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Ack! The world is about to end! Can an MIT student, a tech billionaire and a government spokeswoman save Earth from a giant asteroid that's going to strike the planet in 186 days?
That's the premise of "Salvation" (Wednesday, 9 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2), a summer series that begins pretty much just as you'd expect, but it seems to be relatively well done. The first couple of hours are OK, at least.
I realize that "OK" is not exactly a ringing endorsement, but — c'mon! — this is a summer series that's supposed to be a diversion. If you're looking for something smart, try PBS, not CBS.
Anyhow … as the series opens, MIT grad student Liam Cole (Charlie Rowe) has discovered that asteroid is just six months away from destroying the planet. He's recruited by tech billionaire Darius Tanz (Santiago Cabrera) to help save Earth.
When they eventually get to the government, in the form of Deputy Defense Secretary Harris Edwards (Ian Anthony Dale), he's not a whole lot of help. His girlfriend/spokeswoman, Grace Barrows (Jennifer Finnigan) might be more help, because she wants make sure her daughter doesn't die in the cataclysm.
So far, so … we've-seen-this-before. The attempt to make this somewhat different is that there's a big conspirady inside the government to keep all this secret from the public. And among the strategies to keep the secret is murder.
And there's an Intrepid Young Reporter () trying to ferret all this out.
Now, I'm not saying this is great TV. But "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" weren't great movies, but they were kind of fun diversions.
I've only seen the first two episodes, so I can't guarantee "Salvation" will hold up. But I plan to keep my expectations low and check out Episode 3.