Number Rolled: 97
TV Show Name/Year:
The Tomorrow People (2013-2014)
Genre: TV Show
Length: Approx. 1 hour
episodes
Rating: TV-14
Affiliated Companies:
Berlanti Productions, CBS Television Studios, Fremantle Media North America,
Warner Bros. Television
Executive Producer:
Thom Beers, Greg Berlanti, Melissa Kellner Berman, Danny Cannon, Phil Klemmer,
Julie Plec, Jeff Rake, Anthony Optican, Roger Damon Price
Director: Dermott
Downs, Danny Cannon, Guy Norman Bee, Nick Copus, Rob Bailey, Felix Enriquez
Alcala, Nathan Hope, Leslie Libman, Steven A. Adelson, Jace Alexander, John
Behring, Eagle Egilsson, Michael Schultz, Oz Scott, Wendey Stanzler
Writer: Greg
Berlanti, Phil Klemmer, Julie Plec, Roger Damon Price, Leigh Dana Jackson, Alex
Katsnelson, Jeff Rake, Micah Schraft, Grainne Godfree, Ray Utarnachitt,
Nicholas Wootton, Pam Veasey, Anderson Mackenzie
Actors: Robbie
Amell, Peyton List, Luke Mitchell, Aaron Yoo, Madeleine Mantock, Mark
Pellegrino, Jeffrey Pierce, Jacob Kogan, Sarah Clarke, Simon Merrells, Alexa
PenaVega, Carly Pope, Meta Golding, Laura Wiggins, Madeleine Arthur, Mitchell
Kummen
Stephen is a mostly normal student; normal except for the
fact that he’s been diagnosed with behavioral and psychological issues. He
hears voices, he wakes up in strange places; not even his meds can help him.
Then he meets a group of people who once went through the same thing… when
their abilities were awakening. The Tomorrow People teach him that he’s the
next evolutionary step in humanity. They teach him about the three T’s: telekinesis,
teleportation and telepathy. Finally, they teach him about Ultra, the evil
corporation hunting down their kind for experimentation or worse. As they teach
him, he learns just how deep his bloodline connections run with them.
I don’t need to tell you I don’t normally cover TV shows. I’ve
thought about it. I still think about it from time to time, but then I wonder
how fair it is to judge an entire series by single episodes at a time. Even the
best TV series has a dud episode now and again. I mean, I’d love to write about
Doctor Who, Arrow, Sons of Anarchy, Gilmore Girls, or any of the other
amazing TV shows on Netflix, but it’s not really all that feasible. I can’t
exactly watch an entire series in three days. For some of the shows, that would
be mathematically impossible.
So why does The Tomorrow
People make the cut?
Remember once upon a time when Firefly was canceled? Well, I wasn’t familiar with that show at the
time. Sure, I am now and it’s awesome. I have the biggest crush on Nathan
Fillion (Slither, Dr. Horrible’s
Sing-A-Long Blog, Much Ado About Nothing) and he’s the whole reason I
decided to start watching Castle, but
when it was initially canceled I didn’t know enough about it to be upset. That
makes The Tomorrow People my Firefly.
As I write this, I’m re-watching the pilot episode. I’m
recalling how amazing I found Robbie Amell (Th
Flash, Zack Stone is Gonna Be Famous, Struck By Lightning) throughout the series and how Luke
Mitchell (7 Minutes, Home And Away,
Neighbours), Peyton List (Mad Men,
90210, As the World Turns), and Aaron Yoo (Disturbia, 21, Friday the 13th) brought their characters to life. I recall how
spectacularly infuriating the good and evil representations of Jedikiah Price
and The Founder’s storylines were. Played by Mark Pellegrino (Being Human, Supernatural, Lost) and
Simon Merrells (Spartacus: War of the
Damned, The Wolfman, Family Affairs) respectively, they were a huge part of
the reason I tuned in to the series every single week for 22 episodes.
I would have watched 7 more seasons of this series, easily.
If the writers kept it up and the actors kept caring as much as they did in the
first season, I could have watched even more than that.
Instead, the CW canceled it.
They had good reason, I’ll admit to that. Ratings weren’t
quite where the network wanted them when The
Tomorrow People was on after Arrow
every Wednesday. So they moved the show to Mondays and that move effectively
alienated a large remainder of the viewers they did have.
The thing is, The
Tomorrow People was not original programming. It was a reboot of a British
TV series from the 70’s that went by the same name. That version of The Tomorrow People ran for 5 years,
making it a relatively successful television series.
Why didn’t this version make it? It was interesting. It was
well acted. It was well written. It was well directed and produced. What was
the problem?
To be honest, I think it was the title.
In the 70’s, in England, the title must have been fine,
because the series survived. That means people had to have been attracted to it
enough to give it a chance in the first place. The CW released it in the US, in
the 2010’s; different time, different place. Their target audience isn’t
attracted to titles like that. Especially since this series was a reboot, I
think they could have benefited from changing the title.
Think about it. Some of the most popular shows at the time
that The Tomorrow People aired were: The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Game of
Thrones, True Blood, and Teen Wolf. How
are those titles different than The
Tomorrow People? The ways they relate to the actual shows are obvious even
if you’ve never seen them. It gives viewers an idea of what to expect. You hear
The Walking Dead and you’re not going
to think of anything but zombies. You hear Game
of Thrones and you’re going to expect a fantasy involving kings. Maybe you
won’t know True Blood refers to a
drink in the show, but it pretty clear there’ll be some kind of vampire tone to
it. When I think The Tomorrow People,
I think of things like Futurama and The Jetsons.
If the title of a show doesn’t draw in viewers, then viewers
aren’t going to know how amazing it is, and viewers today seem to want some
kind of clarity in their titles.
Reboots are fine, but the producers have to acknowledge the
change in times. For the most part, where the story arcs and the script are
concerned, they did catch up to the year they released this remake. Why they
decided to leave the title in the past is beyond me.
My friends and I joke that it’s the best show with the worst
name in existence.
Netflix has been picking up canceled shows and working with
them. I believe, with all my heart, if Netflix were to pick up The Tomorrow People, with as much of the
same cast as possible, and change the title, the company would be significantly
surprised with how well it does.
It’s unlikely, but I can always hope.
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 45%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 77%
Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.9/5
Trust-the-Dice Score – 5/5
Movie Trailer: I felt that a single trailer for an entire series didn't say enough. So I scoured Youtube for the best fan-made music video for the series I could fine. It was created by rhoboat77. Enjoy.
