My mind is blown. I just watched the trailer for the new show NBC just announced, Awake. Taken straight from NBC.com, here is the synopsis for Awake:
Lots of people find themselves leading some kind of double life… but none quite like this.
After Detective Michael Britten wakes up from a car accident with his wife and teenage son, he learns the devastating news that his wife died in the crash. Trying to put the pieces of his life back together, he wakes up a few days later to realize that his wife is very much alive and his son died in the accident! Did he lose his wife or his son? Or neither of them??
What if your life split in two in the face of a situation like this, and you could actually have everything you wanted, just not all at the same time? Michael goes back to work solving crimes while trying to put things back on a "normal" track, but alternating between realities provides some challenges – one moment he and his wife are grappling with having another child to replace their loss, and the next moment he's finding himself attracted to his son's tennis coach to fill the void from the loss of his wife. At the same time, he is solving crimes in each world which sometimes overlap in fascinating and inexplicable ways. Is he dreaming or going mad? Michael begins seeing two different therapists to help him sort things out, but then again why would he want either "reality" to go away when the totality of both means having his family complete?
From groundbreaking writer Kyle Killen (Lone Star) and starring Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood, Harry Potter) comes a drama about the power of the mind, where the inception of life is a mystery and reality might just be overrated.
First off, not only does Jason Isaacs look amazing in this role, but the premise of this show is just genius and unlike anything that's on television. I've watched the trailer (which you can see at the bottom of the page) three times now, each time finding something different, and I keep getting goosebumps when it gets to the end. At first I couldn't believe it was the same actor that played Lucius Malfoy. This trailer really showed off some acting chops.
The show should capture some of the fans of the crime-solving genre with the detective aspect to it, while adding a Lost feeling to it with how the two realities connect in the cases and his life.
I'm just really impressed with everything we know about the show so far. It's gutsy on NBC to pick up a show that feels like a movie, and I applaud them for giving Awake a chance. Come March 1, 2012, I know what I'll be watching at 10 PM.
If you'd like to discuss any movies or tv shows, you can follow Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ
