TV on DVD: “Jeremiah”
By stephanie - Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005
“Jeremiah” is a post-apocalyptic television series set about 15 years in the future after a plague wipes out the adult population of the world. Those of the “age of innocence” (children before puberty) survive the plague. Now those kids have grown up and the world is a much different place…
The series first aired on Showtime a few years back. It’s had two seasons and is now either canceled or “on hiatus” (no official word from Showtime either way). “Jeremiah” also brings us the unlikely pairing of J. Michael Straczynski (creator of “Babylon 5″) and Luke Perry of 90210 fame.
I never watched the original episodes on Showtime, but have been catching up on the first season through the magic of DVD. The series starts off a bit slow, but starts to pick up speed in disc three.
Luke Perry actually does a great job as Jeremiah, a young man searching for clues to his dead father’s mysterious connection with a place called “Valhalla Sector.” In typical 90210 style, Perry is yet again playing someone who is much younger than him age-wise. In the series timeline, Perry, at almost 40, is playing someone around 10 years younger. Fortunately, the 90210 comparisons end there. (Though, notably, in one “Jeremiah” episode, another 90210 alum plays a guest role – Jason Priestley. It becomes quite clear that Perry is the more talented actor of the two.)
Perry teams up with Malcolm Jamal-Warner (“The Cosby Show”), who has the unlikely name of “Kurdy,” and the two of them roam the countryside looking for clues about “The Big Death” and a possibly military installation that may be gearing for a big power play.
Initially, the series seemed to be faltering due to a very grim, repetitive plot device: Jeremiah and Kurdy travel to some unknown town. Jeremiah and Kurdy run into a gang of thugs. Said gang of thugs perpetrates some awful brutality. Jeremiah and Kurdy fight gang of thugs and win.
Over time these first episodes were a bit too grim and at the same time pedestrian – I almost gave up on the series since some episodes were almost too painful to watch. Still, some bright moments shined through – for example, when Jeremiah goes on a rampage against the bad guys after the tragic death of one very peculiar “good guy.”
Once the series starts to delve into the underlying intrigues and politics of the new world (and some fascinating things that happened before the “old world” went down), the series starts to get pretty good.
I’ve just finished watching disc three, and I look forward to finishing the first season. While this series can be a bit uneven, and lacks a certain polish that other current sci-fi shows have, it’s still some worthwhile viewing. Give it a try, and stick with it.