This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There is one absolutely unbelievable thing about the premiere of "Believe" - the premiere episode of the NBC series was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who just won a best-director Oscar for "Gravity."
And everything about "Believe" - including the directing - is kind of ... meh.
Cuaron and J.J. Abrams are among the executive producers of this series, which comes across as sort of a confusing adapatation of "Firestarter." It's about a young girl with amazing powers who, it seems, is being chased by the government.
Well, chased by somebody, anyway.
What, exactly, 10-year-old Bo's (Johnny Sequoyah) powers are is unclear in the first episode (Monday, 9 p.m., NBC/Ch. 5). Even when we see them on display at the end of this hour.
We know there are Bad Guys, led by Skouras (Kyle MacLachlan), chasing after Bo. We know that there are Good Guys, led by Winter (Delroy Lindo), trying to protect her.
We know that the Good Guys enlist the aid of a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate, Tate (Jake McLaughlin), to become Bo's personal bodyguard of sorts.
Other than that, "Believe" is clear as mud.
Critics have only seen the pilot, which is, once again, sort of ... meh.
And there's serious reasons to be concerned about the episodes we haven't seen, given that the show has been through four different showrunners - the executive producer who actually runs the show) in its brief life. And that's never a good sign.
Having seen the pilot, I don't "Believe" there's any reason to watch another episode.
After premiering on Monday, March 10, at 9 p.m. on NBC/Ch. 5, "Believe" moves to its regular timeslot on Sunday, March 16, at 8 p.m.