Where's the love for Defying Gravity?

I wrote a brief review of Defying Gravity, ABC's new prime(ish)-time SF drama, for Religion Dispatches, in which I discuss the role that religion plays in the show's first episode. But that's not what I'm going to talk about here. Instead, I want to ask a simple question: why aren't SF fans talking about this show?

Now, I'll freely admit that I haven't done anything like a complex, comprehensive search of SF blogs or anything, but really, I've hardly seen any discussion about it. You'd think it would cause at least a bit of buzz: major network launches a hard-SF show with a good design sense, great effects, reasonable lip service paid to real science... it's more than a bit unique. But the world's SF blogs don't go nuts... they goes to sleep.

I understand that it might not be everybody's cup of tea, but, really, when's the last time you even heard of a weekly hard SF show? (Cosmos doesn't count.) No warp drives, no bumpy-headed aliens, just honest-to-goodness zero-g crisis management? I don't know that there's ever been another show like this (barring the BBC miniseries that inspired it, of course), and SF fans seem to be greeting the news with a barely-stifled yawn.

In short: if you haven't watched Defying Gravity yet, give it a chance. If you're the cynical type, take a deep breath, accept that an unsatisfying explanation for why they appear to have gravity is better than no explanation at all, and give it two chances. The premiere is on Hulu through September 7th, and new episodes air at 10 PM on ABC. Yeah, I know, it's up against Mad Men, but that's all the more reason that SF fans should rally around it in its struggle for ratings. Defying Gravity doesn't deserve the kind of dismissal that it's gotten from io9 (whose scornful review is exactly the kind of thing that drives flawed but promising shows to early graves). And it certainly doesn't deserve the general cold shoulder it seems to be getting from SF fans. So come on, guys, watch the darned thing! (I'll even make it easy on you: the first episode is embedded below.)

Oh, and read my review at Religion Dispatches here.

Comments

[Eruesso]

Just watched the pilot and became intrigued by all the religious symbolism. The script and a few of the characters seem weak at times, but it seems like a very promising SF show and I hope it doesn't end up in the dump after one season like Fox's John Doe and Firefly, and ABC Family's Kyle XY which ran for 3 seasons.

I'm also looking forward to watching Flashforward after reading Sawyer's novel last year.

[Ian Randal Strock]

SFScope.com has reviewed most of the series thus far, but the reason we're not doing handsprings of joy is that it just isn't that good. It's nice for ABC to say "look: intelligent drama set in space." But the drama isn't that intelligent, the space isn't really space, and the quasi-religious Big Mystery that will never be revealed just isn't big enough to grab. My reviewer also notes that the classical referencces are poorly researched. See the following reviews: http://sfscope.com/2009/08/defying-gravity-defies-belief.html , http://sfscope.com/2009/08/astronaughtsa-review-of-defyin.html , and http://sfscope.com/2009/08/bingo-pointa-review-of-defying.html .

[Gabriel Mckee]

Not that I'd define Defying Gravity that way-- I think it's pretty good-- but a show not being very good has never stopped SF fans before! The second Outer Limits series was on for, what, 7 years? SciFi/SyFy's entire lineup of original shows are, let's face it, not so hot.

A more polite way to put it: SF fans have generally been pretty good at looking past a show's shortcomings (for upwards of 10 seasons, in some cases), or even touting a mediocre-at-best show (*cough*Heroes*cough*) as the greatest thing EVAR. Or, on the other side of that, cynically refusing to find redeeming qualities in things that aren't that bad, or are pretty good. (An earlier version of this post was a big ol' rant about why some people can't seem to enjoy *anything*, but it got waaay off-topic-- it had more to do with people's still-incomprehensible-to-me reactions to the BSG finale, which I thought was great.)

I'm certainly willing to look past DG's shortcomings-- particularly since there's pretty much never been another SF show of this kind.

[Anna]

I like it. I only heard about it after reading a review on a blog. By ep I'm hooked.

[carmen]

i'm totally with you on this one. i agree, the show has its shortcomings, and maybe i'm too generous, but i actually enjoy it.

[dash]

humans are 10 seconds from singularity and this is the best the networks can't put forward?. Defying Gravity is just recycled schlock from a dying tv drama past. Science Fiction is full of fresh ideas which this show is not. HATE it

[Rob]

Thanks for the review, I love the show... The moral quandaries, the light philosophical speculation and the general moodiness of it. I really liked this one, too bad ABC just canceled it! To think utter garbage like Eureka and Warehouse 13 can make it, and something this smart can't, oh well better not go there.