'The Tomorrow People' Premiere: Super-Powered Teen Drama Lacks Originality (VIDEO)

'The Tomorrow People' Premiere: Super-Powered Teen Drama

With the premiere of "The Tomorrow People" on The CW, the Amell family has officially taken over Wednesday nights. Stephen Amell already has the ladies swooning as "Arrow," and now his cousin, Robbie, takes center stage in the network's latest sci-fi thriller. Robbie Amell stars as Stephen, who finds out suddenly that he has super powers. And that two warring factions want him.

“It’s a genetic mutation that lies dormant through adolescence. Sometimes it never breaks out," Cara, a fellow "tomorrow person," told him.

“You my friend are a homo superior," Russell -- another one -- added. Wait, isn't that the X-Men? At any rate, this group lives underground in hiding from Ultra, a ruthless organization that is seeking to contain, control, or eliminate any tomorrow people they find.

As the episode progressed, Stephen was stunned to learn that the seemingly evil man in charge of Ultra was his uncle. Then, in a shocking twist, the episode ended with Stephen agreeing to go to work for his Uncle Jedikiah at Ultra, meaning he would have to target Cara and Russell and all the other underground tomorrow people who'd tried to befriend him.

Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich isn't yet sold on this remake of the 1970s British series. "So basically this show is the first season of 'Nikita' remixed with 'The Vampire Diaries,'" he wrote. "It’s unclear how the show will fit in the fact that [Stephen] is still technically a high school student in the mix here ... The whole thing seems like a bit of a mess and like a free floating remix of everything cool from the last decade of science-fiction.”

TV.com's Cory Barker had a mixed response as well. "Few characters really stood out, and the relationships are already so clearly defined and on track to go exactly where you expect them to," he wrote. "Basically, 'The Tomorrow People' is the last 40 years of mainstream pop culture storytelling thrown into a blender, with no ice, and puréed to its most liquid form.”

Will "The Tomorrow Story" find its own unique voice? The only way to find out is to tune in every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

Before You Go

"The Tomorrow People"

The CW's New Shows 2013-2014

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot