"The Event" - a show that wants desperately to be riveting and intriguing

I was hoping the second episode would hook me, or at least get me more excited about "The Event." Alas, I'm still lukewarm on this show. But lukewarm is better than cold hatred, so I'm sticking with it for now.

I was really surprised that they decided to break out "not of terrestrial origin" in the second episode. So much for not embracing SciFi. That said, I'm still not intrigued by their human-looking aliens, why these aliens are here, what they're doing, are they good or bad, etc. I just suddenly feel like I'm watching the less promising bastard offspring of "V" and "Flashforward." There are aliens infiltrating our society for some unknown reason, there's a mysterious event that happened, and meanwhile Jason Ritter is off running around in the desert. The plane crash victims' untimely end surprised me, but I still feel like this show is incredibly scatter-brained. We know that Jason Ritter's missing girlfriend/plane crash storyline is somehow connected to the alien prisoners, but I just don't care because they're going to have to take some giant leaps to connect the conspiracies. I don't know what the plane stunt was for, but I highly doubt the answer is going to be anywhere close to satisfying. These days, shows write giant mysteries to hook viewers then write themselves into corners because they didn't think to develop an eventual conclusion to their narrative. The result is unhappy, bitter viewers who are less willing to trust the Next Big Show. After "Invasion," "Flashforward," "Heroes", and "The Nine," we're just less willing to commit and put our faith in the showrunners. Additionally, the fractured timeline is needlessly confusing and isn't adding much of anything to the show. There are bits and pieces of character development, (Jason Ritter meeting his girlfriend, the CIA agent who is an undercover alien) but not enough at any one time to make us care especially about any one character.

I will say this for the show: I can't help but like Jason Ritter as the sort-of protagonist. Yeah, he hasn't done anything really spectacular or heroic yet, but he does have that Everyman quality every critic has been mentioning. But I could just be getting that impression because I haven't seen him in many things. I think the show needs to stick with him for a little bit as the main protagonist to get us invested in at least one person's business, then they can add on all the other characters they want in more depth. If they narrow the focus from this epic scale a la "Flashforward" and give us a more intimate look at one man's struggle to find the woman he loves while being wrongfully accused of murder, they could just make viewers care about the vast conspiracy. I really think they should take some tips from an older, semi under-the-radar SciFi show, "The 4400." They managed a big mysterious event that changed the entire world while focusing on fascinating characters. That show made you care about what happened to their fictional world because you cared about the people in it. If "The Event" can focus more on its characters and less on its EVENT, then it will turn out to be a much better show. Oh, and if they could get someone to write dialogue that doesn't sound like it was written by a high schooler, it would be greatly appreciated.

"Brothers & Sisters" returns to a Walker family in mourning

I'm one of the few people left who still watches and enjoys "Brothers & Sisters," but I don't care. At this point, it really is comfort food. I can just relax with the Walker family, people I've known for years now. I actually have some hopes for this season since they finally got rid of the Ojai storyline. That really bogged down the show the past few years and I'm hoping they will use the new Ojai-less, one-year-hence show to make some interesting stories for the family.

A one year jump into the future is an easy way to just skip over all the initial grieving. Sure, the family still needed to confront their grief this episode but the shock of it all had worn off. I liked that they jumped forward rather than let themselves get trapped in what plenty of other shows (especially on ABC) do - you get a dramatic, traumatic season finale in May but then you have to deal with the results of the trauma in the fall. Just this season alone, look no further than "Dexter," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Private Practice" for starters. I liked that we just skipped on ahead and brought Justin in, of all Walkers, to shake everyone out of their limbo state. Justin has always been my least favorite Walker because he's whiny and immature. It looks like he finally got the army bug out of his system so he can stop whining about how his life had purpose back in the Middle East but at home he's useless. I'm hoping this new, mature Justin sticks around and fights for his wife. Speaking of Rebecca, she had a perfectly legitimate reason to leave him. There's a giant accident, her mom nearly dies but survives with what appears to be brain damage or convenient TV amnesia, and then her husband just takes off. The poor girl is completely justified and Justin has a lot to make up for if they're ever going to get back together. And you know what? I hope they do, because I actually like them as a couple. Their biggest obstacle was always Justin's immaturity and I'd like to see more stable, adult relationships on this show. I'm not sure if Emily VanCamp is coming back to the show or not yet, so checking up on that would answer how their relationship is going to turn out.

