Sara Collins is missing. Question: Does anybody care?
“Vanished” is the first show of the new fall season and the first of a long train of new serial thrillers. But a head start alone won’t guarantee that “Vanished” will become the next “24” or “Prison Break.” It needs characters whose presence on screen has the power to slow down the show’s nonstop breakneck pace.
The first hour of this thriller, which centers on the sudden disappearance of the aforementioned Mrs. Collins, a senator’s wife, delivers on the breakneck part. The show teeters at times on incomprehensibility but is brought back each time by its two stars, Gale Harold and Ming-Na (pictured), who play determined, heroic FBI agents.
Still, I sense that viewers’ circuits are going to overload awfully quickly trying to keep the growing number of serial dramas straight. (NBC’s “Kidnapped” and ABC’s “The Nine” are two more hostage dramas debuting later this season.) And while the FBI tandem is appealing, they don’t get enough screen time in tonight’s debut. Meanwhile, Rebecca Gayheart is annoying as a TV reporter, and Sen. Collins (John Allen Nelson) is way too shifty for my taste.
Time isn’t just running out to find the senator’s bride; “Vanished” is on the clock to make us care enough before other thrillers steal us away.
Vanished airs tonight on Fox, right after the second season premiere of "Prison Break."
Tick tock... the cancellation clock is already ticking in the words of Marc Berman. This show's poor debut on a very very lackluster Monday has already made it clear it will fade once the good stuff goes head to head with it.
Posted by: Jason | August 25, 2006 at 05:03 PM