CHAOS TV premiere

[Temis the Vorta]

Anyone watch this? It had more satiric bite than I was expecting from a CBS show. The premise is a bit silly and Animal House-ish but it's got a lot of energy and a nice brisk pace. I think I'll stick with it for now, at least for as long as it lasts. Ratings weren't the best. I don't recall much publicity for this show, so maybe that shouldn't come as a suprise. http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/ratings-rat-race-slow-start-for-chaos/

 

[Star Wolf]

I first heard of the show when looking at the TV guide at 7:55. By 8:10 I put down my guitar and enjoyed the hour. I hope they can keep it up and it is discovered and picked up.

 

[Jax]

I don't think many people knew it was on after it scored that 1.1 in the demo.

 

[Caliburn24]

The show was alright, but it jumped all over the place tonally which is going to get real tiring real quick. Plus, it has no mythology or hooks to really differentiate itself from the countless other spy shows out there.

And just on a totally shallow note, it felt really strange that the team was four dark-haired white guys. No girls, no black guys, no attempt to have a diverse politically correct team composition.

Oh, and yet another show where BSG's Gaeta gets to play a background character.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Directed by Brett Ratner? No thanks.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

but it jumped all over the place tonally

I noticed that, too, veering between over-the-top (like Chuck, but more pointed) to more emotionally real, and even dipping into the maudlin (our merry band of CIA misfits just wants to save innocent lives, awwww).

It also struck me as bizarre that Freddy Rodriguez's character ate the scorpion. Fun scene, but isn't he meant to be our point-of-view character, the relatable one surrounded by zany characters? The better way to play the scene would be for him to figure out some way to fake eating the scorpion and put one over on their captors - he does only what the audience would, except he's better and smarter at it. The other CIA guys (especially Tim Blake Nelson) should be the scorpion-chomping wild men.

Plus, it has no mythology or hooks

It would be easy to develop mythology for all the characters and dole it out over the coming episodes. The Scots guy for instance - being "deported" from Scotland implied he was a US citizen all along? Since Rick isn't being set up as the normal point-of-view main character, I'd like to see more on how he's "trained his whole life" to be a CIA agent. Has he practiced eating scorpions? Because I don't see how he could have done that otherwise.

And it's too bad they didn't make Rick a Cuban, although...maybe his claim to be Puerto Rican is just a cover?

And just on a totally shallow note, it felt really strange that the team was four dark-haired white guys.

The lead character is Puerto Rican, played by a Puerto Rican actor! (It's one of the very few shows with a nonwhite lead actor.)

 

[sojourner]

^He's non-white? I gotta get my eyes checked.

 

[Star Wolf]

^He's non-white? I gotta get my eyes checked.

You got caught in that trying to assign a race to the Latinos trap

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Rodriguez looks plenty Latino, and he's playing one, so I say he counts!

...do people not know what Latinos look like? Maybe that's the problem. I think he looks more Cuban than Puerto Rican.

 

[Starbreaker]

I didn't like it. I don't care about "mythology" or plot arcs or any of that stuff... it just wasn't very well put together.

 

[sojourner]

The guy could easily pass for any variant of Caucasian. Except maybe Nordic.

As for the show, I agree with the tonal problems serious/comedy/serious and back again. Unlike "Covert Affairs" at least they acknowledge that the CIA is not allowed to operate inside the U.S.

 

[Star Wolf]

The guy could easily pass for any variant of Caucasian. Except maybe Nordic.

As for the show, I agree with the tonal problems serious/comedy/serious and back again. Unlike "Covert Affairs" at least they acknowledge that the CIA is not allowed to operate inside the U.S.

I almost groaned when the team first went out and was pleasantly surprised at the outcome

Rodriguez looks plenty Latino, and he's playing one, so I say he counts!

...do people not know what Latinos look like? Maybe that's the problem. I think he looks more Cuban than Puerto Rican.

Well he doesn't look like Fidel Castro or Gloria Estafan or his own countryman boxing champ Wilfredo Benetiz. Latinos can look like anything, African, American, European, Filipino or in small numbers East Asian

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, blonde haired and blue eyed Cameron Diaz is a Latina. (Dad's family is from Cuba)

 

[timothy]

I have this on My DVR . I will probably check it out tommarrow .

 

[JD]

I thought the show was pretty fun. It didn't wow me, but I will stick with it. IMO it has a lot of potential to get better once the characters, and situation are set up more.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Loved it.

I loved it so it has to die.

The universe is conspiring against my happiness.

Star Wolf said it was a trap, why didn't you believe him? Why didn't you believe him?

While trying to make balanced safe statements you, the collective you, simply are not.

ITS. A. TRAP.

 

[lennier1]

Enjoyed the first episode. Still a lot of stuff that has to be refined, but that's completely normal for a pilot.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I hope they don't cancel it before next week - it's about North Korea - sounds good.

 

[timothy]

If I had coworkers like these I would shot every single one of them twice.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You are the angel of death, the time of purification is at hand?