Fear Itself (2008-)

From what I've seen of this show (which is only two episodes: "Family Man" and "Spooked," but I'll keep watching and reviewing) it's not going to make it to a second season. It's an interesting, fresh, and very welcome idea, but I think NBC has so emasculated the horror potential of all of these episodes that they're not really scary.

"Spooked" with Eric Roberts was pitiful. There was nothing suspenseful or scary about this episode at all, I thought. The only thing mildly freaky was the radio static from the his past misdeeds coming through on the surveillance system. That's not much to keep an hour-long show that's supposed to be scary (hence the title) moving forward.

"Family Man" was a much better outing, and the acting on this episode was quite good. However, it followed the same formula as "Spooked": set up the tension, play it out for awhile, then resolve it but with a twist in the end. It's like the wash-outs from the M. Night. Shyamalan School of Plot Twists got together and decided to write hour-long TV episodes. There's a twist at the end, but unlike most Shyamalan flicks, the twist is telegraphed for most of the show; you can see it coming a mile away. I'm inclined to think it's insulting to the TV audience, but since there seems to be no way to accomplish that (see: Deal or No Deal, America's Got Talent (just look at the judges' table on this one: it's an all-star tribute to crap) , and Nashville Star to name a few just from NBC), I guess I'd be wrong there.