Alphas

Alphas deftly balances all the building blocks of great genre--nonhuman abilities, twisty plot, cool special effects, smart dialogue and characters you want to spend more time with. And that's the most impressive superpower of all.

The premiere drops enough intriguing hints about the players' pasts without distracting from the main plot. You can't have a team without conflict, and every character seems to carry a quirk that rubs the others the wrong way.

Strathairn helps the credibility of the melodrama a lot. Alphas may remind some viewers of Heroes, and is a dropped ABC pilot, but it's not damaged goods. It's fun and swift.

As an origin story, Alphas hits some notes too hard and lacks a certain subtlety, yet there's potential in this tale, especially if it delves into the psychological cost of being extraordinary.

At first blush, though, give Alphas high marks for effort and ingenuity, demonstrating a TV show needn't provide major pyrotechnics or a reinvented wheel to lay the groundwork for solid summer entertainment where the characters, somewhat refreshingly, are only sort-of super.

Ultimately, I was more drawn in by the team's interactions than I was by either aspect of the plot, but that's probably better for the show's long-term viability.

Even as tropes arrive in full force, exceptions to boilerplate good-versus-evil scenarios make occasional appearances.

Alphas is fun, sure, but it has a "been there, done that" feel.

Alphas proceeds with a relative sobriety that will prove attractive to some and simply unintoxicating to others. If there are any grown-up fanboys left in America--people who can bring themselves to admit that this summer's blockbusters-in-tights are meager gruel--then Alphas may have enough beta charm to see them through the season.

Alphas is hardly the alpha show in this supernatural-hero genre, but it's still engaging.

Of course, it's a coup for SyFy to snag Strathairn for the new series, but this is very much an ensemble piece. The other performers are all great at being unlikely and, at times, downright cranky heroes. Still, while their crankiness is initially appealing, it could wear thin pretty quickly unless they are given really smart crimes to solve.

It's neither here nor there: low on sci-fi mystery and intrigue and not yet convincing as ensemble drama. Right now it feels like the beta version.

Alphas looks fairly good on paper, but never catches fire. And its use of Strathairn is even more of a fizzle.

The problem with the show is that it's pretty dull, particularly if you've ever watched any of the similar shows that preceded Alphas. None of the characters feel new, nor do the situations.