TV: Under The Dome

This is the biggest drama of the summer in the US and it came to UK shores last night and I decided to watch it.

It's an adaptation of Stephen King's book of the same name, where a small town tries to survive when a mysterious dome falls down on to it sectioning them from the rest of the world.

This show has miles of intrigue and questions, the main one being "who put the dome there and why?" which will keep viewers watching week after week.  There are some interesting casting choices too, mainly Jeff Fahey (Lost) and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad).

Two issues I have with this show, mainly with the format, rather than the story.  My first issue is that this would be a lot better as a movie or trilogy as 13 weeks of the same people in the same area will get rather boring, you can't do what Lost did and add new people at random and assume they were there the whole time. 

The second issue is the network it's on in America (this doesn't concern UK viewers), in the US, this is being broadcast on CBS, one of the four biggest networks in the country and network TV today can't do drama well, especially with Homeland, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, etc. dominating the cable networks.  No network TV drama has been nominated for an Emmy for 2 years now because cable TV dramas break barriers, do more daring things and haven't got as many executives trying to water down any crazy original ideas that writers may have.  Under The Dome has potential to shock audiences with twists and turns, but with it being run by a major network and with it being an adaptation, I just hope higher powers won't ruin it and make it predictable.

Bottom line: A great idea, great concept, impressive first episode, keep it going and keep the audience guessing!