I enjoyed the inversion of the usual Walker chaos. Until Justin came in, they were just staying away from so many taboo subjects that they weren't talking to each other. He made a good point that they need to be yelling at each other to show that they're invested in each others' lives. Nora's silence was the most obvious, since she's normally the first one to rile up her kids. Sarah was justified in saying Justin couldn't come back and just judge everyone for dealing with issues he ran away from, but in the end Justin was necessary to remind everyone who they really are. We've had a whole summer to say goodbye to Robert, but I'm still going to miss him on this show. He was redeemed a lot with Kitty's cancer storyline and I still liked having him around as another non-Walker family member.

On random other notes, I liked the quips about Luc's underwear ad. I missed Kevin and Sarah's banter, so it was nice to hear a few jokes amidst such a dark episode. I'm not sure what Sarah is going to do with the Narrow Lake money or what she's going to do for a living now, but I'm hoping we don't end up with another Ojai situation where they think a Family Business will be the only way to keep the family together. My last question, aside from where Sarah's kids are, is why does Nora have a job? Perhaps I'm just forgetting, but did she encounter money problems last year? Or did she just want something to do, to distract her from all the misery post-accident? Either way, I'm glad to have "Brothers & Sisters" back. Many people have jumped ship, and it's not the hot new thing anymore, but I don't think it's absolute crap yet. It's enjoyable in its own way, especially if you've been tuning in all along.

"Fringe" Premiere - A Tale of Two Olivias

"Fringe" finally came back on Thursday with its premiere episode "Olivia." The episode completely blew me away. After two seasons, the show has finally lived up to its promise and become a fantastically complex, fantastically smart, fantastically well-done SciFi show. The premiere focused on Olivia in the alternate universe trying to escape and get home. The note it ended on was absolutely chilling. One of the things I loved about this episode was its focus on Olivia Dunham, who is my new favorite female hero on TV. I love Anna Torv's performance as Olivia because she's quiet and humble but strong, determined and utterly kickass. And while beautiful, she's not some hot actress in that she's unbelievable as an FBI agent. Olivia Dunham seems like a real person.

The nefarious government from the alternate universe found a way to implant Fauxlivia's memories into our Olivia, in an effort to make her their own agent. This development was so disturbing and I never expected them to take it as far as they did. I thought she would somehow get back home and then little memories would creep in from Fauxlivia. I didn't expect the full-on memory switch that happened and caused her to 'reunite' with the alternate Fringe division. My only question is how she isn't having a massive psychotic breakdown now. They said they were implanting Fauxlivia's memories, but they didn't say anything about taking away the preexisting memories. Or perhaps they were replacing her memories wholesale with Fauxlivia's memories? In which case I am curious as hell to figure out how they are going to get her out of this. I'm sure they can come up with some sciency mumbo jumbo but how on earth are they going to make it believable that they can just switch her back? It's going to be even more difficult to tell the two Olivias apart now that they tattooed our Olivia. I guess they'll just have to wait until her natural blonde hair roots appear through her dye job.

Meanwhile, Fauxlivia is back in our universe hanging with Walter and kissing Peter. Speaking of hair, how is she explaining not coloring her hair back to its normal color? Maybe she just likes it? Or doesn't have the time? Because I'd think our Olivia would want to be back to herself as soon as possible. But that's a minor detail. I want to know when Walter, Astrid, Broyles, or Peter will start noticing she's different. Peter noticed Fauxlivia's differences before, he should notice again, even if she puts on an act. She is in an alternate universe, after all. I'm also still dying to know how she's coping being on our side. She's meant to be an undercover agent infiltrating our side, but she has to notice more and more that we're not evil creatures bent on the destruction of the alternate universe. It's merely ignorance on our part that our actions in this universe have consequences in another. There is no war, as Walternate claims. Just ignorance. It's dilemmas like this that make me love "Fringe."

