NBC hopes to hit the same summer series gold that CBS hit with Flashpoint, the Canadian transplant that perked up summer Fridays, with their latest (Canadian transplant) offering, The Listener, starring blue-eyed beauty Craig Olejnik (someone I’ve never heard of, but like to look at).
Olejnik plays Toby Logan, a 25-year-old paramedic who is secretly a telepath. He can hear everyone’s thoughts, and through his ability tries to help people. When we meet him and his partner and his ex girlfriend, and the pretty cop he has an emotional connection with, he has only shared his experiences with his “mentor” of sorts, the wonderful Colm Feore. He soon realizes that he’s not just hearing things, he’s picturing their crises, and he’s on the case. Once that happens, it’s time to start solving a mystery of the week!
There may be an audience out there somewhere, but I can tell you right now that it’s not me. I could barely get through the first episode that they sent for review. It’s not because the show was terrible; terrible might be a bit harsh. It was just boring, and had a very “we’ve been here, we’ve seen this done with Greg Grunberg, he became the weakest link” kind of felling to it, and I can’t see it resonating with many viewers.
Give it a shot if (boring and safe) cute guys with super-power complexes are your thing. Otherwise, tune into something else.
