PILOT REVIEW: Extant

EXTANT

Starring: Halle Berry, Goran Visnjic, Pierce Gagnon, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael O'Neill, Grace Gummer, and Camryn Manheim

Created by Mickey Fisher
Written by Mickey Fisher, Directed by Allen Coulter

Extant is a new sci-fi/futuristic drama that brings Halle Berry back to a regular TV series for the first time since 1989's short-lived comedy Living Dolls. In this show, Berry plays Molly Woods, who has just returned from a 13 month solo mission in space. Most of it went smoothly but there were 13 hours where the computer and lights went down and Molly saw a man there with her (but there's no footage of him on the cameras). Meanwhile, Molly's friend and doctor Sam Barton (Camryn Manheim) tells her she's pregnant, which seems impossible since she was on a solo mission. Rounding out the main cast is Molly's husband, John (Goran Visnjic), who is looking to get funding to create caring robots, like his son with Molly, Ethan (Pierce Gagnon). Whew! And that's just brushing the surface of the plot and characters.

THE GOOD: There were a lot of interesting things in the pilot. The production value is slick especially compared to some of the cheap summer options we've been seeing. Berry is strong as expected and Goran Visnjic is good too in an interesting side plot (that I'm sure will converge with the main plot). Actually, I found the "caring robot" pitch from Visnjic's character to be one of the most interesting parts of the pilot. The mysteries laid out in the pilot were interesting and enticing.

THE BAD: I feel like the pilot threw a lot of balls up in the air and I'm not convinced they'll be able to catch them all. The pilot went a lot of different directions between the flashbacks, the pregnancy, the caring robots, the surveillance of Berry's character, the home life, etc. While I'm sure they are all connected, it almost seemed a little too ambitious. If they can pull it off, I'll be quite impressed. The futuristic things, while not out of the realm of possibility, seemed a little Jetsons-like at times.

BOTTOM LINE: Extant is only the second new show this summer (after The Night Shift) where I actually want to come back and watch more, and I'm not a sci-fi fan. The big story here was Halle Berry being back on TV and she doesn't disappoint, but the plot is the most intriguing element here, assuming they can keep it all together.