ABC Wednesday - the many flavors of sitcoms (from awful to awesome)

"The Middle"
Cut above the average sitcom, but still no 'Modern Family'
I caught a few episodes of this at the end of the last season and was mildly amused by it. It's the attempt to make a sitcom about a lower middle class family struggling to make it in the Midwest. I do like the addition that it's set in Indiana (not just because that's where I'm currently located), because it's nice to have a show that isn't set in California, New York, or Texas. Other states do exist, and not just as comedic fodder when someone wants to set a show or movie in "the sticks." Setting it in the Midwest makes is more relatable. However, I wasn't very impressed by their premiere. I thought they had better episodes in their first season. There were a few things I enjoyed, like the metaphor about class level as having an "above-ground pool" life vs. an "in-ground pool" life. The biggest laugh moment for me was when the mother runs after her son's discarded backpack that was put in the dump truck, yelling "Stop, my son's best friend is in there!" I also liked the mother urging the kids to go outside and enjoy the summer, only to find them shooting arrows into their pool where she immediately yells at them to go back inside and watch TV.

I don't think this show is as non-stop hilarious as "Modern Family," but it's good for a chuckle or two. One of the downsides of it, though, is this show makes me never ever want to have children. The parents are stressed and exhausted trying to support three weirdo kids and it's like they were forced to take on this horrible burden and they're just barely getting by. Their daughter is incredibly annoying. I'm sure this is all more relatable if you are a parent with irritating yet endearing children and understand the "reward of parenthood." Also, I hate the overused "precocious child says humorous, worldly things" character, so I'm glad 2/3 of their children aren't like that. My last complaint is even more valid since I live in the Midwest and know how inaccurate this is - TV shows NEVER pay attention to when the sun is out and when it isn't. If your entire family gets up to have breakfast at 6:54 in the morning, the sun is not out and shining like it's noon! Yes, it's a tiny thing, but it annoys me to no end. It would even work in the storyline, if your kids are complaining about getting up early, and they could comment that the sun isn't even up yet so that day hasn't started, so why should they, etc. I guess I would feel differently if I worked on the lighting crew.

"Better With You"
More like 'Better Without You'
I keep having to correct myself - this is not the Kelsey Grammar sitcom "Back to You" and it's not the "Will & Grace" fictional soap "Along Came You." Unfortunately, after viewing the painfully mundane pilot, I'm still unlikely to remember which is which. I had faith that ABC might be able to fill that one last slot with one more quality comedy, but that was clearly asking too much. "Better With You" is exactly like every other standard sitcom in that you have a grating laugh track and obvious set-up/immediate punchline structure that aims for big laughs. I guess it's good someone is laughing, even if it's a fake laugh track. Some of the punchlines were slightly humorous and chuckle-inducing, but the intrusive anonymous boisterous laughter quickly killed any chortles.

This show had that frantic, nervous, mile-a-minute pace that lots of sitcoms have, like there are people offstage with guns ready to shoot any actor who doesn't COMMIT and deliver laughs. Or maybe they're going so fast so they can deliver rapidfire punchlines - when you can't deliver any solid jokes, just deliver multiple quick awful ones and maybe they'll add up to a real laugh! Great lines like "How do I look?" "Not fat!" go by quickly so you don't tend to linger on how painful they really are. You can move on to the next joke about Ben becoming "Uncle Ben." You know, like the rice? Har har har. It seemed like there were a lot of pop-culture jokes too, perhaps in an effort to be topical or relatable. On top of it all, the actors were incredibly bland sitcom people, hardly distinguishable from one another. Except for the fact that the blonde girl's voice sounded remarkably similar to Sarah Chalke's (aka Elliot Reed from "Scrubs.") Anyway, if you love sitcoms with tired jokes and you have a really short attention span, you'll love this show.

"Modern Family"
Back and Better Than Ever The highlight of the night. This show is so smart and perfectly crafted that it just makes you happy. More than just providing a chuckle here and there, it really does resonate (in addition to delivering laugh after laugh). It has heart without becoming saccharine and gets big laughs without hitting you over the head with cheesy punchlines. After watching something like "Better With You" where I felt like I lost brain cells just listening to it, "Modern Family" truly is a breath of fresh air. A recap of the plot would be mundane, so I'm going to just list the best moments.

• Claire telling Phil to get rid of their old car. Claire: "We're not giving it to Hayley. It's way too easy to fit a mattress in the back." Phil: "Remember?" (Perfect comic timing here)


• Phil: "You can insult a lot of things about me...but don't insult my selling. That crosses a line. What line? Oh, you don't see it? That's because I just sold it!"
  
  
• Cam: "Every home-improvement project we've undertaken has been a near-death experience." "If an accident does happen, I hope he kills me, because I don't think I would be a very inspiring disabled person."


