Welcome to Pilot Perception, our feature in which we break down the first episode of each new show in order to help you decide whether it’s worth your time.
The Show: Forever, ABC in the U.S. and CTV in Canada, Tuesdays at 10/9c after a special Monday premiere tonight at 10/9c.
The Pedigree: Forever was written by Matthew Miller (Chuck), who executive produces with Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes) and Jennifer Gwartz (Veronica Mars). The pilot was directed by Brad Anderson (Fringe).
The Cast & How You Know Them: The show stars Ioan Gruffudd (Ringer) along with Alana De La Garza (Law & Order), Barbara Eve Harris (Prison Break), Donnie Keshawarz (Damages), Joel David Moore (Bones), and Judd Hirsch (Numb3rs).
The Premise: Dr. Henry Morgan is a New York City medical examiner who also happens to be immortal. He solves crimes along with the NYPD as he tries to figure out the secret to his own immortality.
A Taste:
What Works: The premise is obviously silly, and the execution is fairly silly too, but the show has a sense of humor about itself and once I decided to just go with it, I found it entertaining. Gruffudd is a strong lead, and his chemistry with De La Garza is good. The rest of the supporting cast is fine too, and in a season pretty light on decent new procedurals, I’m happy to watch them banter and solve cases of the week and not worry too much about the supernatural stuff.
What Doesn’t: As I said, the concept of this show is fundamentally silly, and that will definitely turn some people off. The writing was mostly okay, but not particularly great. And the pilot didn’t do much to really make me care about the secret to Henry’s immortality, so they’ll need to either draw me into that question in the future or just not focus on it that much.
Our Favorite Line: “I appreciate the effort, but occasionally after a violent death a man needs a period of time to wallow.”
You Might Like This if you like procedurals with a bit of the supernatural mixed in. The non-supernatural parts reminded me, in tone, of Castle and The Mentalist, with a likeable but no-nonsense female police detective dealing with a talented but often frustrating man.
If You’re Interested: Forever has a special two-night premiere tonight and tomorrow on ABC and CTV before settling into its regular Tuesday timeslot.
(Photo courtesy of ABC.)
I also liked this pilot! I will definitely watch more. Not sure it is must-see-tv for me (also because I don’t know if I can stay up that late every week), but it will probably go on the DVR. 🙂
It seemed like a reboot of 2008’s New Amsterdam, down to my guessing Judd Hirsh’s character as they walked in the shop door.
Didn’t do it for me.