Forgotten Television: The Tomorrow People 2013

Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell) believes he is sleepwalking as he often wakes up in different places, but he soon learns from Cara (Peyton List) that he is one of the “Tomorrow People”.  A new species of humanoids called Homo Superior, and he has special psionic powers which they call the “3 Ts”, telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation.  Stephen actually has a fourth “T”, time manipulation.  The Tomorrow People are genetically wired to not be able to kill, but some of them have been altered and can now bypass that genetic limitation.  The Tomorrow People are being hunted down, tortured and tested on and often killed by a group called Ultra led by Jedikiah (Mark Pellegrino), Stephen’s uncle.  Stephen believed that his father left them when he was young, but his father was also a Tomorrow Person and left to protect the family and is now believed to be dead.  The leader of the Tomorrow people is John (Luke Mitchell) and they live in an underground facility below the streets of New York.  Stephen, at first, rejects the idea that he has some kind of superpower and instead believes he is having a psychotic break, but he eventually does come to accept it.  He is faced with a hard choice though when he discovers the truth about his uncle who insinuates that his family could be harmed if he sides with The Tomorrow People.  So Stephen becomes a double agent, working for Ultra but passing information to The Tomorrow People.

The Tomorrow People is a 2013 American science fiction television series which aired on the CW.  It is based off the popular and long running 1973 British series of the same name created by Roger Price. The American version was developed by Greg Berlanti, Phil Klemmer and Julie Plec and to pay homage to the original British series, Stephen’s father is named Roger Price.  The show ran for only one season and a total of 22 episodes.  It premiered on October 9, 2013 with the final episode airing on May 5, 2014 and the CW announced its cancellation on May 8 of that year.  The series received mixed reviews with a score of 50 out of 100 on Metacritic.  I was nominated for “Best Youth-Oriented Series on Television” at the 40^th Saturn Awards.

I don’t remember watching this show at all in 2013 and I am not sure why.  I might have seen the pilot as parts of it seemed vaguely familiar, but for the most part I don’t remember it at all.  Guess that is why it would be considered “Forgotten Television”.  I also have not seen the original British series, but since I love British sci-fi, I may need to take a watch.  You ever watch something and enjoyed it, but there was just something missing, you aren’t even sure what it is, it just doesn’t click.  That is what I felt while watching this series. The premise is interesting, the story was well told, the performances were all good and the production value was strong, but it was just missing that magic ingredient that takes the audience from casual observer to a participant in the story.  The show was enjoyable to watch, but there wasn’t enough emotional investment to make you come back.  Overall, where there is nothing really bad about the series, the emotional connection to the characters is limited making it hard to care what actually happens to them.