La Brea: Pilot
September 28, 2021 7:04 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe

A massive sinkhole that opens in LA splits the Harris family in two, with Eve and her son sent to a mysterious primeval world. Gavin discovers that the visions that have plagued him for years might hold the key to bringing them home.

Variety review: NBC’s ‘La Brea’ Falls Down a ‘Lost’-ish Rabbit Hole

Variety - How ‘La Brea’ Created a Giant Sinkhole in the Middle of L.A. for NBC’s New Drama

TV Fanatic - interview: La Brea's Zyra Gorecki Previews On-Screen Family Drama and Real-Life Disability Representation

The Hollywood Reporter review: After a massive sinkhole opens up beneath Los Angeles' La Brea Tar Pits, those who fall in find themselves transported to a mysterious primeval land in this new drama series. - "Not far into its first episode, La Brea comes out and says what we’re already thinking: “Maybe we’re just in an episode of Lost.” The comparison is unavoidable and, unfortunately, not all that favorable to La Brea. In the 17 years since Oceanic 815 disappeared over the Pacific, there’s been no end of shows trying to replicate its magic — and while La Brea isn’t all bad, it’s just the latest reminder that the Lost formula is harder to master than it looks."
posted by oh yeah! (17 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I must be old, I'm honestly expecting colored crystals and sleestaks before the end of the season.
posted by Kyol at 7:25 AM on September 29, 2021 [14 favorites]


OK, it's not Lost, but I've always maintained that Lost would have been better if at the end of the first season, instead of a hatch, they'd found a rock face with "BEWARE OF SLEESTAK" painted on it. Would I like this show?
posted by The Tensor at 12:32 PM on September 29, 2021 [4 favorites]


I don't know. So far there were some prehistoric-looking birds, cgi wolves & sabertooth tiger, but I don't feel like it's fully embracing the full bonkers Sleestak potential, and instead we're going to get a lot of interpersonal squabbling and a vague government conspiracy plot. None of the characters have really wowed me.
posted by oh yeah! at 2:32 PM on September 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


$71 million spent on production in Australia. No wonder IATSE members want to strike.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:38 PM on September 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


A massive sinkhole opens up beneath NBC. This will avoid the Lost issue by getting cancelled long before it's required to pay off any of its premise.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:16 PM on September 29, 2021 [4 favorites]


Oh they're in the distant past and one of the main characters is called Eve. I wonder if Adam will show up?

I was amused at the teaser - the phrase "where are they?" made me say "when are they?", like in Inspector Spacetime in Community, their Doctor Who parody, right and then they teased "when are they" and well ok this isn't too serious I think?
posted by Pronoiac at 1:24 AM on September 30, 2021 [4 favorites]


On an NBC-specific dramatic show scale, does this rank toward the obvious garbage end, the bad but you can almost make a case for it end, or the bad but fuck it maybe I will watch anyway middle range?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:41 AM on September 30, 2021


Hooray, another NBC show where the producers demonstrate they don't know what federal agencies do. Manifest had the National Security Agency investigating a missing/reappearing airplane. La Brea has Homeland Security in charge of a natural disaster.
posted by emelenjr at 7:49 AM on September 30, 2021 [2 favorites]


I'm glad I watched the trailer because it saved me the time of watching the show.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:08 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]


Still holding out some hope that this can be good crap if it embraces exuberant b-movie crapness instead of insisting on cynical Extruded Network Product crapness.

Definitely needs sleestaks, and at least two characters named Marshall, Will, or Holly.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:00 PM on September 30, 2021 [3 favorites]


I binge-watched three seasons of Manifest last week (mostly by fast-forwarding through all the repetitive angsty scenes) and I found the premise intriguing so I was hoping this was similar. It is not.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:54 AM on October 1, 2021


instead we're going to get a lot of interpersonal squabbling and a vague government conspiracy plot.

The other day I made up a new genre for this sort of thing: Adventure Soap. A lot of shows seem like soap opera+McGuffin to me these days, though.
posted by rhizome at 6:09 PM on October 3, 2021 [2 favorites]


Oh they're in the distant past and one of the main characters is called Eve. I wonder if Adam will show up?

Her husband/ex-husband is Gavin, which sounds kind of close when you're mumbling? Maybe?
posted by mochapickle at 6:52 AM on October 4, 2021


Variety - How ‘La Brea’ Created a Giant Sinkhole in the Middle of L.A. for NBC’s New Drama

Something tells me computers were involved.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:01 PM on October 4, 2021


The CGI creatures in this are so bad! And the plot isn't any better. Worse, really.
posted by Catblack at 10:19 AM on October 6, 2021


I must be old, I'm honestly expecting colored crystals and sleestaks before the end of the season.

Sold!
posted by Beholder at 6:43 AM on October 10, 2021


La Brea has Homeland Security in charge of a natural disaster.

To be fair, FEMA (the agency generally in charge of disaster recovery) is under Homeland Security's umbrella.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:18 AM on October 29, 2021


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