I just saw 1st ep of True Calling (minor spoilers)

Cafe Society
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This is the reason Eliza Dushku didn’t want to star in a spin off about vampire slaying. Do I understand her? Yes. Is it any good? Well, it’s OK. It’s at least enough to do an OP that’ll vanish from sight quickly.

Spoiler for the concept of the show: It’s been well publicised, but I’m using one of them damn boxes anyway. It’s two months till this airs. The show is a mix of Groundhog Day and Profiler. True Davies gets a summer job at the City Morgue where dead people talk to her and she then relives that same day, trying to save them

I bet the writers and producers of the show thought they were clever dreamin up the concept. I think it’s kinda boring and will get stale pretty soon. Having only seen the pilot, I can’t find a hint about a longer story arc. But then, that’s always not evident from watching just one episode.

The show is well done, with ok production values, but nothing spectacular. Dushku does a good job, of course, and she’s looking better than ever. Though the gratuitous cleavege shots in the first couple of scenes were a bit too much. I was expecting her boobies to fall out. Not that I would mind. Dushku has a great body, which seems to be all natural, but it was still too much. I bet we’re gonna see a lot of clips from those scenes in the trailers.

The pilot hints at interactions with people in her everyday life: family, boyfriend ASF. However, those characters are too cartoonish to engage my brain in their stories.

spoiler about plot elements: [spoiler] It will pretty soon get boring if True is going to hear a voice from a dead person every week, and then spending the rest of the episode trying to save that person, while interacting with:

  • Hunky, studly boyfriend
  • Sloppy brother with gambling problem
  • Sister with drug addiction
  • Best male friend carrying a torch for her
    There’s simply too many cardboard characters that we’ve seen in too many shows and movies.[/spoiler]

Would I tune in next week? Yeah, if nothing else is interesting, and if I’ve got the TV on. And of course to ogle Eliza, who’s a babe in a major way. Looking at a pretty girl will, however, never be my main reason for watching a tv show.

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Gaspode, I heard that the pilot has been reworked and at least the best male friend carrying a torch for her has been scrapped Also it’s possible that The love interest in the pilot is also scrapped and a new one is being introduced.
Don’t know about the veracity of these reports though–always hard to tell with spoilers this early in the summer.

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Pepperlandgirl

The boyfriend, who’s some sort of teacher at the college True just graduated from, has about three whole lines. I really don’t see the reason he was in the show. The male friend designs videogames and is True’s Giles or Willow, i.e. the guy she turns to for research, a hacker, who can access just about anything and come up with shorthand answers to keep the action moving.
I know this is not the final version, considering the half transparent big letters over the screen “Pilot - not to air”, but still, it’s a full fledged, full length show complete with credits, cuts for commercials ASF. And it does convey the feel of the show, and I’m not overly impressed.
I would be glad if your spoilers are true.
Still, I think that Dusku’s decision makes sense. This is her very own show, not stepping into someone else’s shoes. And even if Dushku is good with the dramatic stuff, I’ve never seen a comedic side to her, that would be crucial for a Buffy spin off. She would fit in with the darker theme in Ats, though, but I bet getting your own show beats that.

BTW, what kinda of schedule are you on? Isn’t it before dawn over where you’re at? :smiley: