Commentary

Killer Asteroid On The Way? CBS Geniuses Have That Covered

If you’re the type of person who complains there’s never a tech genius around when you need one, then you haven’t been watching CBS.

As noted previously here, the CBS lineup is awash in geniuses — particularly tech geniuses, whose acumen for finding the world’s most secret information in seconds and/or solving complex problems in about the same time frame is unmatched on any other network.

On CBS, the geniuses take many forms, including computer whizzes and their subcategory, hackers (“Scorpions”); miracle medical mavens (last season’s “Pure Genius”); and super-sleuths (“Elementary”).

Sometimes the geniuses on CBS are billionaires and sometimes not, but whatever the level of their wealth, CBS’s tech geniuses are purposeful reflections of our real world, in which tech geniuses are treated like rock stars.

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Fortunately, in the new summer series called “Salvation” that premieres Wednesday on CBS, there are a handful of geniuses in and around MIT who possess the expertise necessary to help the government try to head off earth’s destruction by a killer asteroid.

The team is led by a man named Darius Tanz (played by Santiago Cabrera, pictured above), a tech billionaire in the mold of Elon Musk.

All the geniuses on the team happen to be available to drop everything they’re doing to take up the assignment of designing and building something that will either destroy, derail or otherwise deter this asteroid from colliding with earth.

I use the vague word “something” in the sentence above because, try as I might, I cannot really say what it is they’re trying to produce here. Sometimes, that’s a drawback of genius TV shows: The stuff these geniuses are up to tends to sail right over my head.

I will say this: The whatchamacallit they seem to want to make has something to do with magnetism. But other than that, their ideas are as confusing to me as, say, the way in which TV audiences are measured.

Ignorance of the physics involved in deterring a killer asteroid does not prove to be an obstacle to enjoying “Salvation,” however. This show drew me in and kept me there enough to actually watch the first two episodes (provided for preview by CBS).

That’s a significant commitment, because it means I actually devoted two hours instead of one in the formation of my opinion here. A decision to double the amount of time I devote to previewing a new show is not one I take lightly.

Despite the fact that I’m not normally a fan of apocalyptic dramas, “Salvation” and its many interlocking subplots kept me interested for those two episodes.
It was enough for me to declare “Salvation” to be the best drama series you’re likely to see this summer about a killer asteroid.  

“Salvation” premieres Wednesday (July 12) at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

1 comment about "Killer Asteroid On The Way? CBS Geniuses Have That Covered ".
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  1. Tim Brooks from consultant, July 11, 2017 at 10:16 a.m.

    Great review Adam. So entertaining it may be better than the show itself! Keep up the good work.

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