Pilot of Interest

I saw an intriguing television commercial (and billboard) the other day for a new show to premiere in August on CBS, called Person of Interest. It is intriguing mostly because it stars Michael Emerson, who played the deviously brilliant Benjamin Linus on LOST. It also features another actor I like (even though he's a basically crazy Republican), Jim Caviezel, who is most famous for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ but who I like better for his roles in The Count of Monte Christo (2002) and The Prisoner (2009).

Person of Interest is based on a screenplay by JJ Abrams, who created LOST and is being produced by many people Abrams worked with on his first sci-fi foray, Alias, so that is obviously encouraging as well. While the premise seems a little off to me, I definitely will still give it a chance.

The show, according to its Wikipedia page, focuses on a mysterious billionaire (Linus), who develops a computer program that can predict the identity of a person who will be involved with a violent crime in the future. It cannot tell if the person will be a victim, perpetrator or witness of the crime, nor can it tell when or where the crime will happen. Caviezel plays an ex-CIA agent, whom the billionaire hires to prevent the crimes based on the information he gathers. This seems like a fairly thin premise to me, and close to a take-off of the ideas in the 2002 movie Minority Report and the Philip K. Dick story on which it was based. But the preview also instantly reminded me of the season 5 episode of LOST The Economist, where we see Linus (himself a man of considerable resources) guiding ex-Republican Guard super-spy and torturer Sayid through a series of off-island assassinations. The lack of detail given by the prediction program appears to provide plenty of opportunity for excitement and variability in the action of the show.

Here's the one-minute preview, if you haven't seen it yet:



I'm glad to see that Emerson has found another primetime vehicle, and to be working with Abrams et al again, especially since his previously rumored partnership with LOST's Terry O'Quinn, Odd Jobs, appears to be mired in delays.

Person of Interest has apparently tested well, and though I am troubled by the potential weaknesses in its conceit, I do think it sounds more in line with the intrigue and action of LOST than Odd Jobs did. We'll see how it turns out. Whatever happens, happens.

Comedy of Errors

So Sarah and I went to the Cubs-Cards game last night, which the Cards won handily on two homers by Yadier Molina, one by John "The Federalist" Jay and, one by, of course, Prince Albert. It was a good game on a perfect evening. But it wasn't the most entertainment I got from a local baseball team recently. That distinction goes to the floundering Lake County Fielders.

The Fielders are near and dear to us, in a way, because we originally had planned to take our wedding group out to a game their following our nuptials. They are located pretty close, and they are partially owned by Kevin Costner of Field of Dreams fame (hence the team's name), so we thought it would be fun. Weeks earlier, though, we read about problems they were having completing the stadium, so we decided to go to a game ahead of time and make sure it would meet the demanding standards of our guests. To our semi-surprise, it did not.

The stadium was only partially complete - with little parking, exposed infrastructure, NO BATHROOMS (but lots of beer - a dangerous combination), a funnel cake stand that DIDN'T HAVE A REAL DEEP FRYER - and many other travesties. But that's just the beginning of their problems. Since that time it's been a perfect cycle of errors.

Note: I hadn't kept up with their travails since the game we attended, but recently saw a tidbit about them in a local paper. That prompted me to read reports over the past two months on them, and this is what I've pieced together from that time. It was difficult to establish a firm timeline from the various articles, but this should be a fairly accurate recap:

-Manager Tim Johnson quits (via email) in late July because he hasn't gotten paid anything yet.
-Radio Announcer quits on the air also because he has also not been paid.
-A day after the players find out the manager quit, 11 of them refuse to take the field in a show of solidarity. None of them have been paid yet either.
-Hitting coach Pete LaCock appoints self as interim manager and fields a team for the game anyway, using several non-pitchers as pitchers in a loss against the Yuma Scorpions, who win behind a six-inning pitching outing by Jose Canseco (yes, THAT Jose Canseco.)
-The next day, LaCock resigns, then is fined $2,500 by league commissioner Kevin Outcalt for "making a farce of the game."
-Fielders pitching coach Chris Thompson manages the next game only to be released the next day.
-Days later, Tim Johnson takes a job with the Scorpions.
-The Village of Zion threatens team owner, because the team owes the town $185,000 in back rent.
-Team trades or releases all of its players and begins to play games using a semi-professional team from Kenosha as the home team.
-August 4, team is forced to forfeit home game because they did not have an adequate supply of baseballs.
-In early August, the Fielders plan a long trip to play a tour of games in Hawaii. Players show up to the airport only to be told that the team cannot afford to fly them all there and are forced to stay home.
-League officials issue statement that Fielders are no longer part of the league.
-Fielders insist they are still part of the league.