CBS’s Eleventh Hour: Time’s Up Already

Let me be blunt. Eleventh Hour is horrible. The premier episode, “Resurrection” had an overused plot (cloning), wooden acting, amateur dialog, and the worst excuse I could see for showing a woman run out of her room into a public area in her undies and a bathrobe. It’s almost as if some teenager decided to write some fan fiction adding together elements from any current crime show + Fringe + The X-Files, and then tried to find a reason to add a contrived scene where a woman is in a partial state of undress. Let me be even MORE honest: Eleventh Hour makes CSI Miami look like compelling drama.

The main characters are Jacob Hood (Rufus Sewell) and Rachel Young (Marley Shelton). Jacob Hood’s “hook” – or his special talent – seemed to be the only mystery in this episode. Why should we care about what he thinks or says? All I know is he carries a panic button for some reason, probably only to bring out his apparent bodyguard, Rachel, while she is in her sleepwear. The episode gave me no reason to even care about who he is or put any credence to his words. His talent only seems to be to speak softly and glare at the camera.

Rachel Young’s special talent seems to be a blank face, corny dialog, and eye candy. Shelton’s acting skills makes Law & Order’s Elisabeth Rohm’s talents look Oscar-worthy.

Both characters seem to be sloppily conceived and poorly written. Keep in mind I have never watched the UK’s original version under the same name (“Eleventh Hour”) which I understand starred Patrick Stewart, so I can’t draw a comparison. I would, however, watch an hour long TV show of paint drying if Patrick Stewart was in it. But watching the actors in the US version is like watching paint PEEL – it takes a lot longer and is more boring than watching paint dry. There is ZERO chemistry between Jacob and Rachel, probably because Sewell and Shelton are both horribly miscast.

The storyline didn’t help as it was mind-numbingly boring and overdone. I mean really, does every sci-fi type show have to include the mad-scientist-does-cloning story? This has been so overdone, and clearly done better by other shows. This was a very poor choice for them to use to kick off this show. If “Resurrection” was their pilot episode, I wouldn’t have bought any more of it. In fact, as a viewer, I won’t be because I’m not going to watch it again. I think time has already run out for the “Eleventh Hour.”




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