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Jeremiah Review

D

**DONOTDELETE**

Guest
Here's the first review I've seen of Jeremiah and it is a positive one:

(If you are squeamish about knowing the plot, don't read)

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Multichannel News

February 18, 2002

SECTION: Programming; Review; Pg. 16
LENGTH: 428 words

HEADLINE: Showtime's 'Jeremiah' Justifies Second Watch

BYLINE: By MICHAEL DEMENCHUK

BODY:
Showtime makes yet another foray into the science-fiction genre with
Jeremiah, a promising original series starring two former teen TV stars.

Luke Perry, Beverly Hills: 90210's brooding heartthrob Dylan, plays the title role while Malcolm-Jamal Warner -- Bill Cosby's wisecracking, underachieving son Theo from The Cosby Show days -- plays sidekick, Kurdy.

But for once, Perry's brooding, James Dean-lite persona works for him. And
though Warner sometimes takes a few steps too far in terms of comic relief,
his performance mostly makes you forget his TV-teen years. Based on a series
of graphic novels by Hermann Huppen -- and developed for TV by Babylon 5
creator J. Michael Straczynski --Jeremiah is set 15 years in the future, in a post-apocalyptic United States inhabited by children whose parents were
caught in something called "the big death."

The title character is a drifter set loose in a Mad Max-meets-Night of the
Comet world in which resources are dwindling and teens and twentysomethings
must scrounge to get by.

Unlike most of his peers, though, Jeremiah has memories of the "old world" -- and of the Valhalla Sector, the place to which his father, an epidemiologist of some sort, might have escaped. In his quest for more information, he heads to a new town and has a run-in with Kurdy, who tries to steal his freshly caught fish.

Jeremiah gets drawn into events in town after the local boss, Theo (Kim
Hawthorne), tries to foil a robbery. He saves her life, and -- temporarily --
wins her favor.

He's also approached by two others who witnessed the scene in the market:
Simon and Matthew, who want to recruit him for their "cause." Simon and
Matthew traveled to town in a camouflaged Land Rover, but Theo captures the vehicle, and the men. She then decides Jeremiah was in on the plot, forcing Kurdy to make the choice of rescuing his new friend.

The two new partners agree to return the Land Rover to its rightful owners --
the inhabitants of "Thunder Mountain," an underground nuclear bomb shelter
and one of the last remnants of civilization. They join forces with its
leader, Marcus Alexander, to find new recruits and resources for the
community -- and to help stave off a potential new disease threat.

Action in the two-hour premiere unfolds slowly, and development of the show's
main plot points isn't overly telegraphed. And neither the script nor the scenery overdoes it. Jeremiah strikes just the right balance and, at first glance, appears to be worth a second look.

The series bows Sunday, March 3 at 8 p.m. on Showtime.


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Thanks, Savant! Once again, it's what I was hoping to see (c'mon, we all knew it was gonna be a good review...
wink.gif
)

I really like the plot.

I like the plot because it *already* seems to be hitting on the points we'll be wondering about, acknowledging that there are dwindling resources, and the fact of just how important these resources are going to be...

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "Last one to kill a bad guy buys the beer." -lost in space

[This message has been edited by channe (edited February 21, 2002).]
 
Thank you SavantB5! Great review and interesting plot. I have added this forum topic to my Jeremiah links page unless there is an online version available? The one I found, you had to register for which I didn't feel like doing.

Thanks again!

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 | Abyss : Jeremiah
Tell your friend, if I were a god, I would have more hair and a deeper voice. --JMS
 
I now have Showtime after some ineptitude by my cable-company (Adelphia, which is lousy). When I first heard about Jeremiah, it didn't seem that interesting to me, but as I hear more about it, I'm more interested. Nice to see a good review of it.

Tammy

------------------
Tirk: Citizen G'Kar, Captain Martell would like to speak to you.
G'Kar: Of course. Love to stay. Can't. Have to go. Kiss-kiss. Love-love. Bye.

