The Fall TV season is in full swing with all of the major networks rolling out their new shows. One of the most talked about series of the fall slate was Fox's Minority Report, a spin-off series set in the same universe as Steven Spielberg's 2001 sci-fi film. It's official synopsis is as follows:
Set in Washington, D.C., it is 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals...before their crimes were committed. To carry out this brand of justice, the agency used three precogs - "precognitives" Dash, Arthur and Agatha - who were able to see the future. Now, in 2065, crime-solving is different, and justice leans more on sophisticated and trusted technology than on the instincts of the precogs.
The show's futuristic setting, strong source material, and Hollywood pedigree certainly seem like the foundation of a solid TV series, but reviews of the pilot episode have not been so kind.
USA Today's Robert Bianco gave the maiden screening 2 stars out of 4, saying the show's sci-fi backdrop can't mask the formulaic procedural base it's built on. He says:
A procedural that tries to use gimmicks to mask the emptiness of its characters and the transparency of its central mystery? Check. A crime drama built around a dedicated, frequently exasperated cop teamed with a super-intuitive outsider? Yep.
Den Of Geek's Rob Leane also had the same complaints, saying that the show might as well be a reskinned version of any cop drama currently airing on TV.
It's just all very by the numbers. This feels like a first draft for a generic sci-fi cop show that somehow made it to the screen. There's no punchiness to it, and very little depth beyond explaining what's going on.
The show's ratings were also lackluster, with the pilot episode notching a meager 1.1 rating in the key 18-49 year old demographic.
