Eleventh Hour

It’s always surprising to me when show’s like this don’t last. I mean, look at “Fringe”. While it’s not what Fox would call great ratings, networks like The CW would kill for the kind of viewer ship the J.J. Abrams produced crime drama pulls in on a weekly basis. While “Eleventh Hour” shares many similarities, it’s undoubtedly a show of its own and one that should have been given a chance.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (“CSI”), “Eleventh Hour” is based on the UK series of the same name. It follows a brilliant scientist, Dr. Jacob Hood (Rufus Sewell) who specializes solving crimes of the unusual nature for the FBI. Agent Rachel Young (Marley Shelton) is his FBI handler who assists him on his various cases and also keeps him focused.

The biggest problem with the series is what any show of this type runs in to. The first season is merely a test run. The writers use it to figure out what they plan to do with the show in the long run. The characters are established along with their chemistry with on another, the story-line is solidified and things of that nature. It’s completely ridiculous to judge a show based on its first season. It’s like reading the first twenty pages of a book and developing an opinion without reading the other 140 pages. Unfortunately, that’s exactly how viewers acted toward “Eleventh Hour”.

I’ll admit, the first season was a bit sketchy. There were a lot of notable changes that took place, but like “CSI”, it’s wasn’t a series you had to watch week to week in order to know what was going on. With each new episode came new cases and whether you saw the previous week’s airing or not, the viewer knew exactly what was going on and it was like they hadn’t missed a thing.

The concept of “Eleventh Hour” is absolutely intriguing. I think that’s another reason the show didn’t pick up much of a following. There’s really too much going on and the average viewer doesn’t understand a lot of the terminology used throughout the series. Long story short, the show was too brilliant for its own good.

I thought “Eleventh Hour” was mesmerizing. It was refreshing and a nice twist on the traditional crime-drama. The actors are convincing throughout. Rufus Sewell, as always, delivers in fine fashion and Rachel Young has absolutely no trouble holding her own. It’s just a shame the show got cancelled so quickly. Had people given this a chance, it could have easily been the next “CSI”. Watching the complete series is almost a tease because once you start viewing the first few episodes, you’ll be hooked and come the series end you’ll want more, but unfortunately you won’t see it.