[07/10/08 - 12:41 AM]
By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)



For our final two weeks, we're going to shift gears a little and look at the scripts for 10 high-concept projects in the works for midseason. All of them have just started or recently completed production so it may be some time before we hear when and if they make the cut.

As always a lot can change from what's on the page right now but we couldn't resist taking a peek.

(written by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow; 66 pages)

The network's description: No official description was released.

What did they leave out: ABC originally picked up the project with a blind six-episode commitment.


What works: To its credit, there's a lot of interesting ideas at work here. The script suggests that people like Tiger Woods, Garry Kasparov and Michel Gondry are "alphas" themselves - able to do extraordinary things due to unique traits in their brain structure. All of the alphas we meet then are along the same lines. They don't shoot optic blasts or pop claws from their fists, their gifts are much more grounded to the real world. Harken is what the Hulk would be in the real world, Rachel is what Black Bolt would be in the real world and so on. The show also amusingly attempts (more on this in a second) to contrast the usually slick, secretive world of black ops with having Section 8 be set up in an office building in New Jersey where everyone bickers like regular 9-to-5ers. Likewise, the story is cleverly framed as Rosen writes a book about working for Section 8 (on an old Smith Corona daisy wheel no less)... a book which he knows he can never actually publish.

What doesn't: While the ideas are there, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Penn and Karnow's script never stops telling you what you're reading is the coolest and most amazing thing you've ever laid eyes on. It's the screenplay equivalent of telling and not showing. (Sample: "The line between what is possible and what is real will be razor thin on this show, as evidenced in the following montage.") Great scripts don't need that kind of direction. The words and actions should say it for you. This brings us back to the previous point about contrasting the black ops world with Section 8's "office" backdrop. Kind of fun idea right? But we never actually see or hear the characters behaving as such. Instead we get the notation: "The world of the office should feel improvisational in tone, hyper-real, even mundane at points; a sharp contrast with some of the extraordinary things we will see." The show's real flaw however is that none of the characters are particularly interesting nor are the stories really that compelling. It's just another by-the-numbers, "welcome to the secret organization" show. Some potentially neat ideas for sure...

The bottom line: ...but nothing that can save it from itself.

  [july 2008]  


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