Freeform’s sci-fi-flavored drama ‘Beyond’ falls short of suspense
CBS sued for $750 mln
LOS ANGELES, Dec 30, (RTRS): In a nod to the way its target audience consumes TV these days, all 10 episodes of Freeform’s scifi-flavored drama “Beyond” will be available on the Disney cabler’s app and on Hulu on the day of the show’s premiere. If only the show itself were a binge-worthy addiction. As it is, “Beyond’s” characters are so bland and their dilemmas so unremarkable that it may be difficult to make it through the show’s two-hour pilot.
In “Beyond,” Burkely Duffield plays Holden, a young man who wakes up from a coma with unusual abilities. Despite multiple demonstrations of those powers, it takes Holden a long time to acknowledge their existence and their destructive tendencies. That might be acceptable if Holden — or any members of his family — had any memorable qualities, but they are unremarkable in every way.
Most aspects of “Beyond” — from a slomo showdown in the rain to an all-American family struggling with an unusual burden — carry echoes of more well-known movies and TV shows, from “The X-Files” to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to “Kyle XY,” a show that debuted on this network a decade ago, back when it was called ABC Family. But as “Stranger Things” demonstrated, being derivative isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as there is a good deal of substance backing up a show’s homages.
Unlike that Netflix hit, “Beyond” fails to create the kind of suspenseful atmosphere or complex relationships that would cause a viewer to be patient with its lesser qualities, and “Beyond” is weighed down by dull dialogue and a pace that leaves much to be desired. The exploration of the family’s reaction to Holden’s return or the “man out of time” element of his life could have been examined with poignance or humor, but neither aspect of the show is fleshed out with flair or memorable detail.
Most tedious of all is the unspooling of some kind of vague conspiracy arrayed against Holden, who regularly sees visions and flashes of a past life. That element of the show is frustrating in the extreme, given that a juicy set of villains could have given the story a needed boost of energy. As it is, those out to get him aren’t given any more depth or urgency than any other element of the drama, and ultimately, it’s hard to care about Holden or the people who are after him.
The brother of JonBenet Ramsey has filed a $750 million defamation lawsuit against CBS and Critical Content in connection with the four-hour documentary series “The Case of JonBenet Ramsey” that aired in September.
Burke Ramsey, 29, asserts in the complaint filed in Michigan’s Wayne County state court that CBS and series producer Critical Content sought to generate ratings by pointing the finger at him as the killer of his younger sister, who was found dead in the family’s Boulder, Colo., home on Dec 26, 1996. The mystery of the Ramsey murder was revisited by CBS and a number of other outlets this year as the 20th anniversary of the 6-year-old’s brutal death approached.
The suit also names as defendants seven individuals who were featured in the documentary series as criminal experts or students of the case: Jim Clemente, Laura Richards, Henry Lee, A. James Kolar, James Fitzgerald, Stanley Burke and Werner Spitz. Kolar wrote a book about the case, “Foreign Faction,” that was heavily cited in the docu series.
CBS originally ordered “JonBenet” as a sixhour documentary series but cut it back to four hours at the last minute.
CBS declined to comment Wednesday on the lawsuit.
Burke Ramsey’s lawsuit argues that producers overlooked a significant range evidence that points to his innocence. Burke Ramsey and his parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, were cleared of the crime by a Boulder prosecutor based on DNA evidence in 2008. But officials have now said that was premature and the district attorney has re-opened the case.
Just days after A&E pulled its KKK docuseries, the Church of Scientology is lashing out at the network for not canceling “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.”
A&E canceled the KKK series last Saturday before it even aired, after discovering that producers on the show had paid some some participants on the project. The network stated that cash payments were a “direct violation of A&E’s policies and practices for a documentary.”
On Wednesday, a lawyer for the Church of Scientology, Gary Soter, slammed A&E, saying that the network is hypocritical for canceling the KKK show, while continuing to tout the Scientology show.
In a letter first obtained by TMZ, the Church counsel argues that A&E has paid on-air subjects in Remini’s series, writing: “Church of Scientology understands that two on-air accusers/participants in Leah Remini’s docuseries, ‘Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,’ received substantial cash payments for their participation, in violation of the same standards.”
The letter continues, “It is hypocritical for A&E to proclaim its intent to ‘expose and combat racism and hatred in all its forms’ in cancelling the KKK show and at the same time promote Leah Remini’s program which promotes hatred that A&E claims that it wants to stop.”