INVASION (ABC, Wednesdays at 10/9 Central)

Premise (from Zap2it):

"For centuries, man has searched the skies for signs of intelligent life, but to no avail. What if the explanation lay in the fact that aliens were already here -- already among us? And what if all of the natural disasters we've been experiencing of late were smokescreens designed to mask something far more ominous? When yet another devastating hurricane threatens Florida, temporarily cutting off a small town at the edge of the Everglades, U.S. Park Ranger Russell Poole takes heroic measures to keep both the town's citizens and his family safe. In the middle of the violent storm, his young daughter is the only one to see small lights floating towards the water, seemingly unaffected by the vicious winds. At the time he thinks nothing of her claim, but begins to suspect that something may indeed be amiss when his missing ex-wife is found naked, with no memory of what happened during the storm. As the tiny town struggles to recover while his nemesis, the Sheriff, quarantines the entire area, Poole begins to investigate the strange goings on, unwittingly beginning a fight for the survival of the human race."

Yep, another new show about aliens, following "Surface" and "Threshold." This one details the aftermath of a hurricane as the residents of a Florida town band together to survive. To make matters worse, a little girl (Ariel Gade, seen this past summer in 'Dark Water') witnesses what appear to be yellow "lights" falling from the sky (Alien alert!). The show's main characters are part of an inter-connected family (through divorce).

As for the quality of the show, it featured good performances from the cast (Ariel Gade was especially good considering her age and inexperience at acting). The problem is that it features many cliched elements such as the conspiracy theorist who believes the government may be behind everything and the discovery of a corpse in a swamp that's covered with goo. Plus, in light of "Surface", this is the second show in less than a week that deals with yellow "lights" falling from the sky so it can't help but feel derivative. In all, "Invasion" is worth watching but I can't help but think and wish that it would be possible to combine elements of "Threshold", "Surface", and "Invasion" to create one hell of alien-based epic.

Grade: B

I taped the show, and watched the first 15 minutes or so. I liked what I saw, dealing with the storm and everything, but I doubt that there will be storms in every episode, so... I'll have to watch the rest.

I saw this and thought it was awful. Belongs on the Sci Fi channel, not a major real network. Bad acting, bad writing, the works. And the first half hour reeked of a kind of anti-woman mentality, it felt like it was written by a bitter divorced man.

Let me say that I was SHOCKED to find out that this show is written and was created by former Hardy Boy, former Teen Idol, current and former David Cassidy's (Kieth Partridge from The Partridge Family) little brother, and former one hit wonder and singer of "Da Do Ron Ron", Sean Cassidy.

Watched the two hour premiere (or so it appeared, as CTV aired the first two episodes as some sort of mini-movie). Not horrible, but not a weekly watch. It sucks when you don't care if there are aliens in the show or not.

I'm at episode 6 now, and quite like it.

The show is a bit slow, but yet, it's not boring.

When is this coming back to air in States, anyone know? And will there be second season?

I think it's supposed to come back later in the month. Sooner, maybe, if The Evidence continues to tank.

A second season is doubtful.

I thought Alias was going to take its place.

I do watch it every few weeks, And seriously its way way too slow.
The whole alien thing is dealt with in such a hammy way that we dont really know what the fuck is happening until episode 4 and then we know the ENTIRE SEASONS forthcoming proceedings.

It's compelling enough that i continue to watch it every few weeks, and i kind of enjoy watching it. But the storyline just could have been much more streamlined.

Eddie Cibrian is not believable as an ordinary guy simply because hes too good looking. People like Eddie Cibrian do not work in a swamp saving animals. They go to Hollywood and become famous.

Alias is on at 8pm on wed, not 10.

I watched this for the first four episodes or so, once it got into the "diseased monkeys run amok!" storyline I tuned out and never looked back. The first episode was good though.

Well, it was cancelled now officially.

Yup. Its ratings were horrible considering the millions of dollars spent on promotion and production and an even better timeslot than Alias had enjoyed last year. If you want any chance of a second season these days you need to be averageing over 9 million at least.

Just watching this on E4 right now. It's awful, but William Fichtner's daughter is hot. Kind of like a cross between Fairuza Balk and Summer Glau.

There might be some hope but dont hold your breath, this isnt exactly like Jag

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/05/14/invas ... to-the-cw/

I think i read in Ask Ausiello that CW considered it until they found out how expensive it was and then decided to not.

It was ultimately too slow-moving to be entertaining.

Why the fuck would they pick a show like Invasion up?!
It's not good. Sure its not BADDDDDDDDD but it is NOT GOOD.

I thought Invasion was pretty good, actually....but I haven't watched in weeks because I saw the writing on the wall. So this won't affect my life too much.

Why What About Brian continues to draw breath, however, I can't fathom.