PILOT REVIEW: Forever

FOREVER

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Alana de la Garza, Joel David Moore, Donnie Keshawarz, Barbara Eve Harris, and Judd Hirsch

Created by Matt Miller
Written by Matt Miller, Directed by Brad Anderson

THE PREMISE: Forever is a new drama from ABC that centers on a man who is seemingly immortal. Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) is a star medical examiner in New York City who studies the dead and has reason to because he's been killed many times and lived again going back over 200 years. Each time he wakes from the dead naked and in a river. The only person who knows his secret is confidante Abe (Judd Hirsch). Rounding out the main cast is Morgan's new partner, Detective Jo Martinez (Alana de la Garza), Morgan's assistant Lucas (Joel David Moore), and Detective Hanson (Donnie Keshawarz).

THE GOOD: I think this is an interesting premise which unfortunately doesn't pan out (see more on that below). The integration of humor into this show is an interesting element to a show that could be very grim. It seems to be have more humor than your average show like this, it has that whimsical ABC drama feeling mixed with a dark CBS procedural. Other than that, the only good thing I can say about this show is it's good to see Judd Hirsch back on TV.

THE BAD: This show is one that throws too many balls up in the air and catches very few on the way back down. It is a mix of crime drama, medical drama, sci-fi drama, historical drama, and psychological drama and has quite a bit of humor as well. That blending of genres is probably one or two too many. At first it felt like a sci-fi drama then quickly seemed like a "case of the week" medical procedural, then flashed back to a previous era, then dealt with psychological issues of dying. This show has absolutely no idea what it wants to be and that's a problem. There was so much exposition and exploration in these different types of issues that the plot holes were gaping yet it kept going in circles around the premise. It might be possible that this schizophrenic genre show would at least be mildly interesting but it was a complete bore too.

BOTTOM LINE: This is a mess of a show that will do nothing to cure ABC's Tuesday 10pm woes. I don't think there's anything here to really attract viewers. The premise doesn't work out and the performances are forgettable. ABC may fix Thursdays at 8pm by putting Grey's Anatomy there this year but this slot will continue to be a major problem for the alphabet network.