• Phil's mnemonic devices to remember names. "He looked like that drummer from Foreigner, a foreigner is from France, which rhymes with ants, ants ruin a picnic, which rhymes with - 'hi, Nick!'"


• Claire feeling nostalgic. "Look at them - a minute ago they were babies, and now they're driving, and soon we'll all be dead.


• Jay remembering building bookshelves with Mitchell. "That was my Vietnam. And I was in Vietnam."


• Luke finding a picture of his Mom at the Rose Bowl parade. "Mom you looked really pretty. So what happened?"..."I mean, what happened in the game?"


• Mitchell saying "in cahoots."


• Sofia Vergara's accent. Other shows would rely solely on that to make her funny, but she's talented as a comedian anyway. But her accent still makes her lines that much funnier.


• The Dunphy family catastrophe in the car. That was so well executed. The chaos of that scene was fantastic, my favorite being Hayley continuously stepping on Phil's seatbelt, choking him. "What's the plan Phil?!" "At least I'm trying to do something!"
  
  
• Manny and his dating. "We like to play Six Degrees of Sir Francis Bacon."


• Phil selling the car in the end, explaining how you sell by leaving out key points. "They don't make them like this anymore...for legal reasons!"


• The bird flying into the princess castle with Mitchell trapped inside. Hilarious reference to last season.
  

"Cougar Town"
The overlooked gem of a relationship sitcom (that refuses to ditch the misleading name)
Seeing the title card come up with "(Still) Cougar Town" was a perfect way to start the episode. Yeah, it's keeping the crummy title, but it's still the same show underneath. If you're lucky enough to get past that, you're rewarded with a great end to the night. I didn't really like the stunt casting of Jennifer Aniston, because it was just to get "Friends" fans in there, but she was alright. I just hate stunt casting that leaves fans of the actor loving it but regular fans of the show wondering why the show is acting out of character. But the rest of the episode was great, and I'll go ahead and list the great moments here too.

• (Still) Cougar Town. That was a great, small way to address the title issue.


• Travis asking the adults about their new game. "How is that a drinking game?" "Because we drink while we do it!"


• "Adios alkies."


• "Graysonship."


• Dan Byrd in general as Travis. They keep talking about him leaving for college but I hope so badly he isn't actually leaving the show. He's amazing here and a great contrast for all the wine-drinking, sexed up adults.


• "Esteves Festeves." "I'm thinking about re-inventing myself in college." There were a few too many 80s references from Travis. Not that many people that age are as obsessed with the 80s as, say, I am, so it's obviously the writers wanting to reference their childhood. It just gets inserted into the show a little awkwardly by having characters make references that are way too old for them. Not that I mind it too much.


• Aniston asking about Jules' boyfriend. "Didn't he try to choke you? I must be confusing him with another patient." Am I crazy, or was that totally a "Grey's Anatomy" reference?


• The movie game. Fantastic.


• Laurie talking to Travis about college. Laurie: "Please tell me by 'all-nighters' you mean partying and not studying." "Can't it be both?"


• He didn't get much time this episode, but I still love Bobby. He could get one line and it would still be hilarious.


• Grayson in the tree. "You're really bald from up here!" to Andy.


• Laurie and Ellie. "Imaginary hat." [mimes tipping a hat] "Imaginary opera gloves. [mimes putting on gloves] What is this, what are we doing?"


• The incense smoke in the later scene with Aniston.


• Big Joe. Why do they even bother pouring the wine into glasses anymore?


• The giant Dog Travis is still a great sight gag.


• Bobby's David Caruso.


• "Al Gore does a powerpoint presentation on Madonna's naked body." "An Inconvenient Truth or Dare!"


• Aniston's anger exercises. "My anger is a puddle and I step out of it."

"Nikita" - pretty people fighting and a whole lot of familiar faces.

It's always fun around this time to see where actors end up. Each season you get shows that are inundated with familiar faces who aren't famous enough to land their own vehicles but not insignificant enough to drop into obscurity. "The Event" was practically its own drinking game of "hey, it's that guy" moments. Likewise, "Nikita" employs plenty of faces who bounce around TV that you'll recognize if you watch a lot.

