I'm really out of the loop. It took me 10 years to discover this series even existed. I was watching TV this morning at 6 AM when I came across the first episode of the series ("Amazing Grace") on the W channel (yes, the fat chick channel!) concerning a boy's mysterious survival of a drowning experience. Adian Pasdar, in a diving suit, was having an amusing if improbable discussion with Rae Down Chong on a frozen lake. The natural, offbeat and yet perfectly logical and even witty banter of the two characters was so far removed from the usual TV clichés and so brilliant in its own unassuming way that I just had to see this story to the end, even though parts of it seemed to indicate that this was a - ugh! - Canadian production (the BC setting, among other things). I was mortified to learn later that this is a cult series that actually went under the radar and only survived two years on prime time television and didn't even make it to DVD yet. That's too bad because here is a series that replaces the usual formulas with a meaningful, affecting subtext and lets the viewer do some of the brain work for a change. In a way, the fact that such an excellent, well-written, uplifting and thoughtful series didn't succeed in the open market is yet another confirmation that most US TV production is essentially lowest-common denominator "trash with dismemberments and major boobage" but that is very little comfort to me. I guess I will have to wake up at 6 AM every day and watch the W (!) channel to see the rest. I believe Adrian Pasdar is the most original TV actor I have seen in a long time. His very existence and survival in the world of television is something to be wondered at and a possible clue to the existence of God. Seriously.
Review of Mysterious Ways
