NBC’s online sci-fi series ‘Gemini Division’ launched today on SciFi.com, NBC.com and a few other outlets.
My first-blush reaction after watching two episodes — meh.
The series, which is toplined by ‘Sin City’ siren Rosario Dawson, is set “five minutes” in the future (although it will take Microsoft a bit longer than that to deliver the nifty iPhone rip-off through which Dawson monologues her “transmissions” — a product placement, which gets to be a little intrusive by the second episode.)
According to the show’s site, the “live-action and animated science fiction series follows a New York City homicide detective, Anna Diaz [Dawson], as she investigates the murder of her fiance and uncovers an underworld of genetically fabricated life-forms that bring into question the legitimacy of her own relationships and being.”
The first two episodes are all about set-up.
In Episode 1, Dawson tells someone (her dad?) all about her whirlwind Paris vacation, the proposal by her would-be fiance and a suspicious dude eyeballing the happy couple via her Microsoft video phone.
(MINI-SPOILER ALERT)
In the last minute of the premiere, Dawson’s fiance has some kind of a seizure, which she oddly believes is a heart problem (OK, he has a pacemaker, but still.)
(END MINI-SPOILER ALERT)
Episode 2 adds little to the storyline, aside from a second appearance of Mr. Suspicious and more face-time for the doomed fiance (actor Justin Hartley, who hasn’t had a whole lot to do so far.)
The production values are reasonably good — although the green-screen usage seemed obvious (too crisp) and excessive. Dawson does a decent job of churning through a lot of exposition while looking cute. But by the second episode, the phone transmission gimmick was wearing thin (not just the product placement, mind you, but the first-person videotaping approach) — here’s hoping this doesn’t become “Cloverfield” on a cell phone.
There are 48 episodes to go, so I’m keeping an open mind and hoping for an entertaining series. The creative folks behind this series — and the resources at their disposal — are certainly capable of delivering. At this point, however, the jury is out.
A few final notes: There are some behind-the-scenes clips (good), but the site lacks a podcast feed and the ability to embed the video player (bad.)
Its so important for the interactive TV genre that Gemini Division puts on a good showing. This is the kind of innovative product that exploits the interactivity of the internet and changes the lean back viewing experience of traditional TV into something far more engaging. Its success would bring much needed attention to the indie interactive web scene.
Signing Rosario Dawson is a great choice, a neo sci-fi plot is a great choice, the one gripe I have though is geo-blocking the show limiting it only to a US audience, I think its a cop out and a failure to fully embrace the internet. NBC, why get only half pregnant?! In mitigation, I suppose with a huge marketing budget, Gemini Division does not have to rely on viral distribution like indies do. And it probably has found revenues in international distribution.
$1.75M is HUGE for the web TV world but my hope is that a nice chunk of that is allocated to marketing (and you can count Rosario’s paycheck in that) to bring attention to the nascent interactive web series genre … indies like ours will gladly ride this coat tail.