I never watched the original "La Femme Nikita" or the movie so I'm not going to even try to compare the two. This modern update stands on its own so you really don't need to know the franchise's past. Maggie Q plays the titular Nikita who is forced into being an assassin by the mysterious Division and goes rogue after they kill her boyfriend. Another plotline involves young new "recruit" Alex who is being introduced to life at Division. She's more than just the audience surrogate, luckily, as lots of exposition comes from Nikita herself. The cast is pretty good so far, certainly better than you'd expect from the average CW show. I still love Maggie Q and she has the chops to back up her ass-kicking ways. Her acting is nothing brilliant, but it's not awful either. It was also nice to see Aaron Stanford, even if he is relegated to the obligatory computer nerd role as Birkhoff. I constantly need to remind myself lately that I'm one of, like, 12 people who actually saw (and loved) ABC's "Traveler" so I'll just say his best-known work is his role as Pyro in the "X-Men" movies. I'm glad he got to be a bit of a badass, although I hope his entire role on the show isn't to sit behind computers and track people. Melinda Clarke of "CSI" and "The OC" fame plays a leader in Division and seems like a good fit for the show. It took me forever to remember where I knew Xander Berkeley, who plays Division leader Percy, from - as George Mason on "24."

The only actor I had a problem with was Shane West as Michael, the Division operative tasked with dealing with the Nikita situation. I think he was really miscast in this role, partly because he seems too young for it. West is 32, but I just don't think he looks mature enough for the part. There can't be too much of an age difference, I suppose, if they want to make a history between Michael and Nikita, but he just doesn't command the authority that his character requires. He plays assholes well, but a little facial scruff and a rough voice don't a gritty performance make.

My one problem out of the way, I have to say I enjoyed this show. Granted, my expectations weren't high because it's on the CW and it's a remake of an old show, but then again "Supernatural" is on the CW and "Battlestar Galactica" was a remake of an old show. It's just nice to be pleasantly surprised, especially after watching the bland "The Event" last night. The dialogue isn't a huge step up, especially with the cringeworthy "this is war" line from Percy, but the narrative is solid so far. I thought it was an good pilot that was a nice mix of action and set-up. I didn't actually see the big twist coming, that the new recruit Alex is actually going undercover in Division for Nikita. I was expecting Birkhoff to somehow become her mole on the inside after she captured him and voiced her ideas about taking down Division. But it's nice to have Alex as the mole since they'll underestimate the new girl. I'd like to know more about her history, especially after they threw in that random thing about her Ukrainian past. I also think they cast her well as she actually looks like a young kid acting tough.

I enjoyed the action, but I hope they get a little more creative with it. I'd love to see them do what "Chuck" does where they add flavor and character to their fight scenes, using different environments, objects, and styles to create unique action sequences. Maggie Q can certainly handle it. I'm not going to take the show to task for not being fun enough though since they're going for a more serious tone and I'm okay with that. As long as they have riveting stories and characters to go with it, and I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt there.

I still need to catch up on the second episode before the third airs on Thursday, but it looks like this will be an entertaining romp this season. It may be too dark or serious for some people, or not dark and serious enough, but this is the CW, not TNT or USA. I still highly recommend it.

"The Event" - It's the next 'Lost'!

I had to title it that because you know it's what they wanted to market it as, but after the abysmal failures of "The Nine" and "Flashforward," they didn't want to go that far. But the "Lost" vibe is what it's going for, and it's no surprise that it's no "Lost."
Take the crazy crisis situations, minority President and Jack Bauer tactics of "24," add in elements of the first, second, and fourth "Die Hard" movies, multiply it by "Lost" with all its vague mysteries, throw in a little "Independence Day" action hero and "need to know" dialogue, add a whole lot of "Flashforward"'s ambitions, and "Flashforward"'s, "The Nine"'s and "The 4400"'s emphasis on a big occurrence, and you've got NBC's "The Event." I was struggling to find something, anything, that was original or at least a fresh spin on tried and true elements of the mystery/SciFi genres, but I don't recall finding any. So many elements just felt lifted from other projects with recognized, recently free actors thrown in. The dialogue was nothing special and downright irritating in the scenes with the politicians, where they talked in broad, noble rhetoric without any real arguments on the situation they were discussing. No one character had any distinct personality which made it hard to care about any of them in particular. "Lost"'s main strength was their characters and I give them all due respect for creating realistic, distinctive, multi-dimensional, morally ambiguous characters.


