Revolution TV Show Trailer and Premiere: NBC and Iron Man Director Jon Favreau Bring the Next TV Mega Hit

Culture

If movies had a finger, I would propose to them. But in reality they only appear to have one, the middle finger. I say this because it’s very rare to find a deep, daring movie that isn’t an art-house Xanax, or an entertaining movie that isn’t like a hyperactive squirrel flicking a lighter in a vat of gasoline.

I can sort of dig. Movies are expensive to make, you have to make sure to get your investment back, and to do that, you have to cater to an ever-wider market as the budget grows; originality isn’t as valued as certainty. Cool, I guess … Not much I can do about that. Or so I thought.

Apparently, TV’s been up to some interesting stuff while I wasn’t looking. TV episodes are much cheaper to make: Even if they are blockbuster-style vampire explosion fests, the audience doesn’t demand production values as massive as what they expect from cinema, (since it’s harder to notice on a smaller screen anyway,) so the producers are allowed to take more chances.

That’s why while Hollywood’s idea of high-concept is Alien vs. Predator, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Cowboys & Aliens, in TV you have stuff like Lost, Once Upon a Time, Firefly and, now, Revolution.

Revolution is a new series from Eric Kripke (creator of Supernatural) to premier on NBC Monday night at 10 p.m. It concerns a family who roams a post-apocalyptic world trying to find out what was the event that disabled all complex technology on Earth – including stuff like car engines and guns.

Coincidentally, the pilot episode is directed by Jon Favreau, from Cowboys & Aliens (and, to be fair, Iron Man as well).

I’m going to watch Revolution for the sole reason that I was intrigued by the premise. I don’t know if that’s enough to pique your interest, but I’m a sucker for creativity, and I hope the overall quality of the episode matches the boldness of the idea behind it.

Check out my review for the pilot episode here