Forgotten Television: The Others

Marian Kitt (Julianne Nicholson) has transferred to a new university, when she begins to have nightmares about a drowned girl in her bathtub.  Professor Miles Ballard (John Billingsley) hears of this and approaches Marian with an opportunity to join a group of other psychics.  Marian denies that she has any abilities, but as the dreams persists, she joins the group which consists of, Satori (Missy Cinder), Mark Gabriel (Gabriel Macht), Warren Day (Kevin J. O’Connor), Albert McGonagle (John Aylward) and Elmer Greentree (Bill Cobbs).  Each of them with their own strengths and special powers, and each with their own personal demons.  The group uses their abilities to help people in need and to fight the coming darkness. In the pilot episode, Marion must come to terms with who she is, while also helping the deceased girl in the tub make peace with those she left behind.  As the series continues, an underlying plot thread ties it together with a dark evil power that is targeting the team.

The Others premiered in February of 2000 and ran for its original 13 episodes but was not renewed for a second season. The cast was strong with a lot of up-and-coming actors like Julianne Nicholson and Missy Crider mixed with veteran actors like Bill Cobbs and John Aylward.  The characters were all unique and well portrayed.  John Billingsley, who plays the one non-psychic on the team, would later go on to genre television shows, Enterprise as the alien Dr. Phlox and True Blood as Coroner Mike Spencer.  The stories were often creepy with a great atmosphere and were not always what was expected with many of them having heartwarming happy endings. The introduction of an overarching evil that was targeting the group, also kept the show suspenseful and interesting.  I felt the pacing of each episode was good and the show had a a strong rhythm.

This was one of my favorite shows of the 2000s and I know it got mixed reviews in the press, but I heartily enjoyed the stories and the characters with all of them being likeable and relatable.  The program was definitely an ensemble series allowing each of the characters to shine at different times and building a type of familial momentum.  It aired on NBC as an attempt in creating a Saturday night supernatural/paranormal programming block but was unsuccessful in doing so and cancelled the show.  Due to its cancellation the network bumped up the final episode, “Life is for the Living” and showed it on May 13, 2000, skipping the episode entitled “Mora”.  This episode would be shown a month later but chronologically takes place before “Life is for the Living” which ends on a type of cliffhanger with all the characters in peril, and it is unfortunate that the audience never got closure never knowing if they succeed in surviving the evil that was plaguing them.  It is a frustration often felt by audience members who become embroiled in a character’s life, begin caring for said character, and then never see what becomes to them. I am still angry at NBC for this one, 23 years later.