I'm suspecting I've become jaded after being let down by "Heroes," "Flashforward," and "Lost." Again and again, I've learned that the payoff is hardly worth the investment so you have to be content with the journey. The problem is when you get shows like this that so emphasize the mystery primarily, (it's called "The Event" after all. And no matter what fans say, "Lost" was unique and lit up the fanbase because of its mysteries) you have to hope they have a good plan for the mystery and they aren't just stringing you along.

"Flashforward," "Lost," and it looks like "The Event" as well all had the same problem for me. I feel like they were terrified of outright embracing their SciFi side. Executives still think SciFi could never be mainstream, so I get this feeling that these shows skirt SciFi, insisting on bizarre mysteries to draw in viewers but not going deep enough into the SciFi realm to give satisfying payoff to their mysteries. Everything stays in this vague middle-ground where they try to please everyone.

Regarding the event itself, I hate the whole "too soon to reference real-life terrorism in pop culture" argument, but it still bothers me a little to see a hijacked plane getting flown into a building in a fictional setting. It wasn't fun watching Clark Kent burn down twin towers on "Smallville" and it wasn't fun watching a plane plummeting to the ground on "The Event." I guess using planes gives you an automatic, built-in anxiety about the situation due to real-life plane crashes/hijackings and fictional ones. Still, when you name a show "The Event," I expect a little something bigger than a strange occurrence during a plane hijacking. This just felt like an old episode of "The Twilight Zone." So did they go through a wormhole? Was is some weird, man-made technology like on "Flashforward?" Were they transported through time like in "The Twilight Zone" or "The 4400?" Is everyone on the plane dead and now in purgatory, getting prepped for their journey to heaven? (I couldn't resist.) Did they just get transported somewhere else on Earth? That seems unlikely since the plane still would have crashed, just somewhere else. All in all, I'm not so sure I care. Maybe they'll do something interesting with the concept, but I'm not holding out hope.

There were so many moments in the pilot that took me out of the show. As a frequent flyer who gained all her flight experience in the post 9/11 world, a lot of security issues took me out of the episode. How did Jason Ritter get a gun on the plane? I saw that he ditched some clothes or something in the bathroom after boarding the plane, but didn't notice what they were. If they were a uniform for airplane personnel, wouldn't the other airplane personnel have noticed him? And if it wasn't a uniform, then still how did he get the gun on the plane? How did that guy in the car just drive onto the tarmac? Why were there no people on the tarmac at all? I was incredibly relieved they didn't ignore the existence of Air Marshals, though, so they gained a couple points back for that.

Stray other thoughts:

• So I figure some conspiracy group took Scott Patterson aka Michael Buchanan's daughters hostage after shooting his wife, then forced him to crash the plane. That was quite an elaborate plan then since they bothered to disappear the older daughter, going so far as to take out her cell phone.


• Couldn't Jason Ritter have just asked the guard or the hotel manager to look at the security footage to show he and his girlfriend were there? The footage would probably be gone since the kidnappers went through so much trouble to make it look like they were never there, but it didn't even occur to Jason's character to try?


• "I'll explain everything once we're on the ground." You can't at least say something, like someone is hijacking the plane as the pilot? Or just something?


• I'll be honest, it took me some time to realize that the names before certain scenes were the characters' names, not the credits. I was thinking the credits were taking a long time to come up, but then I realized that I wasn't recognizing any of the names. Yes, it was a dumb moment.


• Once they're on the ground, "you can arrest me all you want." Lol.
  
  
• Why didn't ANYONE try to drive the President away from a plane rushing towards him? Where was his Secret Service detail? He was already in the car with his family, and they all just sat there.


• That whole post-drowning scene where the couples are hanging out and drinking felt exactly like the setup for a horror movie. The young lovers on vacation, the exotic locale, the mysterious strangers forcing their way into your life, the odd way they met...


• Without distinctive characters, I still have to resort to saying "hey, now we're talking with Dr Kerry Weaver, and now we're talking with Luke Danes, and now we're talking to that "Joan of Arcadia" guy, and is Zeljko Ivanek on every single damn show?"
  

I'll tune in for the next few episodes. If it's going somewhere interesting or there's actually some character development, I'll stick with it. If the dialogue and cast are still bland as all get-out and they drag out the mystery forever like it's the most fascinating question to plague mankind, I'll drop it.