After I checked out the Chuck pilot, I watched the Bionic Woman pilot. Although both shows are "genre" shows, they couldn't be more different.
Where Chuck had rough edges to the plot and effects, Bionic was slick and polished. Where Chuck was light, Bionic was dark. Where many Chuck characters were likable, Bionic's characters didn't make me care about them at all.
I have to give the edge to Chuck.
That's not to say Bionic Woman wasn't good. It's perfectly suitable for watching (it'll get recommended on the Premieres post), but it's going to have to stop taking itself so seriously before I'll ache to go a week without watching it.
The tone is dark; very dark. The scenes were mostly in the dark. The voices were often hard to hear because many characters talk softly as to seem more mysterious. Speaking of mystery, the show also used the "let's throw lots of crap out there" philosophy in order to get the more rabid fans on the Internet to talk about it-- and trying to lure viewers back the next week. That's all well and good, but you also need to establish your characters and the tone of the series in the first few episodes. I think the show is trying to create its mythology before anyone cares.
I guess I was just hoping for something more fun and relatable. I have NOTHING against dark shows, but this one just seemed too pretentious for me. As if we were supposed to care because they told us to.
But you should never judge a series solely on its pilot. I think the show will work out its kinks and get us to know the characters (the main character seems much too undeveloped) somewhere around the middle of this season and then it can take off. I hope so. The show is well-done (just a few oddball camera tricks in the pilot) and it's got a good pedigree.
I just hope the pilot won't turn off too many people before the show gets a chance.
Bionic Woman premieres on Wed, 9/26 at 8 pm on NBC.
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