Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 

Pilot episode looked pretty good last night. Interactions between the main characters are good. And the fact that this is a Joss Whedon (et al) produced series shows great promise at least for the first season.

I just hope it doesn't become a "Heroes" like clusterfuck in future seasons, if it does get picked up.

Heroes was built differently as a single season was suppose to be a different group of heroes but the success of the show changed that and was further harmed by the writer's strike.

I agree the pilot episode was rather solid. The one tech guy reminded me of the new Pavel Chekov.

I was sold before it even started but I liked it too.

FM

Doh I forgot completely about it. I intended to DVR it. Now I gotta see if it is available online.

I liked it, but I also liked Heroes and Alphas and pretty much any other show like that.

I'm not seeing yet what the difference between those shows and this one is going to be though. Not that I am complaining since I liked that type of show, but I was hoping this show would integrate a bit more of the marvel world to it than just this week's weird science project that the agents have to round up before it hurts something.

ABC has it on their site, which didn't seem to like Chrome for me but FF worked fine.

What, were you expecting a cameo appearance from Tony Stark? ;)

I think the best they could do were a few references in passing dialogue. I would expect future episodes to include some cameos. I think the weird science project "Extremis" was a good Marvel universe integration for the pilot episode.

Theres also a good chance, I'm guessing, that the seasons "Big Bad" somehow ties into the marvel universe. It could be just a quick mention in the films but considering the Extremis was used I have to think theres a link somehow.

They could easily bring in lesser known heroes for spots. I can see them using a plot line for something like H.Y.D.R.A. as well. This way it is more one organization versus another compared to trying to take down Dr. Doom.

I liked the pilot.

I would like to see them implement some characters from the Marvel universe into the show. There are so many minor characters and what not our there. It's fertile ground and would be neat to see.

I hope it doesn't devolve like Heroes. That show crashed and burned horribly. I think one problem that show had, that won't happen here, is the ridiculous super powers they gave some characters. Everything got way out of whack and a lot of the characters were just too powerful and so the plots and plot holes became ridiculous.

I never was into comic books, but I thought there were tons of lesser known super heroes in the marvel universe. Doesn't have to be iron man or whatever.. but I figured it would be more super heroish I think is what I mean :)

I would imagine that the pilot episode isn't where you want to start introducing obscure characters and acting like the viewer should know them. Start off with references to billion dollar films and then get a little obscure.

It's because of the enormous marvel universe (500+ characters?) is why this series wont devolve like Heroes. They can just pick and choose an existing character and fit them into the plot. I just hope that said character doesn't repeatedly turn into a "Deux Ex Machina" that just happens to show up at the right place at the right time then disappear once the problem gets resolved.

Heroes had an awful problem with the "superpowers" arm race that I think had to do with Tim Kring not being very familiar with the medium or even fleshing it out much. I don't know much about comic books but even I could see halfway through the first season that Sylar became too powerful to beat except by plot hole

SI

TV Ratings Tuesday: ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Opens Strong, ‘The Voice’ Down from Premiere, ‘Dads’ Declines + ‘Lucky 7′ Flops - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers

Great debut for Agents of SHIELD. The question is how many viewers it will hold for week 2.

Me too!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 Episode 1 | Full TV Episode Online - WATCHABC.com

Its available online.

Similar to Guardians of the Galaxy, this is a great opportunity for Marvel to build up more obscure characters with an eye for future movies etc. outside of their big X-Men/Avengers characters with more complicated licensing rights in film etc.

Just watched the pilot on DVR. I found myself comparing it over and over to Heroes, which is silly since Heroes had so many structural problems. However, it was sustained by the richness of the characters. Masi Oka will never have that awesome of a role again, which is a shame because he was great at it. But just think across the spectrum- sure there were some duds but a tons of those folks (except maybe the wooden Petrellis) have gone onto other things. Enough about Heroes, as for SHIELD:

Feels more sterile and procedural and the characters not as interesting. But hopefully there's room to grow. Clark Gregg is good- has been ever since I first saw him in Sports Night. But after that, it's shaped a lot more like a procedural show. In the way that CSI was originally Grissom (Dad), Catherine (Mom), and three kids: oldest (Warrick), middle (Sarah), and youngest (Nick). This time, we have Dad, Mom, older kid, the younger twins, and the adopted girl who doesn't quite fit in.

