New Shows: Eleventh Hour

Eleventh Hour

A BBC import/remake, Eleventh Hour is about an FBI science advisor who runs around and solves crimes about the cutting-edge of science. Unlike, say, Fringe, this is about real science (or as real as you can get on TV) -- and that might be where it went wrong. The first thing we heard about it was that fans were pissed that the remake made the two leads younger and prettier -- Rufus Sewell instead of Patrick Stewart, and a younger, thinner girl for his female bodyguard (interesting to show the American audience vs. the British audience -- the hot bodyguard that every guy hits on in the BBC series is the same woman who plays the “unattractive,” “fat,” Scottish clothing designer on Ugly Betty). We watched the American pilot, and were unimpressed. So we decided to check out the original and see where the Americans went wrong. And you know what? They didn’t! It’s a practically line-for-line, shot-for-shot remake, with only a couple bits that are too “explicit” for American TV and a few superfluous scenes cut for time. So the thing is -- the original isn’t very good. It’s dull, and no matter how much you like to listen to Patrick Stewart talk, he can’t hold our attention for an entire episode. So Eleventh Hour is dull and uninspired, but for once, you can’t blame that on the translation. It was translated perfectly; it’s just that the source material wasn’t worth the effort.

All scores are from 1-5
Hephaestos (Plot): 3
Zeus (Character): 2
Apollo (Dialogue): 2
Athena (Intelligence): 4
Dionysos (Fun): 1
Hermes (Overall): 2