Been watching both Falling Skies and Southland over the past couple of weeks. The first is a show set following an alien invasion of Earth. And humanity lost. Now the survivors flee from the space monsters in the hopes that they can regroup and fight back. The second is a cop show set in LA. It features an ensemble of police officers, tracing their cases.
On the face of it Falling Skies sounds like an exciting, fairly original SF show - we've skipped the invasion and gone straight into guerrilla warfare. A chance perhaps to delve into contemporary issues whilst delivering some high octane alien splatting . Southland meanwhile is just another cop show. Like there was anything left to say in this genre after Hill Street Blues.
The surprise for me is that Falling Skies is so, well, dull. The alien mayhem is OK (although nothing you haven't seen if you have even a nodding acquaintance to Predator or Robocop or Terminator or War of the Worlds). The rest is just flat - unconvincing dialogue spoken (or shouted) by unconvinced actors.
On the other hand Southland is just a joy. It's dramatic, engaging, enervating, moving. There's little exposition - you're thrown into the action, piecing together cases with the cops. It makes you work and rewards you with fully rounded characters and vivid scenarios. As for the regular shoot outs - they're visceral, violent and adrenaline fuelled.
Ultimately, these cops kick alien ass.
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