This weekend, I got the opportunity to do something I rarely get to: watch a show from the very beginning. The show is called Falling Skies and it airs on TNT, Sundays at 9PM CST. I watched the entire 2 hour premier (for those of you who didn’t, catch it at the end of the article) and I was taken aback by how gripping TNT’s new hit series is.
The series opens up with the back story of the alien invasion, which is a well-thought out and methodical plan. The show is held together by a series of elements that are brought together beautifully to provide an incredibly solid summer action show. The aliens destroy cities and military bases, and capture kids using a biotic harness to enslave them. The human population is left scrambling to survive and without answers as to who these aliens are and why they are here.
FALLING SKIES opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.
Falling Skies is a thriller in all senses of the word. The amazing thing is that the show did not feel like a regular television show, but a full-fledged movie, documenting the details of a civilization attempting to survive extinction. Awesome effects and the creative direction taken with the aliens and their mechs gives a twists to the dry alien-invasion scene we’re all used to, add that to plot twists and a gripping story line and you’ve got an incredibly solid TV show.
The great thing about Falling Skies is that though the visuals are engrossing, the plot is equally good. As the show progresses the viewer develops an almost unreal connection to each of the main characters..enough to be as enraged and puzzled by the unannounced alien invasion..but not so much to be bored by melodramatic scenes or cheesy romance plots.
Falling Skies is poised to be one of the hottest shows on television right now, filling the void between HBO’s True Blood and Game of Thrones.
If you need even more convincing, check out the all-star talent that is behind the new hit show:
FALLING SKIES is executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, along with DreamWorks Television heads Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank, Graham Yost (Justified, The Pacific) and screenwriter Robert Rodat. Rodat, who earned an Oscar® nomination for his screenplay for Saving Private Ryan, wrote the pilot from an idea he co-conceived with Spielberg. Mark Verheiden (Heroes, Battlestar Galactica) and Greg Beeman (Heroes, Smallville) are co-executive producers. The pilot was directed by Carl Franklin (One False Move, Out of Time).
For those of you like me who are already enraptured by the show, you can keep up with all things Falling Skies via Twitter(@FallingSkiesTNT) as well as their Web Comic and check out the cool gear they’ve got at the Web Store. You also will wanna check out the interactive Last Defense experience which is a great way to see a post-apocalyptic view of your neighborhood.