You know the otherr show it really has a vibe of? Torchwood. Only instead of Captain Jack and a bunch of nobodies chasing the supernatural in a covert government agency, it's Clark Gregg and a bunch of nobodies...

SI

For those who didn't DVR the pilot, it airs again on the network tomorrow night.

Thanks!

I found it to be pretty uninteresting. Wasn't the whole idea already used some where else, by another show or something?

For all of the build up, it was pretty lame, IMO.

It was major plot line in season 1 of Heroes as well.

SI

I really enjoyed SHIELD. For a pilot, I'm pretty optimistic about it so I'm in.

On the flip side, I last 10 minutes into Lucky 7 before switching channels. Didn't engage me at all.

Same here. I wanted to like a couple of the characters and care about them, but they all seemed like pretty miserable people, except maybe for the hispanic guy (Antonio or something?), and maybe the owner-guy.

I thought the pilot was decidedly meh. It seemed kind of overly cliche and definitely predictable (I would have liked it if rising tide girl decided not to join the group, but was more of an outsider who consulted or SOMETHING different from what was obviously going to happen & who DIDN'T see SHIELD showing up when rising tide girl said "you'll never find us"?). I hope they take a few interesting chances rather than follow paint by numbers plotlines.

If it wasn't connected to MARVEL, I think it'd be a pass for me after Week 1 (as decent, but not good enough to add to my list of shows).

This. The word I kept thinking of (when I wasn't comparing it to other shows) was "sterile". It feels very calculated and I didn't feel a ton of room for growth. But the overall premise lends itself to being outlandish and having growth so I'll keep it in the rotation for now.

SI

Maybe you guys are missing the point. My kids liked it. They were too young when Heroes came out, but they have grown up with the Avengers/Iron Man/Marvel series of movies. This fits in their mind, and it's not something they have seen, and it's one of the shrinking market of television shows that we all can actually watch together. So it seems to me that maybe you guys aren't in the right demographic.

Yep, they totally don't want the 18-40 demo ;).

Sounds right. I'm 41 and I enjoyed it. :)

Finally caught episode 1. I liked it. It wasn't a masterpiece, but as far as tongue-in-cheek fun goes, sure.

Exactly. My wife and I watched it last night and found it fun. I'm happy with that.

The tie-in with the Marvel Universe definitely does the show favors.

Agent Coulson being revealed as alive after the events of The Avengers. Maria Hill making an appearance. I liked the reference of using Extremis (the superhuman serum that blows people up in Iron Man 3) for the first episode.

Hopefully, they will be able to keep the show afloat long enough for when Avengers 2 rolls along.

In terms of contiuity, It was the same superhuman serum used by the villains in Iron Man 3.

I thought it was a great Pilot. Looking forward to a whole season.

Minor quibbles aside, I quite enjoyed the second episode.

I agree. The theme of the episode was spelled out again and again and again and again, but I enjoyed it well enough.

I also enjoyed...



They are really going full throttle in tying the series into the whole Marvel Universe.

I must have totally missed that.

I liked the first episode but wasnt feeling this one at all. Most of the action scenes reminded me of something id see at a Universal Studios live act. Really cheesey.

Anyone know of a way to improve the quality of the stream off ABC's website? It's freaking terrible.

Edit: Or even a better source to watch from.

I enjoyed the first two eps enough to give it until at least the half season mark.

SI

Still "meh" to me. I mean, the 086 (or whatever the numbers were) was pretty lame even.

I'm not sold on it but I'm curious enough to see where it goes. If it dies in a season, I'll probably shed about as many tears as I did for Terra Nova (hint: not many). But it has enough elements for me to see some potential, even if the writing is not there yet

SI

I am enjoying it. It's no great shakes, but the premise and the characters are enough to keep me interested until it gets legitimately bad.

I thought episode 2 was pretty bad and gave off a later-season Stargate vibe. Episode 3 however, pretty great. More in line with what I was expecting out of this show.