Review: Under the Dome (Pilot)

It is a strange time to be a television viewer.  It used to be the norm to accept bad acting and silly lines in order to appreciate most television shows.  Shows like The West Wing and Law & Order stood out like diamonds among the rough, while shows like Smallville caused us to suspend our better tastes in order to stomach it.  Then, cable networks like AMC, FX, and USA started to offer up shows like Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Justified, and Suits, forever altering the way I personally view television. I no longer accept mediocrity when watching TV shows.  I realize that this is a high bar to hold something like Under the Dome to, but unfortunately that's the reality.

SYNOPSIS
Based on Stephen King's novel, an invisible force field descends upon a small town in the northeastern part of the United States.

REVIEW
First of all, the premise is quite interesting.  It's a mix of character drama, suspense, survival, and a pinch of apocalypse.  The underlying mysteries of why the dome is there and what's behind these folks' facades are actually quite compelling.  Unfortunately, with Stephen King behind it, it's going to end up in a very dark place, which is admittedly not my thing.  It reminds me of Lost in many ways, although nowhere near as well executed (Lost's Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse openly admit that King's The Stand was the show's primary inspiration).

The opening shot sequence was really effective.  However, there wasn't much more of the effective camera work throughout the episode that we saw in the beginning.  I guess i shouldn't expect amazing camera work on a TV show, but I was teased with the opening and then it didn't pan out (figuratively or literally).

The acting was okay, but Brian K. Vaughn (the writer) is NOT a character-driven writer, at least as far as I can tell.  Some of the acting was good, but most of simply acceptable.  I feel almost nothing for these characters after the first episode, so I'm actually not inclined to continue watching.

The special effects were really good.  They are better than the ones on Once Upon a Time, which is the other effects-driven network show that it's comparable to.  There is a scene where a truck hits the dome head on and I have to say it was one of the coolest car crashes I've ever seen.  Kudos to them.

The sex and violence in here are not effective and seem to be for the risque value instead of actually adding to the story.  I openly chuckled at some of the silly gore that they felt compelled to include.

CONCLUSION
I guess it's a decent summer show.  I'm not sure if they're planning on it being a mini-series or continue on if the ratings are good.  But, I don't think I will continue to watch.

2.5/5 Disco Balls. 

PARENTS GUIDE
This is a pretty hard TV-14.  They put everything in there that they are allowed to.  There is a fairly graphic sex scene and some gross gore.  Not recommended for children.