Watching Sitcoms

My brother-in-law asked me about Sanctuary, a new SciFi show, that premiered on Friday. I hadn’t really heard anything about it, so I checked it out. I also read up a little on it. Apparently, it was an online only show that came out last year. I didn’t actually try to find a place to see any of the original eps, I just decided to start out where ever they chose for us to start with the first TV ep, Sanctuary For All. It was OK. I’m not saying I was in love with it or anything, it was actually a little slow moving for me, but I’m interested enough to want to see what’s next.

The premise is somewhat like Torchwood, with some differences. Young Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) is a forensic psychiatrist, who recently lost this job at the FBI because he was too interested in finding monsters, so now he works for the local police and they all treat him like he’s loony. He seems to have a keen eye (much like Sean from Psych) and can see clues at the scene of the crime that police have missed. Will, following a murder case that the police think is resolved, keeps snooping and ends up at the Sanctuary, run by Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping). She shows him a host of magical and scary creatures, including a lovely mermaid. Basically, the Sanctuary is a place for all these “monsters” to live, in little natural habitats like zoo creatures, and be free from harm.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the Torchwood similarities are there. Torchwood is a government created agency that is called in to deal with supernatural issues; the Sanctuary appears to be more of a private venture which aims at saving creatures. Both have little holding cells where they keep the scary monsters. Dr. Helen Magnus is an immortal British woman with a staff of Americans; Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) of Torchwood is an American immortal with a staff of Brits. Both premiere eps start with someone on the police force coming up against something that can’t be explained away, and then getting asked to join forces with the monster hunters. On Torchwood it was Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and on Sanctuary, Dr. Will Zimmerman. Torchwood’s majordomo is the lovely to look at Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), while Sanctuary is served by a caveman looking creature who’s name I didn’t catch.

If I had to choose between them, Torchwood is much, much better, with more interesting story lines and a much more fast moving pace. But it may be too soon to judge yet. Once Sanctuary gets past laying all the ground work, maybe it will be better. I’m gonna give it a chance.

I mean, what else to I have to do on Friday nights anyway.