NBC has been getting lots of negative press lately, both for its meager comedy lineup and for its priorities with its drama series. After all, it renewed the low-buzz Aquarius and dismissed the critically acclaimed (if little-seen) Hannibal within the same week. With many in the industry questioning the overall health of the broadcast network in the age of streaming, networks are in more dire need than ever before of compelling hits.
Therefore, a lot is riding on the Fall 2015 debut of Blindspot, which NBC awarded the prime timeslot following the Monday edition of The Voice, the network’s most consistently powerful lead-in. The Blacklist was the most recent beneficiary of that timeslot, and it suffered when it migrated to Thursday nights. But if Blindspot can capture the same enthusiasm and attention that The Blacklist did when it debuted, it might have a shot at goosing the network’s fortunes and sticking around for a few years.
The Comic-Con 2015 trailer for Blindspot (see above) outlines the premise with voiceover narration from Ashley Johnson as FBI Agent Patterson. She explains that the show’s main character, known only as Jane Doe and played by Jaimie Alexander (Sif from the Thor movies), woke up in the middle of Times Square with no comprehension of who she is or why she was there. However, mysterious tattoos on her body appear to point to different crimes the FBI is investing – meaning, ‘Jane’ will be enormous asset to the FBI… assuming she isn’t an amnesiac plant from a terrorist organization or other evildoer.
This premise is intriguing, and its success will lie in the execution of bot the pilot and subsequent episodes. Shows with mystery premises like this one often fail not only because the mystery fails to live up to the hype, but because the show doesn’t offer enough other appeal – interesting characters, compelling individual episodes – to keep viewers interested. Jane Doe’s attempts to recover her identity will thus only continue to be intriguing if the show reveals more complex things about the character’s past and her interactions with others.
Additional details about the show will continue to trickle out from SDCC 2015 (following the pilot’s screening during Preview Night last night – at the time of writing this), but the true test of the show’s viability will come Fall 2015, when the show premieres. For NBC’s sake, and for viewers’ sake, let’s hope Blindspot has something worthwhile to offer beyond the tantalizing mystery showcased in this trailer.
Blindspot premieres on NBC at 10pm EST on September 21st, 2015.
