I think a straightforward, shoot-the-one-dimensional-alien-baddies show has a good shot of success on TNT. On a network, it wouldn't have a prayer but cable is the saving grace. There are probably 4-5M people who will sit still for a premise like that.
It's basically the same format as The Walking Dead - you have an ensemble cast of "relatable folks" who are thrust into a horrific and seemingly impossible situation against an implacable, much stronger foe. The foe isn't going to ever be anything but a monster-behind-the-door, so the success of the show depends entirely on those relatable folks.
Get us to care about at least two or three of the characters, and you've got at least a season's grace period. After that, the problem becomes thinking of ways to stretch out a thin premise without getting too obviously repetitive and cliche-dependent, and how to maintain the suspense despite the fact that by then, the audience will have figured out which characters are the golden geese who under no circumstances can be killed.
It's basically the same format as The Walking Dead - you have an ensemble cast of "relatable folks" who are thrust into a horrific and seemingly impossible situation against an implacable, much stronger foe. The foe isn't going to ever be anything but a monster-behind-the-door, so the success of the show depends entirely on those relatable folks.
Get us to care about at least two or three of the characters, and you've got at least a season's grace period. After that, the problem becomes thinking of ways to stretch out a thin premise without getting too obviously repetitive and cliche-dependent, and how to maintain the suspense despite the fact that by then, the audience will have figured out which characters are the golden geese who under no circumstances can be killed.
