Four things about the Sarah Connor Chronicles:

1. The name of the show is way too long.
2. I liked the show.
3. I didn't love the show.
4. I couldn't care less if it's renewed or not

There was something about this show that kept me at arms length from really getting into it. Something about the execution of the series that just didn't play right with me. I'm not quite sure I know what it is, but I'll take a stab at it.

The title. It's called the Sarah Connor Chronicles but the show wasn't about her. It was intended to be about her, but it wasn't. It was about John, her son. The future leader of mankind. More time was spent on John than Sarah. We went to school with John. We sat at the computer with John. We did homework with John.

What did we do with Sarah? We went on a date with Sarah. We bought cellphones with her. We got fake ID's with her. But we never really followed her. We never had any private moments with her. If the show was about Sarah, we would have spent more time feeling what she was feeling; going with her. Exploring this brave new world with her. But we don't. We're with John.

And we should be with John. After all, he's the hero of the franchise. Sarah is important, don't get me wrong. But she plays more of the mentor role rather than the hero role.

The supporting cast. I can't believe they killed Catherine Dent's character. Sure, she didn't do anything, but I like the actress. And I liked Garret Dillahunt as Agent Kester/Cromartie 2. (He was great in Deadwood.) Ellison was fine. But what really annoyed me was Dr. Silberman.

Oh, excuse me. Dr. Silverman. Bruce Davison just didn't fit in this role. The Dr. Silberman from the movies would never do what Dr. Silverman from the episode "The Demon Hand" did. Even in Terminator 3 Silberman wasn't psychotic. It was all wrong and there was no excuse for it.

On the other hand, Brian Austin Green as John's uncle Derek Reese brought in a sense of heightened urgency to the show. As one of older John's trusted fighters, his presence really informs John and Sarah and the audience of why Sarah has to do what she does. Derek's seen the future firsthand and truly knows why it has to change. (And, sure, the scene where Derek brings John to see Kyle Reese, John's father, was a bit overly sentimental for this show but it worked.)

Somehow I find it difficult to see Fox canceling this show. A fourth movie is supposedly in the works and if they're tying it into this present reality then having this show as a springboard makes sense. But personally, it doesn't make any difference to me.

Renewed or not, it was a decent ride. Not extraordinary. But decent.

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This article was written by david and published on
March 14, 2008 at 1:59pm.
The article was given the following tags:

• fox
• media
• sarah connor
• terminator
• tv