Hope you like your sci-fi intrigue tinged with robotic children, amnesia, and Halle Berry's emotions, because that's what “Extant” is dishing out.
“Extant” is a new supernatural series premiering July 9 on CBS. Goran Visnjic plays Halle's husband, and together they're raising what appears to be an “A.I.”-type child programmed with thousands of commands for feigning love and sincerity. (Lea Michele is rumored to work the same way.) He is about as creepy as you'd expect. Steven Spielberg is behind this, so it's no surprise we're catching whiffs of Haley Joel Osment's cyborg past here.
I'm split on this trailer. Let's discuss the highs and lows.
Highs: I mean, what is going on here? There's enough interest in the trailer to make me believe we're in for a bunch of twists, turns, and otherwise disturbing revelations. I'll also put it out there that I think Camryn Manheim is fantastic, even though her role here appears to be thankless. I also like the weird locales on this show; that space shuttle looks like it came from the Michael/Janet “Scream” video, and that's the kind of sci-fi for me.
Lows: I'm not excited for how cliched that child is. He literally has a skin-colored flap that you can pull back to reveal a control panel. Come on. And while I've liked Goran Visnjic and Halle Berry in many other projects, here they seem kind of faceless and nondescript as the perpetually fretting protagonists. A part of wonders if this will reel viewers in like “Hannibal,” but it seems more likely to be the next “Terra Nova” or “V” — shows that want to be enigmatic but slowly unravel to bare their boring truths.
So, I'm half in. What about you all?