# Sleepy Hollow **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020 "2013-09-17T01:55:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/1 "2013-09-17T01:55:34Z")
With all the hype this thing has gotten, it had better be the greatest show I’ve ever seen. So far it’s pretty predictable. Not only that, it’s only the first episode and they’ve basically given away the entire story arc already. Seriously, a little mystery can go a long way. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/2 "2013-09-17T01:57:08Z")
Yeah, watching. Have to see if it improves. Too much exposition already. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/3 "2013-09-17T02:01:28Z")
I just watched and think it deserves a couple more episodes to make a decision. I was entertained and think it has promise. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/4 "2013-09-17T02:03:37Z")
I watched it. Not very impressed. And of course my Pro-Hessian instincts are annoyed that HH wears a British Redcoat. Of course the US audience is too dumb to distinguish Prussian Blue outfits from the Continental Blues. I get the feeling this is going to be a lot of ‘who is the secret cultist’. Creepy thing in the mirror though. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/5 "2013-09-17T02:18:51Z")
They showed the premiere on a plane over the weekend. For something to watch on a plane it was fine, I’ll give it a small shot. Not so much for the episode but the mirror at the end hinted at possibly something interesting. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/6 "2013-09-17T02:19:01Z")
Not very impressive. I made the comment that it was going to be a lot like **Lost** – a constant audience tease that went nowhere. Later my wife said, in horror, “It’s not **Lost**! It’s [Zero Hour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hour_(2013_TV_series))!” Very by the book and not particularly imaginative. And the history was wildly inconsistent (Washington, for instance, never spent any time in the Hudson Valley of NY during the revolution). I have better things to watch with my TV time. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/7 "2013-09-17T02:41:30Z")
I bailed after the headless guy rode off on the horse. Could someone please tell me what the premise of the show is? I get that Ichabod Crane time-traveled to the present, but to what end? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/8 "2013-09-17T02:49:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not very impressive. I made the comment that it was going to be a lot like **Lost** – a constant audience tease that went nowhere. I’d say they are actually trying to avoid some of the Lost pitfalls by revealing a bunch so soon. Of course that throws a lot of the mystery out the window. Ichabob seems to adapt rather well. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/9 "2013-09-17T03:01:14Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I bailed after the headless guy rode off on the horse. Could someone please tell me what the premise of the show is? I get that Ichabod Crane time-traveled to the present, but to what end? There’s a struggle between good and evil, and (I’m predicting) almost everyone in Sleepy Hollow falls on one side or the other. The Horseman is “Death” of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The evil sect is assisting the Horseman and trying to bring forth the other three Horsemen in order to invoke the end of the world. Crane’s wife is a “good witch” who cast a spell on Crane so he could survive in a kind of magical stasis, but Crane and the Horseman are linked by blood (literally; their blood mixed together when they were each “killed” on the battlefield) so when someone resurrected the Horseman, Crane was revived as well. She appears to be still alive but trapped in some sort of magical otherworld. The rest of the series, I’m predicting, is going to be a lot of “who’s good and who’s evil,” lots of double-crossing and conspiracy, intermixed with a lot of flashbacks to the 18th century. Kind of a mix-up of elements from _Supernatural_, _Grimm_, and _Charmed_, with a dusting of _The X-Files_. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/10 "2013-09-17T06:12:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Later my wife said, in horror, “It’s not **Lost**! It’s [Zero Hour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hour_(2013_TV_series))!” It’s different than Zero Hour, though because this seems to know that it’s ridiculous, where Zero Hour (or at least the pilot) didn’t. It was vaguely interesting and intentionally funny enough that I’ll give it at least one more episode. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/11 "2013-09-17T08:02:26Z")
