This is definitely a midnight hour kind of idea – a small town comes under attack via a nuclear bomb. It’s sounds partially familiar to a Twilight Zone episode I saw once, except that it now acts as a series premise as opposed to a single episode. It could be a good series, but the characters and pacing seem to lean towards The Andy Griffith Show.
Skeet Ulrich plays mysterious-man-with-past Jake Green, who comes home to Jericho, Kansas to collect money that his grandfather left to him in his will. Unforunately for him, the only one that can let him get it is his father Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney), who acts as the town’s mayor. The only one on his side is his mother Gail Green (Pamela Reed), who often keeps the two from butting heads often.
When the explosion happens, people connected to the Green family and many others feel the effects. Dale Turner (Erik Knudsen) loses his mother in the whole mess and attempts to become a hero by helping others. Robert Hawkins (Lennie James) lends his hand with a strange amount of knowledge about the explosion. Heather Lisinski (Sprague Grayden) becomes a potential girlfriend to Jake after he saves her and some children from the aftermath of the explosion. Meanwhile his ex-girlfriend Emily Sullivan (Ashley Scott), who lives outside of town, is completely unaware of the chaos that will fall upon her.
I said it seemed like The Andy Griffith Show, that’s not a fair assessment. I think the show attempts to be a deeper and more insightful remake of Earthquake. That’s fine, but I just don’t think that can work as a series. At what point does the plot lose steam and the characters start to become closer to a soap-opera than a drama?
I think this is going to be one of these shows that you’ll just have to wait and see. Edited: TVFG
Article comments
1 - Ray Ellis
pssst, Matt--it's Jericho, Kansas. Don't blame Texas on this mess.
2 - Matthew
Thanks, I caught it.