One of the worst things you can call a TV show is "inoffensive." It’s the equivalent of telling someone that you just want to be friends: "You’re not horrible enough that I need to ban you from my life, but you offer nothing that I can’t get somewhere else, so I’ll just see you when I see you." Eleventh Hour — CBS’ latest procedural, imported from Britain — is inoffensive.
The show revolves around Dr. Jacob Hood (A Knight’s Tale’s Rufus Sewell) who, in the premiere, identified himself as a special science advisor to the FBI, then added, "I was appointed to investigate crimes and crisis of a scientific nature." You’d think that Sewell’s warm bath of a voice could make any line of TV dialogue work, but no, it just emphasizes how much bad writing is beneath him. Dr. Hood is partnered with Special Agent Rachel Young (Sugar & Spice’s Marley Shelton), whose job it is to protect the biophysicist from the people he pisses off in the course of solving cases. This means he carries a panic button with him that he can, oops!, accidentally sit on late at night and summon her to the hotel bar, gun drawn, when she’s wearing a short white robe that’s open just enough to remind us that underneath those pant suits, she wears a sexy black bra. Puh-lease. I suppose we should be happy that the producers opted for that kind of humiliation instead of a pratfall to make her seem vulnerable to the audience. Having a woman be the muscle in a partnership is cool — don’t blow it! Keep her balls-to-the-wall (as when a stranger offered to buy her a drink and she responded, "Before you disturb me, you should know I’m filling out this paperwork because I shot at a man today." Why? "Because he disturbed me").
There’s a reason I’m three paragraphs in and I’m just now getting to the crime in this episode — it was kinda boring, even though it involved human cloning. After 19 (!) dead fetuses were found in Seattle, it was finally time to bring in Hood, who was apparently the first person to think about doing DNA testing. (Note: The local detective was played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Riley, Marc Blucas, who should really cut his hair.) Hood determined that they were clones, and, set out to find the person pulling the strings — someone with the codename Geppetto. That was so supposed to be clever, but it made me groan. Even more so after Young said she never understood Geppetto — a woodcarver wants a son so badly that he makes one, Pinocchio…what is there not to understand? Her musings, however, made Hood realize that Geppetto would be commissioned by a billionaire parent who’d lost a child, and he took Young to a library to sit and look through hard copies of local newspapers from 2005. Wouldn’t a computer have been quicker? Of course, Hood found the dad (Michael O’Keefe) and had a heart-to-heart that revealed something about himself: his wife died two years ago, and not a day goes by that he doesn’t want her back. The tears in Sewell’s eyes made me wish he was on a better show. Like, The Mentalist. In the end, Hood saved the mother who was carrying the 20th ill-fated fetus, but Geppetto got away. Do we want Geppetto to be the villain that returns every Sweeps period? Eh. (Insert shoulder shrug.) A better question: Do you want this series to last until November?
More on Eleventh Hour:
EW’s official review
EW’s Fall TV preview
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I love Rufus Sewell but this show was just so bad! I’ll tune in for another couple of weeks to give it a chance (I like Sewell too much to just quit) but unless it gets better I just don’t think I’ll be able to get through it. Dido on him being on The Mentalist. He could be a rival mentalist … or something. Just give him better dialogue!
Did i just say d-i-d-o. I’m such an idiot. I meant ditto. Sheesh.
Still trying to figure out why they even remade it! The original sucked donkey nuts (the premiere was a copy of its pilot, cloning, bodyguard in the robe, and all). Stinky stinky.
My favorite thing about this recap is the revelation that they waited until the 19th fetus to call in their big science expert.
Apparently they could live with 17 dead fetuses, MAYBE even 18, but when that number hits 19, they call in the big guns!
Plain and simple, this show was terrible. The blonde agent had some of the worst lines ever written for TV. Sewell (whom I love as an actor) had his American accent going in and out. It was just terrible. I turned it off after 30 minutes, and I give ALL shows a two episode tryout. not this one. Although, I guess I should have waited to see the agent in a bathrobe.
