The River (new ABC series)

[Renegade334]

It's rare for me to try new TV shows (I usually stick to those I already watch instead of trying to diversify my own inventory), but this one kind of caught my eye and I noticed ASuki didn't have a thread for it. Yet.

Synopsis:

Famed explorer Dr. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) went looking for magic deep in the uncharted Amazon and never returned. The shocking truth about his disappearance is out there, somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. To the millions of kids who grew up watching his nature show, Dr. Cole was a hero. To his own son, Lincoln (Joe Anderson), he was more of an enigma. Now, six months after he vanished, Lincoln is finally ready to bury the past when Dr. Cole's emergency beacon suddenly goes off. At the urging of his mother, Tess (Leslie Hope), Lincoln reluctantly joins her on a search for his father. To fund the rescue, they agree to let Dr. Cole's cagey ex-producer, Clark (Paul Blackthorne), film the mission documentary-style. The mixed crew of old friends and new acquaintances includes the sexy and resourceful Lena (Eloise Mumford), loyal mechanic Emilio (Daniel Zacapa) and lethal bodyguard Captain Kurt Brynildson (Thomas Kretschmann).

Spoiler for excerpts and promos:

• Official website
• Wikipedia entry

Basically a horror/mystery/paranormal series, with eight episodes slated for season 1. Guess who's one of the creators? No one else other than Oren Peli, of Paranormal Activity fame. And Steven Spielberg is even on the production crew.

That'll easily explain the "Blair Witch" / PA format where the events are mainly witnessed from the cameramen's/surveillance cameras' PoV (though it doesn't apply to the entirety of the footage, as there are some flashbacks and critical scenes such as the doll's closing eyes part which don't look like they're seen through a camera's lens). "The River" isn't pure "found footage", though, since there is no sign (yet) that the said footage of the depicted events has lost, found again and is being currently visioned -- as specified in either Cloverfield, PA or Blair Witch.

Some parts of ep.02, btw, reminded me of Destination Truth, especially with the island laden with doll offerings and the moving eyes scene. I guess Oren Peli watched that particular episode and took some inspiration from it.

So...has anyone given this a whip? For some reason, I kind of prefer it to another mystery series I've been tentatively watching, Alcatraz (cooked up by J.J Abrams), though the "found footage"/documentary aspect is getting overused (though it is a bit toned down in this series).