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation
 
Now the waiting begins. TiVo finally has the title listed and I have added Jeremiah to the to do list.
laugh.gif


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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us ...and our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." Emperor Turhan
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gkarfan:
When I first heard about Jeremiah, it didn't seem that interesting to me, but as I hear more about it, I'm more interested. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Me too! In fact, I talked about it today at lunch. I was b!tching about how I hate digital cable (extra money, slow channel switching, fails to send channel to the TiVo, etc.). So anyway, I had to tell them why I was putting up with it and ended up describing the premise of the show. They all thought it was an interesting concept.
smile.gif
I don't think they are going to run out and get Showtime but at least they were impressed by the premise. Heh, at least one friend convinced me to let him borrow my tapes.
laugh.gif


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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 | Abyss : Jeremiah
Tell your friend, if I were a god, I would have more hair and a deeper voice. --JMS
 
Another postive review by SciFi Weekly ... grade: B+
smile.gif


There are some spoilers and plot points revealed in it. I am not sure how revealing they are since I just read some things that were much more so.
wink.gif


Here are some tidbits that I liked:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> What makes the first two hours of this series highly watchable is Perry and Warner as two men who come together first out of necessity, but later out of respect. The two very different men have an odd chemistry onscreen that seems to work. It's not so much the odd-couple pairing as it is that the foul-mouthed and wannabe tough-guy Kurdy is actually the sweet one, while the quiet, smart and sensitive Jeremiah is actually a bit of a hardass. Neither of these guys is exactly what we expect them to be, and neither one of them is a saint. While their characters are well set up in Straczynski's script, Perry and Warner bring the characters to life nicely and make us concerned about their fate.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> While the characters are much more interesting than the story by the end of the first two hours, Straczynski has begun to lay the groundwork for the mysteries to come. Straczynski has stated that he does plan to have story arcs in Jeremiah, however not as tightly wound as the ones he used on Babylon 5. That sounds like a good plan for this particular road series. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

SciFi Weekly : Jeremiah Review

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 | Abyss : Jeremiah
Tell your friend, if I were a god, I would have more hair and a deeper voice. --JMS
 
There are bound to be reviews of different shapes and stripes.

This is more a mini-review from Time Out New York:

JEREMIAH
No matter how you feel about Luke Perry, you have to give him credit for reinventing himself. In the past two years, the onetime teen idol has played a dorky fiance (The Rocky Horror Show), an imprisoned evangelist (Oz) and, in this new series, a latter-day Mad Max. As Jeremiah, Perry is a lone wolf in a postapocalyptic world: Fifteen years before, everyone beyond the age of puberty died of a fatal virus. Jeremiah sours the broken land for food, gas, and the town where a decent society is rumored to exist. If it sounds cheesy, that's because it's from the creator of Babylon 5, but Perry plays his role with confidence, sometimes even looking scared, haunted and hungry.
Shakespeare, here he comes. --Michael Friedson


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I hope people don't mind me passing these along. I'm a bit of a media junkie and I love reading reviews)

This one's from John Leonard of New York Magazine...

JEREMIAH, a new post-apocalyptic sci-fi series from the J. Michael Straczynski who gave us five years of Babylon 5, will settle in on Friday nights on Showtime after its Sunday premiere--starring Luke Perry, who still can't act, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who has at last recovered from "The Cosby Show" as futuristic derring doodlers. This so far very, very slow. But I mention it because its premise helps explain what's become of the rest of television. According to the Jeremiah time frame, fifteen years before we meet Luke Perry, an out-of-control virus killed everybody in the whole world who was older than puberty. Thus has an entire universe of discourse been ordained that consists of nothing but the most desirable demographic. >>

Tommorrow (Friday) will be the big day for Jeremiah reviews in the newspapers around the country. I'm sensing this will draw slightly more attention than B5LR did.

Part of it is that Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner are familiar names. We're seeing that with Perry being able to get talk show appearances.

------------------
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SavantB5:
I hope people don't mind me passing these along. I'm a bit of a media junkie and I love reading reviews) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope, I don't mind at all.
smile.gif
Keep 'em coming! I find it interesting to see what the reviews and promotions that are done for a show. Especially, one that I will watch no matter what they do or say.
wink.gif


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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 | Abyss : Jeremiah
Tell your friend, if I were a god, I would have more hair and a deeper voice. --JMS
 
Am I the only one who got a laugh out of the character named Marcus Alexander?

And another "cheesy" reference to B5?

F you Buddy!
mad.gif


------------------
"Draal gave Zathras list of things not to say.
This was one. No.... *tsk tsk*
No. Not good.
Not supposed to mention... "one", or... THE one.
Hmmmm.
You never heard that."
 