Rufus Sewell is a very good actor. So give him some very good dialogue! It could have been a lot snappier. And the ending was unbelievable, even for sci-fi; I’m so tired of shows where the 2 detectives do everything themselves. Wouldn’t they have had some back-up? and called 911 for medical help for the girl? Silly!
So if this show tanks, which show gets the plum 10 p.m. slot? Numbers?
This seems like a poor man’s Fringe. Investigating crimes of a scientific nature, a scientist with a female FBI agent. The science is not as unbelievable as Fringe, but the show is. I watched this and recorded Life on Mars. Next week I’ll do it the other way around and watch 11th Hr when I have absolutely nothing else to do. Maybe it will get better.
Wow… I guess I’m *really* in the minority, because I both watched it *and* enjoyed it! My kids watched it, too, and we planning to continue doing so. Certainly not on par with Fringe; but enjoyable, nonetheless, plus still a *lot* better than much of the other drivel on TV.
I liked the show well enough but without the hook of Rufus Sewell, I wouldn’t have been interested. Writing is very pedestrian if not completely awful. And I’m sorry but I can’t watch Marley Shelton in anything without thinking of flatulent, bank-robbing, pregnant cheerleaders.
I laughed at the title of this article. It was just what I was thinking when I was watching it. They seemed to explain basic facts that are implied that the audience should already know. They don’t go into detail with the “science” aspect, and that is kind of needed when a show is marketed as a science show. They don’t use big words, which are needed in science shows. This show is not intellectually appealing. This review hit it dead on. I’m sticking with Life on Mars…until it’s canceled, that one doesn’t look too promising either.
My take? 11th is superior to Fringe on the levels that count: better acting, better photography, better editing, vastly better music. Fringe looks like some college project, while 11th looks like an experienced television studio created it. ‘Nuff said.
To compare this show with fringe is just plain stupid. Fringe is about the supernatural – 11 hour is about science and not fiction. first episode is about cloning witch is durable.
i liked the episode and the characters – not much depth or plot twists – but still watchable overall. Rufus Sewell is a very good actor and so was his co actress. short lines kept the dialog and show in place. no snappy comebacks – hitting on your partner etc.. more like a x-files type of partnership. people should try to see this show with a different pair of googles. i am gonna tune in to the next episode. p.s only the first fringe episode was worth watching.. the rest is a bit of a let-down imho.
when i read the title, “11th hour premiere: fringe for dummies”, i found it quite true because it is very simple and the show 11th hr dosnt really get into detail of things and fringe does, i dont see 11th hr lasting much longer, mayb midseason, CBS needs better, smarter, entertaining programming and this is not the way to go
Rufus Sewell was the only reason I watched the show and he was the only worthwhile part of it. Get rid of the blond sidekick, improve the writing and the story and it might be worth watching a second time. The stupid blond who was supposed to “protect” him could barely hold the gun and couldn’t run if her life depended on it. And she didn’t strike me as slick or smart, but rather very, very annoying.
Actually, I liked Marc Blucas. I thought he looked great with the longish hair. Too bad he’s not a regular. He and Rufus Sewell would make a good pair (and much better than his current “partner” or “protector”).
Like many others, Rufus Sewell will be my only reason for watching this show. It was vaguely entertaining but when compared to Fringe it doesn’t compare. According to hubby who caught the UK version on BBC America it was much the same lukewarm fare that Patrick Stewart carried valiantly. But why, oh why, do you hire an actor with such a magical voice like Sewell’s and pin an Irish accent on him in a show that takes place in the States? When it has absolutely no bearing on the story? Let the man work without a fake accent to hamper him. It only points to how flat the writing truly is, when you add unnecessary accessories to cover the drab.
I really like Rufus Sewell…he is sexy in a cerebral kind of way. But why not bring back shark and let Rufus join the cast. Shark was a great show…James Woods rocks…but they got rid of it for that stupid Swingtown. Shark!!! Yeah!! Swingtown…no!!!
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