Pilot Review: Eli Stone

Eli Stone (ABC)
Premiered January 31 at 10pm

For starters, this show reeks of "Men in Trees". While that show is not a bad one, there needs to be some semblance of order and semi-reality in a week-to-week series. A friend commented that the pilot was in itself self-resolving and seemed to need no continuation, and I am tempted to agree (though I hardly found the first installment satisfying). Eli talks a whole lot about how he is a prophet, yet it feels to me like he is merely taking the word of a fraudulent massage therapist to propel his own image in his mind. Sticking with his law firm cannot be a good idea, and Victor Garber needs a better part. Jonny Lee Miller is charismatic, but the show needs to be improved in a major way before it can even remotely hold my interest.

How will it work as a series? It strikes me as very repetitive in nature and very much uninteresting. Especially if everyone already knows about his supposed powers.
How long will it last? I cannot imagine who will want to stick with this one, and worse, sticking it after "Lost" seems an unwise move.

Pilot grade: D-