Hey, you're the one who named a transport Joshua Coxx, Obsessed me buddy.
smile.gif


Secular reviewers are not kind to science fiction shows, no matter if they're good or not.

I'm pretty sure this one will be good, from what I have read. The stories aren't hackneyed, it's a *very* fresh approach to the apocalyptic genre.

And the story arc, I've heard, is kickin'.

And Marcus Alexander is VERY Roman.

There's a char named Li Chen in Jeremiah - which was Kitaro Sasaki's original name.
smile.gif


If a name fits, use it.

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "Last one to kill a bad guy buys the beer." -lost in space
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by channe:

Secular reviewers are not kind to science fiction shows, no matter if they're good or not.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Then how do you explain Buffy the Vampire Slayer coming in 4th place in Electronic Media's annual TV Critics poll?

(and the Tick was 11th and Smallville 14th)

I often think the "critics don't understand science fiction" is a convenient excuse for not acknowledging that many science fiction shows *are* full of bad acting, stilted dialogue, rehashed concepts and approaches, and mediocre production values.

Moving on...Here's today's Hollywood Reporter review of Jeremiah. Note the acknowledgments of the production values:

Jeremiah
Mar. 01, 2002
By Barry Garron

The latest product of the sci-fi collaboration of Showtime and MGM Television Entertainment, previously responsible for "The Outer Limits" and "Stargate SG-1," is "Jeremiah," an absorbing if disquieting series set in a future that looks a lot like a prehistoric and primitive past.

The premise, based on the comic book by Belgian author Hermann Huppen, is that some plague wiped out the entire human population over the age of puberty.

Now it's 15 years later and the oldest people on the planet are not yet 30, which would make this a paradise for the WB Network if only there were any networks. Unfortunately, without adults to run things, the world has become "Lord of the Flies" times a thousand.

Without government, electricity, phones or currency, the inhabitants fend for themselves, barter for what they need and feed as best they can off the decaying remnants of the former civilization.

Wandering through the wreckage and ruins is Jeremiah (Luke Perry), whose father spoke about reaching the "Valhalla Sector" just before he died. Jeremiah is determined to find the sector, a goal that causes him to cross paths with Curdy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), a free-spirited loner. Together, they form a sort of post-apocalyptic "I Spy" relationship.

The two-hour opener and the rest of the 20 episodes follow Jeremiah and Curdy from adventure to adventure as they try to piece together the answers to various mysteries and stay one step ahead of various groups of thugs, arsonists, skinheads and other antisocial types.

At the heart of this series is the fairly solid chemistry in the buddy-buddy relationship of Jeremiah and Curdy. Perry is the stoic do-gooder, determined to make the world a better place, if only by example. Curdy is more jocular and pragmatic and, of course, rarely gets the girl.

Reflecting the world in which it occurs, the series can be grim, violent and raw, but rarely dull. Perry infuses his character with a heroic earnestness, and Warner keeps it all from getting too serious. True, some of the villains in the premiere and succeeding episodes are stereotypical, banal brutes. But there are also some fiendishly interesting types, such as sexy boss lady Theo, played in the opener by Kim Hawthorne.

Director Russell Mulcahy finds a nice blend of adventure, mystery and camaraderie. He also makes excellent use of mood and atmospheric lighting to bring out the convincing work of production designer Stephen Geaghan, art director Suki Parker and set decorator Andrea French.

JEREMIAH
Showtime
Jeremiah Productions Inc.
in association with Lions Gate Television
and Platinum Studios
Executive producers: J. Michael Straczynski, Sam Egan, Joe Dante, Mike Finnell, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Luke Perry, Ervin Rustemagic
Producer: George Horie
Co-producers: Stephanie Germain, Stephen Geaghan, Gregory Noveck
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Creator-writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Based on the comic book by: Hermann Huppen
Director of photography: Henry Chan
Production designer: Stephen Geaghan
Editor: Stein Myhrstad
Music: Tim Truman
Art director: Suki Parker
Set decorator: Andrea French
Casting: Paul Weber
Cast: Luke Perry, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Peter Stebbings, Tricia Helfer, Kim Hawthorne, Daniel Gillies, Teryl Rothery, Zak Santiago Alam, Alex Zahara, Jada Stark, Sean Tyler Foley, Victor Da Costa, Peta Brookstone
Airdate: Sunday, March 3, 8-10 p.m.


