The Left-Overs...

[shadowkat]

Well, I tried to watch The Left-Overs - and..gave up after 35 minutes. It's boring and difficult to follow. Too many characters, most of them look a like, and they aren't that compelling or interesting. No real standouts. Except maybe the sheriff, but not enough to hold my interest.

And everyone acts like they are either stoned or just wandering about in a sort of depressed haze. Except the Sheriff who is angry, which may explain why he stands out. Makes sense considering they all lost their loved ones, with no explanation, so are deeply depressed. But it's not all that interesting to watch.

Plus we jump around a lot from character to character without dwelling on any of them long enough for me to care. Every ten minutes we jump to a different character. So far the only two stand-outs are the Sheriff and Amy Brennan who plays a cultist. But they aren't compelling enough for me to stick with it.

It's like reading one of those highly literary atmospheric novels...where everyone just sort of wanders through life in a cloud of beautifully written angst. And you think, god life is boring, but hey pretty prose. Except Proust this isn't. (ie. The prose ain't that pretty, and the acting isn't that good.)

The story is simple - 2% of the population randomly and mysteriously disappeared, three years later the survivors in a small American midwestern town are still trying to cope.
I'd have been more interested in seeing how they handled the initial disappearance and put the coping mechanism's in place. The skipping ahead technique doesn't quite work, I think.

It got mixed reviews. Some critics loved it, most were bored by it.

Comments

[fishsanwitt]

I'm intrigued.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Why???

[fishsanwitt]

Because it looks kind of cool. I just saw the pilot and I liked it. I'm curious about the people in white and all the tattoos on the main character. I'm going to check out the book as well.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I think we are in the minority.

My main probleme was that I felt like I had already seen the show many many times, but you're right the editing didn't help either.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I guess I've just seen too many similar things? Because I didn't see that at all obviously from my post. Realized half way in that I knew where it was going. I also know a lot of people with a lot of tattoos, so no interest.

Too many tv shows, too little time.
Plus, I've more or less decided to ax the HBO subscription.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

My main probleme was that I felt like I had already seen the show many many times, but you're right the editing didn't help either.

Exactly. That was my problem with it as well. I knew half-way in exactly where it was going and why. Seen way too many similar things.

It's admittedly not a genre that I find all that interesting, which may be part of my problem with it. And right now there's a huge interest in suburban angst - or "is this all there is?" which...I've grown tired of?

The one that I've heard is the best is the French series - The Returned, which I haven't seen.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I have seen Les Revenants. It's good but not THAT good, you know.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I tried Resurrection, which was based on it...and it wasn't very good at all.

Seems to be an off-shoot of the zombie/apocalypse genre.

[fishsanwitt]

I have to admit that I am *clueless* about where plots go. Jim always seems to know, but it's all a mystery to me and I'm *constantly* surprised at the reveals.