The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The Channel Surfer: “Revolution”

Since it’s 2012 and apparently the world will be ending in December, post-apocalyptic shows are all the rage. Take for instance the show, “Revolution” that airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on NBC.
An unknown phenomenon 15 years earlier has caused the electricity of the world to go out and the surviving people have to find ways to deal with this new change. With no electricity, people are forced to adapt and in the midst of this new challenge, the government has failed and now warlords and militias run the world.
The series follows the Matheson family who have a USB-like device that is the key to finding out what happened fifteen years ago and to possibly become their saving grace in getting things back to the way they were.
This show functioned more like a movie than any other show that I have seen. I actually forgot that this show was part of a series.
I think that the lighting contributed to this show so much it almost hurts. I was amazed at how they constantly contrasted between light and dark and played around with muted colors.
Another thing that contributed to the show was the music. There was rarely a moment when there was not music on in the background, no matter how faint it was. The music itself could carry the plot line, and that is how you know when a show or a movie is constructed well.
The music wasn’t distracting either, unlike the acting. The actors that are in this show, such as Billy Burke (“Twilight”), have such verbose voices that sometimes made it feel like they were being too dramatic or too bland.
The acting went from two extremes, super loud and intense to almost painfully boring and monotone. I felt almost whiplashed with the way they switched between the two extremes so often.
The acting was one thing, but the sound effects could also have used a little work. When I stepped away from my computer for a minute and all I heard were the sound effects, I almost started laughing at how canned it sounded.
The gunshots sounded like something from an old western, and not in a good epic sort of way. This made me realize just how much shooting was in the show and that got boring real fast.
They can only shoot people so many times before you as a viewer are just over it all and ready to move on to the next conflict. I think this show needed a little more emotional conflict and less
physical. Physical conflict is easy to show on TV but emotional takes talent on the actor’s part and great writing.
Besides the couple of things that were a little off in this show, I was fascinated how a storyline in general could be carried out so flawlessly. The creators did a great job of making a post-apocalyptic type show a little different and unique than the others out there.
Even though the acting wasn’t up to portraying what the storyline entailed, I could still see where they wanted to go with the plotline and overall, the show deserves a thumbs up.

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The Channel Surfer: “Revolution”