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Stephen Geaghan and Suki Parker. I've heard those names before.

I never meant to say "all" SF shows. I acknowledge that most are like that, yes. (Else I'd be watching more SF). What I was talking about is the typical treatment of SF as the bastard younger brother of drama.

I've never seen Buffy. I've heard it's good. I just have always seen it as far more mainstream than anything else - as people I know who watch it wouldn't be caught DEAD seeing SF.

*reads review* That's what I like to hear. Series sounds pretty solid, all in all...

Gah! I don't know why I'm torturing myself!
smile.gif


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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "Last one to kill a bad guy buys the beer." -lost in space

[This message has been edited by channe (edited March 01, 2002).]
 
The Wall St. Journal had a brief review of Jeremiah. After describing the concept(which would be repetitive to us by now), they said:

"It is an interesting concept, a sort of futuristic "Lord of the Flies", but if the spotty writing and unremarkable acting in this two-hour introduction to "Jeremiah" is indicative of what's to come, it's clear that Showtime's latest attempt at a series still hasn't reached the bar set by HBO's stellar lineup."

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I'll say what I said about Rangers:

When JMS is good, he's really, REALLY GOOD, and when he's bad, he's horrid.

But, then, that's EVERY writer I know.

And it's only the pilot. No series hits its stride in the *pilot.*

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "Last one to kill a bad guy buys the beer." -lost in space
 
Here's the review from acknowledged B5 fan and professional critic Rob Owen:

Copyright 2002 P.G. Publishing Co.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
March 1, 2002 Friday SOONER EDITION
SECTION: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, Pg.36 ON THE TUBE
LENGTH: 1053 words

HEADLINE: PRE-PUBERTY GANG;
LUKE PERRY STARTS THE WORLD OVER AFTER THE 'BIG DEATH' IN 'JEREMIAH'

BYLINE: ROB OWEN, POST-GAZETTE TV EDITOR

BODY:
Luke Perry is always Luke Perry. That's pretty much the extent of his range. Sort of like Bruce Willis, Perry's too-cool-for-the room, laid-back image is something he can't (or won't) out-act.

He got closest to breaking the Perry mold in his role on HBO's "Oz," but in the new Showtime series "Jeremiah" (8 p.m. Sunday) he's still exuding the full Perry, talking in his nonchalant, head-nodding near-monotone. Created by "Babylon 5" impresario J. Michael Straczynski, Perry stars as Jeremiah, who lives in a near-future world where "the Big Death" killed off everyone who had reached puberty.

"We've all been abandoned," Jeremiah says. "The whole world is an orphanage."

Jeremiah is part of the first generation growing up since the Big Death, which has rendered society, well, pretty much like the post-apocalyptic society on Fox's "Dark Angel." There's no government, bartering is key, and marauding gangs wander the streets causing trouble.

This world is the least interesting part of "Jeremiah." The more intriguing component comes in the second half of Sunday's 90-minute pilot when Jeremiah and his newfound friend Kurdy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) discover a movement that seeks to rebuild society.

Jeremiah has his own quest. He mourns the death of his little brother and continues to seek out Valhalla Sector, a place of safety his father once mentioned. These serialized elements of "Jeremiah" show the most potential.

Kurdy doesn't seem to have any messy, underlying motivations. As played by a jovial, winning Warner, Kurdy is the comic relief, the more personable and emotional of the pair.

As road-trip shows go, "Jeremiah" pales especially compared to Showtime's last series in the genre, the enjoyable "Going to California," which has been canceled.

"Jeremiah" is based on a graphic novel by Belgian author Hermann Huppen and it sometimes gets a little graphic. In the pilot, especially, Straczynski goes wild with the profanity and nudity, indulging in the freedoms of a premium cable network such as Showtime.

The network, for its part, plays fast and loose with its ability to rate the show anything it wants. Sunday's premiere gets a TV-14 even though it contains nudity and multiple uses of the F-word that warrant a TV-MA.

In its ongoing effort to assure no viewer will ever get hooked on a Showtime series, the network will air subsequent episodes of "Jeremiah" Friday nights with the idiotic start time of 10:45 p.m.


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