I thought it was a promising start. It didn’t blow me away, but it was sufficiently good to make me look forward to the next installment. I have to say, although it is in many ways admirable that they didn’t lay it on too thick with the usual “I am frightened by the huge iron birds in the sky and the demons living in the flashing little box” stuff that stories like this love to wallow in, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more. Both Ichabod and the bad guy hit the ground running SO fast. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/12 "2013-09-17T08:34:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not very impressive… > > Very by the book and not particularly imaginative. And the history was wildly inconsistent (Washington, for instance, never spent any time in the Hudson Valley of NY during the revolution). > > I have better things to watch with my TV time. Well, the Battle of White Plains took place only five miles inland (away from the Hudson shore) from Sleepy Hollow, and it was important that the Americans held off the British long enough to pull back their important equipment northward to safety. I’m almost sure Washington was physically present, but correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, sorry to hear it’s not a good show. I didn’t care much for the Depp/Ricci film of a decade-plus ago, either. I think it’s just one of those things which works best as literature, or as an animated feature for children/young folks. Not sure of this gives my opinion extra weight…but I happen to have been born in Sleepy Hollow (the town was then called North Tarrytown). ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/13 "2013-09-17T10:53:34Z")
I also thought they gave away too much - I’m kind of glad it is not all mystery, but that was a lot of info dump. I’ll give it another few episodes. The Village of Sleepy Hollow has a population of 144,000? That is a decent sized city! (The real Sleepy Hollow is ~10,000) Brian ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/14 "2013-09-17T11:47:20Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > With all the hype this thing has gotten, it had better be the greatest show I’ve ever seen. > > So far it’s pretty predictable. Not only that, it’s only the first episode and they’ve basically given away the entire story arc already. **Seriously, a little mystery can go a long way.** You know, I’m giving them a pass on this. A little mystery _does_ go a long way, but tv never, ever gets it right - they basically try to stretch things out and string viewers along until you no longer care. I’d rather they were up front about the story arc, and rely on the writers to make the journey interesting, rather than hope to shock me with some big reveal 5 years from now. In fact, my chief misgiving during the pilot was when Crane said the First and Second Witness would battle evil together for 7 years. Guys, I already know you want to milk the show until syndication, no need to foreshadow how long a run you’re hoping for - especially on Fox, the Kevorkian network. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/15 "2013-09-17T11:51:54Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I thought it was a promising start. It didn’t blow me away, but it was sufficiently good to make me look forward to the next installment. I have to say, although it is in many ways admirable that they didn’t lay it on too thick with the usual “I am frightened by the huge iron birds in the sky and the demons living in the flashing little box” stuff that stories like this love to wallow in, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more. Both Ichabod and the bad guy hit the ground running SO fast. I noted that they hinted at a bit of it in the previews where he seems surprised that pistols have more than one shot. But yeah, this is looking more like Ziva David’s tripping over US idioms as opposed to a genuine reaction to 250 freaking years of technology. I mean they had him playing with the automatic window in the car rather than “35 Miles in an hour?! Egad!” ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/16 "2013-09-17T12:24:18Z")
Maybe he was all “35 miles per hour! Egad” during his first car ride (which wasn’t shown). ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/17 "2013-09-17T12:57:39Z")
I thought that it was fairly entertaining. I will watch at least a few more episodes of the show. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/18 "2013-09-17T12:59:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “It’s not Lost! It’s Zero Hour!” Not true. I changed the channel about one minute into the first episode of _Zero Hour_. With _Sleepy Hollow_, I made it through the first episode, and will watch the second, although I’m not optimistic about a long-term relationship. Coincidentally, I watched another movie about the Apocalyse, _This Is The End_, last night. Funniest movie I’ve seen this year. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/19 "2013-09-17T13:21:28Z")
While I agree that it was a lot given away at the pilot, I found myself smiling through most of the episode and I’m looking forward to next week. I really liked the actor that plays Ichabod and it had just the right amount of bad stuff mixed in with a little humor and decent characters (at least as far as Crane, his sidekick and the police captain go). It’s not rocket science but it was entertaining for a network show. ---
**Author:** ![Phatt\_Ded\_AElvys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c77e96/32.png) [@Phatt\_Ded\_AElvys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatt_Ded_AElvys)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020/20 "2013-09-17T14:21:25Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > The Village of Sleepy Hollow has a population of 144,000? That is a decent sized city! (The real Sleepy Hollow is ~10,000) I guess [144,000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/144000_%28number%29) is a reference to the Book of Revelation (or “Revelations” according to the characters). I enjoyed it. It’s on my to watch list for now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sleepy-hollow/669020.md?page=2)