reason? Check. > - Set-up and execution of symbolic words/actions that show that protagonist is coming to accept sidekick? Check > - Shadowy bad-guy gang with name that is a synonym of “group” or “organization?” Check. > > There were many more, but those are the ones that spring to mind right now. I’m not sure if the bit where the android was making decisions on how to proceed in a crisis based on survival probabilities is a cliché exactly, but that bit felt like an I, Robot (movie) rip-off. > Nevertheless, put me in the “fair to middling, but has potential” group/organization/syndicate. I hope it doesn’t go too far into conspiracy land. > I’m glad they didn’t. Caves of Steel deserves a faithful adaptation. > > Besides, I didn’t feel like it had anything in common with Caves of Steel other than “cop who doesn’t like androids is forced to partner with one,” though I did find myself wondering if they were going to touch on the Laws of Robotics in some form. I’ve been watching it. I like it so far. Cliches don’t bother me. For God’s sake TV has been around long enough that I have to wonder what HASN’T been done? If you wanted a show with no cliches, no conflict, then it would get boring. What fun is a gritty cop who does follow the rules? Or a nice cop who doesn’t follow the rules? In other words you need the cliches to be there. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/82 "2013-12-14T01:36:29Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > I assumed John was late getting to the police building to undock Dorian from his charging station or something. You were right. And now Dorian wants to get his own place away from those “life-size Ken dolls.” 😃 They were creepy. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/83 "2013-12-16T16:35:09Z")
I like the show in general but this last episode was pretty silly. The whole case hinges on whether they can get a witness to testify if this guy was there for the first murder. But in the meantime, they’ve had his clones attack police officers (and they shot one of the clones and have his body as evidence), found the connection between him and the cloning doctor, etc. But the case still revolved around that witness testimony. Which isn’t even enough to really convict someone, with no other evidence, anyway. The inclusion of the psychic storyline was unnecessary and painfully stupid, with the obvious clichéd ending. The repetition of the “only use ten percent of our brains” myth is bad enough, but the idea that there’s some sort of medical treatment that can unlock magical powers is either a one time throw-away gimmick of a really important new discovery (like on how star trek they invent amazing technology every other week that has wide-ranging implications only to have everyone forget about it) or it’ll become part of the show and we’ll have to suffer through more of that drek. Either way, awful episode. I hope it’s a stinker in an otherwise pretty decent show. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/84 "2013-12-16T17:13:19Z")
Karl Urban seems to me to always be doing a Deforrest Kelly (Dr. McCoy) impression, which I find very irritating. He is very good at it, but he’s no beans and bourbon. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/85 "2013-12-16T17:58:56Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The inclusion of the psychic storyline was unnecessary and painfully stupid, with the obvious clichéd ending. The repetition of the “only use ten percent of our brains” myth is bad enough, but the idea that there’s some sort of medical treatment that can unlock magical powers is either a one time throw-away gimmick of a really important new discovery (like on how star trek they invent amazing technology every other week that has wide-ranging implications only to have everyone forget about it) or it’ll become part of the show and we’ll have to suffer through more of that drek. Either way, awful episode. I hope it’s a stinker in an otherwise pretty decent show. _cough_ I think you may possibly have missed that said woman was implied to be off her rocker. She wasn’t psychic: she was simply having a hard time dealing with grief. The treatment may have affected her and given her the ability to pick up on subtle cues, but that’s it. She’s cold-reading people. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/86 "2013-12-16T18:04:59Z")
I would’ve been fine with the ambiguity (although I still don’t care for such storylines), but during the end - the woman in red, people running, the bourbon - it’s not meant to be ambiguous, it’s the sort of soft confirmation tripe that we get with every Hollywood story whenever people with magical powers deal with skeptics. The story clearly told us that she had real magic. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/87 "2013-12-17T15:56:46Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I like the show in general but this last episode was pretty silly. I agree. The episodes have been hit or miss so far, but I’m still enjoying it quite a bit and I still feel it has a lot of potential. Unless it really goes down the tubes, they’ll have me as a viewer for as long as it stays on the air.\* I think in order for the show to really gel the creators need to figure out what the show is really _about_. What themes is it exploring? What is the meta-story? (I haven’t seen last night’s episode yet, BTW, so if the themes are starting to develop, disregard the above) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/88 "2013-12-18T02:23:50Z")
I think all the episodes have been great so far. Man i hope this doesn’t get cancelled, any word on the ratings? ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/89 "2013-12-20T07:05:04Z")
I watched the latest episode tonight and really liked it. The second half of the season returns after the holidays. I found this regarding the ratings: "Luckily for News Corp, Almost Human appears to be stacking up fairly well so far given its first official live plus 7-day figures released Tuesday. Thanks to DVR playback in its first seven days, Almost Human’s debut episode was watched by another 3.4 million people, helping it gain 1.4 points in the 18-49 demo and good for a 45% boost to a final 4.5 rating. To be sure, that ratings gain on a percentage basis wasn’t particularly outstanding given the debut episode’s already large number of viewers. On an absolute basis, however, Almost Human’s first live plus 7-day ratings boost ranked higher than any other show that night." > **['Almost Human' Ratings Don't Tell the Whole Story | The Motley Fool](https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/05/almost-human-ratings-dont-tell-the-whole-story.aspx#.UrPpytIy6ME)** > > "Almost Human" ratings have fallen with each passing week, but here's why News Corp and Fox won't be dropping the new show anytime soon. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and hopefully a second one. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/90 "2013-12-20T07:16:47Z")
I should point out that the ratings info is from Dec. 5 which was before the last two episodes. I think the last two were very good. Hopefully, so did others and the ratings will reflect that. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/91 "2014-03-06T01:30:39Z")
The season finale has aired. What did you all think of Season 1? As for me, I loved it. Overall, it got better and better over the course of the season, and I can’t wait until the next one. Funny to look at the early discussion and see which of our predictions panned out and which didn’t! > [@shiftless](#): > > I’m not sure how long they can keep up the banter between the two leads before it gets old. Apparently, for the whole season. 🙂 Dorian’s constant dicking on Kennex in that calm zen-like voice is the best part of the show. “I’m sorry I scanned your balls.” Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/92 "2014-03-06T02:11:05Z")
I loved it and think it is the best new show in years. I’ll be sad if it does not get renewed. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155/93 "2014-03-06T02:32:08Z")
I enjoyed this first season quite a bit. Karl Urban and Michael Ealy both have a lot of charisma. The tech guy is good comic relief (loved him on The Office), and the sci-fi aspects of the stories are pretty well done. tvbythenumbers has it as a “toss up” between renewal/cancellation [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-human-whos-watching-open-spoilers/674155.md?page=4)