PILOT REVIEW: Zero Hour

ZERO HOUR

Starring: Anthony Edwards, Carmen Ejogo, Scott Michael Foster, Addison Timlin, with Jacinda Barrett, and Michael Nyqvist

Created by Paul Scheuring
Written by Paul Scheuring, Directed by Pierre Morel

Zero Hour is a new conspiracy drama on ABC that is based on a deep and dark secret that skeptic magazine editor Hank Galliston (Anthony Edwards) is thrown into when his wife Laila (Jacinda Barrett) is captured. As Galliston explores, the story connects back to the Nazis in 1938 and Galliston must beat world renowned criminal White Vincent (Michael Nyqvist) from uncovering the secret which has to do with clocks. Helping Galliston are his co-workers and friends Arron and Rachel (Sean Michael Foster, Addison Timlin), and an FBI agent (Carmen Ejogo), whose husband was murdered by Vincent.

THE GOOD: This pilot got better as it went along after a very slow beginning. Once it really started to delve into the conspiracy, it got a little more intriguing. The various locations this show travels to from the Arctic circle to 1938 Germany keeps things interesting and there were great guest turns by Charles S. Dutton and particularly Jan Triska as an old clockmaker. I must admit that while there were several flaws which I will get into below, I am interested to see where this story goes.

THE BAD: After the necessary (but long) exposition set in 1938 Germany, the show seemed stuck in neutral for a lot of the episode as the show was feeling more like Taken and less like a conspiracy thriller. There are also loads of cornball lines that were delivered throughout the episode, particularly from Foster and Timlin whose characters seem more into the "treasure map" than anything else. This show is trying to do a lot of things and it seems ready to pull us viewers in many different directions. But I'm not sure the writing and main ensemble are strong enough to make that happen.

BOTTOM LINE: There are so many conspiracy thrillers out there and this one is seeking to be a huge conspiracy that impacts the world and its history. I'm just not convinced at all that these writers are up to the task thanks to a mundane and somewhat predictable pilot. For a conspiracy thriller to really work, the conspiracy has to be awesome and I just get the feeling that this show, should it last long enough to answer the questions, runs a major risk of being a regular disappointment because the conspiracies aren't as good as you wished. And that's the problem with a show like Zero Hour. I'll stick with it for another week but then I (and probably ABC) will reevaluate if this is worth my time.