T hey’re back – again.
Last summer, science-fiction fans were treated to one of the more innovative new series on television when “The 4400,” a group of missing persons from various times and places, dropped from the sky in a huge white ball of light.
The five-episode miniseries posted huge ratings for cable’s USA Network with 7.4 million people watching the premiere.
The short season left us with the knowledge that The 4400 were not taken by aliens, but by humans living tens of thousands of years in the future.
They were returned to Earth each with a special ability such as superhuman strength or the power to heal the sick or dying, to alter the future and save humanity from impending doom.
The second season of “The 4400” kicks off with a two-hour premiere at 9 p.m. Sunday on USA. It starts a 12-episode season that will continue on Sundays at 9.
Promos say the answers are coming, but what really surface are more questions. Like ABC’s “Lost,” another paranormal mystery, the layers of backstory could peel away endlessly until the producers eventually decide it’s time to spill the beans.
The show picks up a year after it left off and the 4400 are still having a rough time adjusting.
Jordan Collier, the power-hungry billionaire who was taken and returned, is establishing “4400 centers” as a resource for the returnees and for people seeking to “unlock the 4400” within themselves.
Collier is getting the centers off the ground with the help of returnee Shawn Farrell, played by Patrick Flueger (“The Princess Diaries”), who is bringing in huge donations by healing sick children with the touch of his hand.
Nine-year-old Maia Rutledge (Conchita Campbell of “Wilder Days”), who disappeared in 1946 and has a crush of Frank Sinatra, is trying to assimilate by saying that her precognitive visions have gone away.
Richard and Lily Tyler, meanwhile, are on the run with their 6-month-old daughter and living out in the sticks trying to stay away from Collier, who is intent to find the baby that nearly killed him while she was in the womb.
Far-fetched stuff, indeed, but the fantastical story works because of its interesting characters and intriguing twists.
The acting isn’t great, but I don’t know how I would act if I were missing for years and suddenly got dropped out of thin air.
Don’t worry if you missed the first season. A brief recap at the start of the premiere tells you most of what you need to know. If you’re serious about catching up, though, a six-hour marathon of the first season starts at 1 p.m. on USA.
Two more comebacks
If science fiction isn’t your thing, HBO has a pair of shows Sunday night that help restore our faith in sitcoms.
At 9 p.m. is the second season premiere of “Entourage,” the hip comedy that follows up-and-coming actor Vince Chase, played by Adrian Grenier (“Drive Me Crazy”).
| For more TV and pop culture updates and musings, go to Victor Balta’s Web log at www.heraldnet.com/ blogpopculture |
The show’s quick, witty dialogue and colorful representation of the Hollywood life pick up right where they left off as Chase struggles over whether to play a comic book hero in a blockbuster.
A new show, “The Comeback,” puts Lisa Kudrow of “Friends” back in front of the camera for her own show with executive producer Michael Patrick King of “Sex and the City.” It premieres at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on HBO.
“Comeback” is shot in a faux reality format where Kudrow’s character, Valerie Cherish, is a sitcom actress who had her own show, “I’m It!” for four seasons in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
She has a reality show crew documenting her return as she takes a small part in a sitcom but can’t let go of the fact that her star has faded.
Victor Balta’s column runs Mondays and Thursdays on the A&E page. Call him at 425-339-3455 or e-mail vbalta@heraldnet.com.
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