[review] being human [us]; pilot

[krickets]

I'm pretty disappointed in the casting. "Annie" and "George" specifically. Aidan is okay, but I already have a strange fondness for Sam Witwer. However, I'm even having trouble warming to him in this role.

Annie is Sally? No offense to anybody named Sally, but IMO that's a downgrade.

Mark P. (Jacob, Lost) is kind of disappointing me here. Not digging it. I was hoping for an older, stately, and yet menacing actor for his role. He's just coming off as smug. Not what I was hoping for. (Also, I'm not sure what's going on with his hair.)

I had high hopes for this but I'm not so sure.

For one thing I'm kind of disappointed at how completely and utterly powerless they've rendered Sally. She can't leave the house, apparently can't even walk through walls like just about any ghost, can't touch or move things, and can't be touched not even by her roomies. Disappointing. It doesn't leave her a lot to do.

I didn't expect them to copy things exactly, and that would definitely be weird, but I do feel that each of the characters is way more bland than in the UK series. It's just a pilot so I'll give it another chance, but I'm hoping for some more depth or even just general quirkiness from them in the future.

Based on the promos I thought this was going to have a chance at not sucking. I'm not sure how right or wrong I was. I'm leaning toward wrong.

Comments

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Aw, it looks like I liked it more than you did.

Btw, that's how Annie was at the beginning of the original. Her character is almost exactly as it was in the UK pilot--couldn't leave the house, couldn't move things or be touched. I'm still iffy on the new actress though. We'll see.

Agreed about Mark P's hair. What the hell happened there?

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I'm almost positive Annie never said she couldn't leave the house. And she was always making tea so I KNOW she could touch things and she could touch Mitchell and George. They never made a big to-do the first time she left he house for example. As a matter of fact, one of the first house scenes I remember was her opening the door and TALKING TO a delivery person, who could see her.

No. I didn't like it that much. BUT, I always give pilots a pass because I know things can be rough and that it takes them a bit to get into a groove. So I'll be giving this another couple of chances. But overall I'm unimpressed.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

They never made a big to-do the first time she left he house for example.
Did you watch the original pilot, with the original Annie? Before they recast? That was a major plot point--her never leaving the house and being afraid to. This pilot was following that pilot, sometimes scene for scene. If you haven't seen that first UK pilot, I highly recommend it. I won't spoil her reason for finally being able to leave, if you haven't seen it yet.

You're right about the tea though.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

No I haven't. I didn't even know it existed. Would you call that canon? I guess if they scrapped the original plot-lines after re-casting, I personally would say they did the right thing, haha. But of course that's pretty much because I am attached to the pilot that I saw.

I may have to go download that just to see more of Mitchell and George. Haha.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Oooh, you should definitely check it out, even just for curiosity's sake. The original Mitchell & Annie are so different! It took a while for me to warm up to current Mitchell. (I should still have it around here somewhere, if you can't find it.)

I guess I do consider that canon. Maybe I shouldn't?

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Ah they recast Mitchell too? That was definitely a bumpy start.

I don't know if you would or you wouldn't, honestly. For me it would depend on a few different things and half of those are totally subjective. lol.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Now I adore the current Mitchell and wouldn't change him, but the original Mitchell was much slashier with George, so I was a little bummed at first that they lost that chemistry. But, like I said, Aidan Turner totally grew on me.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they purposefully named the US character Aidan after him. I was kind of startled when they started calling him that.

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

I couldn't bring myself to watch (I can't help it, the original series is way too near and dear to my heart), but I was curious to see what everyone's reactions would be.

I don't like the sounds of what they're doing with Annie. I can't remember much about the original pilot, but I know that when Annie works up to leaving the house it was a big deal. I much prefer the direction Whithouse took her in, in the second pilot.

Hey, at least season three starts on Sunday! :)

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Yes, at least there's that!

Also, I would recommend you not tune in to the US version. Even though I myself am giving it another episode or two to settle in. I'll try and leave ep response posts if I can.

[liebmich.livejournal.com]

The States don't do very well with trying to remake shows (and, movies) into American versions, I've learned. :\

[x-greyflowers-x.livejournal.com]

Wow. I forgot about the differences in the unaired pilot and how Annie's self-confidence was so low that she couldn't touch anything or leave the house. Chris made a few comments while we were watching the US premiere and I assumed he had just forgotten the first episodes... now I realize he never saw the unaired pilot and simply isn't remembering what I do. LOL

It's definitely not the same feeling, and I don't think I like Sally, but we like the overall show well enough that we'll sit through a few more episodes, at least.

(Another UK show had its American-remake premiere this week: Skins. It was pretty much a disappointment.)