TV Times

Timeless - I had problems right from the trailer with sending a black man to America's past where his effectiveness as an operative would be diminished by the way blacks were treated at that time in American history. In fact I can't think of a worse idea other than going back in time before the Civil War and expect the black man to be able to help in any substantive way.

"I am black. There is virtually no place in American History that will be awesome for me."

Rufus the black guy gets it right from the start. I have to say I am interested in seeing how the writers get around this HUGE piece of quicksand. There are so many ways this can go off the rails so I am giving this one a week by week watch. But I have no patience for shenanigans.

I do loves me a good time travel story where there are mysteries to be solved. Only I want the solutions to come quick. I don't want another UNDER THE DOME situation where there were NO answers for all the weirdness going on. I stuck it out for a FULL SEASON (13 episodes) waiting for answers until I gave up and turned bitter from the experience. This one could go either way.



Westworld - I am a big fan of the high concept of this one that examines what it's like to be sentient. What differentiates human from automaton? I am glad this is on HBO so they can take the idea to places it would never go on network TV. I want edgy and uncomfortable and I got it. I don't know why this one makes me think of the newest Battlestar Galactica and what they tried to do with that program before it went off the rails but it does. I was a big fan of the original movie so I have big hopes for this one.



The opening credits for this one are amazing. We watch as artificial life is created one strand of muscle at a time. The digital effects made me do a rewind several times. The look behind the scenes and what the staff does to maintain this theme park is amazing to watch. Scared the hell out of me because this kind of lifelike robotics is just the thing I am most afraid of. Skynet is real because eventually all robots turn against their masters.

It's a sick mind that creates a world where so much evil can be done by human 'guests' who use their money to buy an opportunity to do bad things - really bad things. The WHY of this place is not gone into much but this is just the pilot episode. It's obviously the future where we are told disease has been eliminated from the planet.

The set looks amazing and the production values here are high. All the actors are game and the subject matter is very thought provoking. I like how the park has contingency plans for dealing with any androids that get 'twitchy'. That's the job I would want. Shut down the renegades, the free thinkers among the toaster population.

Anthony Hopkins is especially brilliant as the head programmer. I want to know more about him and I suspect he might not be real himself. How big a mind fuck would that be? This whole show is designed to be that way and they do it very well. I want more. I wish I could binge on this one to get closer to the mysteries at the center of this one.

Very compelling. I am hooked.