Maybe I’m morphing into that crotchety guy down the street — the one who yells at the kids to get off his lawn — but really, if you’re a TV series wading knee-deep into the supernatural waters, get it right.
You’ll be facing a knowledgeable fan base, short on patience, that won’t be played for suckers — and you won’t get a second chance to make a decent first impression.
I don’t think “The Tomorrow People,” premiering Oct. 7 on The CW, will make that good first impression — or much of an impression at all. Yet another in the assembly line of fantasy/sci-fi shows, it offers little in the way of thrills, suspense or drama. There’s a nice twist at the end of the first episode — and some nice CGI effects — but that probably won’t be enough to compel finicky viewers to return.
What the series does have, in common with its CW stablemates, is a good-looking, young cast who aren’t given much to work with — and that’s a problem in a fractured TV landscape offering so many other alternatives.
Robbie Amell (“Revenge”) stars as Stephen Jameson, a New York high schooler who’s been increasingly prone to sleepwalking, often ending up in bed with his neighbor and his neighbor’s wife. He’s also been hearing a female voice in his head and thinks he’s going insane — like his deadbeat father, who abandoned the family several years earlier.
Of course Stephen isn’t really going crazy; he is, in fact, one of the thousands of under-the-radar “Tomorrow People,” who — through a genetic mutation — are capable of telepathy, teleporting and telekinesis.
Before too long, Stephen is recruited into a band of rogue Tomorrow People (also known as “homosuperiors”) operating in plush digs underneath the New York subway system (don’t ask). Once there, he learns from new pals Cara (who’s been the voice inside his head) and John — played by Peyton List and Luke Mitchell — that the 15 Tomorrow People in New York are locked in an eternal battle with the Ultras, a super-secret government agency tasked with eradicating Tomorrow People from the face of the earth. Or something.
The Ultras are headed by Dr. Jedekiah Price (Mark Pellegrino), he of the name that could only have been invented for a TV show. But there’s more to “Jed” than meets the eye, which involves that aformentioned plot twist.
“The Tomorrow People” also has the requisite subplot involving Stephen’s (platonic) friendship with his skeptical high-school friend, Astrid (Madeleine Mantock), who looks like she’s at least 25.
But hey, this is a TV show — just not a very good one.