Star-Crossed Brings Romeo & Juliet & Aliens To The CW: Today In Science Fiction
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The CW has become one of the few safe havens for science fiction on mainstream network television. Sure, Fox gave us a nice run of Fringe, but the potential imminent cancellation of Almost Human just confirms that Fox’s reputation as a graveyard for interesting, promising shows still holds true. Meanwhile, the CW has built a solid lineup almost entirely on genre hits such as Arrow and Supernatural. Sure, the shows tend to skew younger than, say, AMC’s The Walking Dead, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But while we’ll give anything sci-fi a fair shot here at GFR, we’re betting that tonight’s premiere of Star-Crossed will be more up the alley of my teenage daughter than myself. Assuming I had a teenage daughter. And if I did, there’s no way in hell you’re leaving this house dressed like that, young lady.
As the headline suggests, Star-Crossed is your basic Romeo & Juliet tale, but with the ill-fated Montague and Capulet lovers replaced by a human girl (Aimee Teegarden) and her alien beau (Matt Lanter). This being the CW, the aliens are, of course, remarkably photogenic, and their extraterrestrial nature is denoted primarily by some funny face tattoos. (Come on, guys, at least give them a bumpy forehead.) After a childhood meeting between the two, the bulk of the show picks up years after the aliens’ arrival on Earth, during which time they’ve been segregated into camps. Now they’re being integrated into the rest of society, and of course Emery (Teegarden) and Roman (Lanter) wind up at the same school so they can send each other mash notes in class. Hey, at least he’s not a sparkly vampire.
The show was created by Meredith Averill, whose past credits include The Good Wife, Happy Town, and the unfortunate American remake of Life on Mars. Not exactly a proven genre track record, so this one could go either way. We’ll have our thoughts on the pilot up tomorrow.
Other Sci-Fi TV Tonight
Almost Human (Fox, 8/7c) — “Disrupt”
A deadly crime from the future occurs when a ‘smart home’ goes terribly bad and turns on its occupants. Detective Kennex and Dorian lead the investigation that forces them to interface with a house that is represented by a mysterious hologram character.
Intelligence (CBS, 10:01/9:01c) — “Size Matters”
