Falling Skies - Sneak a Peek at the Show Via the Press Kit

If there's one thing Spielberg does well, though there's obviously more than one, it's that any material he's associated with includes in-depth character development.

Yes, he deals in genre, but his films and shows always dig deeper into the human condition and how it's affected by aliens or ghosts or dinosaurs or war. 

Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances is his domain. Needless to say, I was happy when I arrived home last Wednesday to a surprise propped up against my door...

Here's the deal with me and press kits...I either love them or I hate them. They are simultaneously wonderful and awful.

Wonderful because I'm very connected to that part of myself that screams, "Cool! If when you were a little kid someone told you that as part of your job, networks and movie companies will send you cool stuff to get you to watch their shows and movies and then talk about them, you know you'd be so happy you'd shoot through the roof!"

Which is true. I love my job.

However, once you start getting them as a journalist, people can accuse you of letting the neat stuff you get in the mail inform your reviews. It doesn't happen with me. Trust me. I've been kicked off of many press lists for negative reviews.

Of course, I can't be certain of this. But whenever I post a negative review, though I never want to be merciless or cruel, I seem to stop getting screeners and press kits from said parent company. Just ask SyFy who recently posted a review I wrote of "Fact or Faked" on their Facebook page without reading it. Suffice it to say, it was a critical review and after over a hundred comments from angry fans questioning why SyFy would post a negative review of their own show, it was taken down. My brief brush with my beloved SyFy left me elated. Then bummed. Such is life as a critic.

The entire press kit arrived in this
messenger bag with the tag "If You Had
To Start Over, What Would You Bring?"
Makes me wonder what the press kit
for "The Stand" was like back in the day.
Germ vials?

The other thing about press kits is the fact that sometimes they're awful. I'll put it this way, I've had my fair share of tiny Nerf footballs with logos printed on them sitting in my mailbox.

And I've never reviewed a show about football.

So, take this entry as nothing more than a "Hey, check out this cool press kit!" just because I'm so elated to get one so detailed and topically relevant.

I also have screeners for the show, but I won't post my review until the day after it premieres. Embargoes and all that.

After all that "blah blah blah" about press kits and objective reviews, can I just say that I'm genuinely excited about Falling Skies? It looks like a blast, and admittedly, like the majority of female geeks everywhere, I have kind of a thing for Noah Wyle. (I am not ashamed of The Librarian!) Combine that with the Spielberg sci-fi, the fast-paced previews and the character-driven plot line and I'm very excited to preview the show this weekend.

Check out the preview below and tell me what you think in the comments section. Will you watch?