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Hercules Says Reincarnation Detective Series PAST LIFE Is More Tedium Than MEDIUM!!
I am – Hercules!!
What inspired Fox to take the blandly absurd mystery drama “Past Life” to series may be the biggest mystery ever. Ridiculous plotting, snoozy characters, miserable dialogue, and atrocious acting conspire to forge maybe the worst new series in a broadcast season riddled with an unusually poor crop of new series.
A procedural about a team of institute employees – including a beautiful psychologist and a handsome, alcoholic ex-cop – who solve crimes by tapping into the repressed memories of the reincarnated, it was created by writer-producer named David Hudgins, who has written for far better series like “Everwood” and “Friday Night Lights.” It stars Kelli Giddish (“All My Children”), Nicholas Bishop (the Australian soap “Home and Away”), Ravi Patel (the CW’s loan shark drama “Easy Money”) and, rather depressingly, the great Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”). It is nigh unwatchable.
It’s also launching tonight against “Lost” and it’s intended to fill in Thursdays at 9 p.m. during the long “Fringe” hiatus – against ratings giants “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Office” and “CSI.” I think we might need a stopwatch to measure how quickly Fox decides to replace it with “Bones” reruns.
USA Today says:
… Granted, we've all seen many a bad show in our lives. Still, it will have been a while since you've seen anything as preposterously, unworkably awful as Past Life … From cases to characters, Past Life is TV at its dumbest and dreariest. Any fun there might be in this idea, Past Life finds a way to avoid. …
The New York Times says:
… Where “Ghost Whisperer” and “Medium” have fun with their fantastical premises and wrap them in domestic drama, “Past Life” is all business and shows little sense of humor. … A crime drama doesn’t need soft edges if it has crisp plotting and interesting characters, but the first two stories on “Past Life” are startlingly generic …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… it is literally shocking how bad the writing is, with [ex-cop] Whately grinding out such illuminations as "You can't get DNA from a memory" or "It's like all your life you've been playing this game and then someone changes the rules" until you want to scream. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
… It all begins to feel like forced gobbledygook - like "Without A Trace" had a bad date with "Ghost Whisperer." …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… a been-there, watched-that program with a supernatural gloss. … Many TV shows require suspension of disbelief; "Past Life" insists on that and a whole lot more. … can't help but feel like the most ridiculous imitator on the Fox prime-time block.
The Boston Herald says:
… Reincarnation, recycling, rip-off. On network TV, it’s all the same. Whatever you did in a past life, you don’t deserve this drivel. …
The Boston Globe says:
… feels overly formulaic from the first moments of the first episode. It’s the kind of procedural that’s stuffed with lightning-bolt revelations and convulsive tears by guest-of-the-week actors and yet still seems bland. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… ranks among the most contrived TV shows ever. … There is some undeniable chemistry between McGinn and Whatley, but it isn't enough to rescue "Past Life." Not in this life. …
Variety says:
… the rules surrounding the reincarnation hokum remain confoundingly fuzzy, so much so that it's hard to believe the series has enough worthwhile incarnations to remain viable very long before dying and -- unlike its unfortunate guest stars -- staying that way. … for those expecting to enjoy a mere single life, time's simply too precious to squander on this.
9 p.m. Tuesday & Thursday. Fox.
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Feb 09, 2010 2:20:30 AM CST
Yeah it's a "Fringe clone" because both shows have a blonde wome
by mr spork
as the lead character. /sarcasm
They have different plots, jackass. -
Are they solving crimes from centuries ago? What would be the point of that? If it's present day crimes how do past lives help them?
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Now where is the Lost talkback?
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Whhhhhhhy?
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I can't imagine why he would be in a show like this.
Good god man, you were Toby Fucking Ziegler! Have some fucking self respect! -
Since when is Ghost Whisperer "fun"? That show is about as exciting and intelligent as a Lifetime movie.
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Cold Case and Medium. Team investigates crimes from decades past using children and teens who get flashes of their past life (the one they had right before this one). I'd seen ads for this on A-Channel. Had no idea it was a Fox show. I honestly thought it was made by some cable channel, like TLC or some Syfy wannabe station.
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One of the leads has a hand on her hip, and the other has his arms crossed over his chest. I guess that is supposed to say "Yeah, I got attitude." Yawn.
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...this Firday at 8!
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Damn fingers! Harry! An edit function!
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but can get beyond stupid reincarnation puns themselves.
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but a show based around reincarnation is really cutting itself short if they're restricting themselves to past lives of the past 30-40 years. Too bad.
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The man convinced Sheila Kelley to marry him. I'm sure she's high maintenance. I would star in the revamped Manimal is she asked me to.
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I guess he spends most of his time on Vince.
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Feb 09, 2010 2:02:52 PM CST
"really cutting itself short if they're restricting themselves
by big jim
"... to past lives of the past 30-40 years."True, that would make it more like a cross between Cold Case & Medium, with a touch of Quantum Leap.I guess they could, for sweeps, solve famous century+ crimes - maybe they come across a reincarnated Jack the Ripper, or one of his victims; perhaps find out if Lizzy Borden really did kill her parents.
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Totally retarded show, I fell asleep 20 minutes in and woke up to the 'grand finale' only to fall asleep again. The show setup, acting and plot could not hold my attention. WTF was with the idiotic hand held camcorder shots? I know the charachters are recording for documentation but the way it was done was just ridiculous!Gah! Dumb concept and even dumber execution. Stupid is as stupid does.
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Another okay one -- which also fits in the 40 year time frame -- could be a Jimmy Hoffa episode.
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trying to kill a reincarnated Lee Harvey Oswald, after he is accused of killing a reincarnated JFK. Twist is, the reincarnated JFK was really killed by the reincarnated Grassy Knoll shooter.
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I actually liked it. It wasn't the best show ever, but it was entertaining enough. I also liked that New Amsterdam show a couple years back, so I guess this one is doomed as well!
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better watch out.
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