Century City

Frankly, I'm really tired of lawyer shows, especially ones dealing with civil law. It's a little hard to get enthusiastic about folks who bill you a hundred bucks just to make a photocopy.

BUT-- I enjoy shows dealing with social issues. And shows dealing with impending social issues are all to few. Usually they're limited to shoot-em-ups like the various STAR TREKs or TWILIGHT ZONE / OUTER LIMITS. This is too bad, as the viewer detaches the issue from its real world aspects and might not give it any further thought.

So having a show dealing with the legal issues of things to come is, I think, a good idea. My college Architecture profs used to talk about the idea of a soap opera that could be used to introduce new ideas to the viewing public. Wrap the technology in a nice plot and the viewer can get at least some of the ideas he's missing by not watching PBS or Discovery Channel.

Okay, the lawyers' characters might be as engaging as the cartoon characters on LA LAW or THE PRACTICE but that is a good thing. Make these folks lawyer caricatures and you lose the real purpose of the show, which is to make you think about the impending issues presented.

Not all issues are strictly futuristic. One March 23rd episode plot dealt with child stars. Don Most (HAPPY DAYS) gave a nice performance as a broken down former child star and Daryl Sabara (SPY KIDS) as a current child star afraid of puberty.

CENTURY CITY is a highly intelligent show. Whether it will attract unintelligent viewers is a matter for time to reveal.

Postscript-- Nope. Cancelled with its second episode.

I really found the ideas behind the show interesting. It may not have been for everyone's taste, but they certainly didn't hide from the big issues, such as cloning and plastic surgery. I only caught 3 episodes but I thought they were very aware of the issues that are being addressed in courtrooms and laboratories around the world. Some of them scenes did disturb me but so does CSI and that show is thankfully not going anywhere soon. Iam a big Ioan Gruffudd fan and thought his first foray into American television was very brave and as always, I applaud his choice to stay away from the mainstream.

I may also mention that having my sentence structure changed because the 'system' doesn't think I have enough lines is annoying.

Okay...so it is gone, and it doesn't sound as if it will be mourned very heavily. Well, it should be. I know they started out with some pretty High-tech cases...i.e. cloning, cyber-rape... but they almost had to if they wanted to get their point across that this was a show about a few years in the future when things are different. If they were to be anything at all in the ballpark of the time-period that has shows like the Practice, Law & Order (ad infinitum) and so on..it would just be another show like the rest with maybe some different clothes and some newer or geekier cars. Sort of the "dam**d if you do, dam*d if you don't" syndrome. Off-hand, I rather liked the show. One heckuva lot better than "the Guardian". But, unfortunately...once something is deemed sci-fi it is doomed from many people's viewing. Too bad. Don't know what they are missing. And, unfortunately...I DO know what I will be missing!!

Mike

It's being shown in Universal HD, if you have high-def satellite service. I thought it was a brand new program! I guess I blinked and missed it the first time around in 2004...very interesting show. I like the clever use of "future" technology, like the "Mate Finder" device that some people walk around with, like a miniature dating service in a Blackberry. It tweedles when someone who fits your criteria passes you on the street or something. The show I'm watching today also features a child finder device that lets a parent patch into any camera in the city to see what their child is up to. That's the upgraded version. The girl in question staged a kidnapping so she could have a finder chip removed. She is railing against the lack of privacy that her parents concern takes away from her. Some ethical things to think about. Anyway, it's an interesting show...wonder why Sci-Fi didn't pick it up...

We recently started getting this in the UK, and I think it's a really excellent show.

The good thing that they got right that other 'Sci Fi' shows often don't is it was all believable and thought provoking stuff which dealt with issues which, although in the future, you can easily identify with today.

The characters might have needed a bit of work-a couple of 'off the peg' ones thrown in and you can't help but think 'LA LAW' at times, but there was room to develop that.

Really disappointed to see it was canned after a few episodes-it's stuck away on a small cable channel here so I don't expect a UK uprising to save it, but, I can always hope.