Invasion

:

Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 21, 2005
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 30
  3. Negative: 2 out of 30
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Critic Reviews

  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Doug Elfman
    100
    It may be hard to believe that "Invasion's" premiere could be touching in the context of Katrina, and effective as a sci-fi drama. But that is the power of high-quality storytelling.
  2. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    100
    Invasion is an excellent show, the new season's best drama.
  3. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    100
    Tonight's pilot lays the groundwork for what could be a fabulous series, one that blends supernatural adventure with down-to-earth, complex family dynamics.
  5. Cleveland Plain Dealer
    Reviewed by: Mark Dawidziak
    90
    Drenched in whom-do-you-trust paranoia and dripping with suspense, "Invasion" grabs you by the throat in the opening seconds and never lets go.
  6. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Diane Werts
    90
    Layering such unnatural proceedings into the family-drama format only intensifies both story angles when you do it right. And Cassidy has, with strong casting, solid structure and a fine feel for what's most frightening.
  7. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    80
    Like ''Lost"... the mystery is provocatively open-ended and, assuming the writing continues to be good, absorbing.
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Barry Garron
    80
    What gives this serious heft and its own unique feel is the family drama woven throughout the premiere. That, and a group of particularly talented and skilled cast members who, under director Thomas Schlamme, take their performances to the highest levels.
  9. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Storm
    80
    Invasion has great production values and is tops among the three new alien series.
  10. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Bill Gibron
    80
    Perhaps the most satisfying element in the series is its patience.
  11. San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times
    Reviewed by: Charlie McCollum
    80
    "Invasion'' has the look of a winner.
  12. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    80
    It has cinematic production values that give it the heft of a movie, and the lead characters are so natural and believable that the alien angle is less ludicrous than usual.
  13. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    80
    It’s easily the most interesting of the three [new alien shows], taking the emotional chill and confusion that accompany a family divorce... and lacing them with a narratively complementary dose of body-snatching paranoia.
  14. Detroit Free Press
    Reviewed by: Mike Duffy
    75
    A compelling tale of ordinary people ensnared in extraordinary circumstances.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    75
    A potentially compelling sister series for "Lost."
  16. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    75
    Maybe it's not as great as "Lost," but then again, it could be awfully close.
  17. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gillian Flynn
    75
    The series could move more quickly... Still, creator Shaun Cassidy has plenty of enticing layers at work.
  18. Kansas City Star
    Reviewed by: Aaron Barnhart
    70
    Of all the new mystery-driven dramas aspiring to be this year’s “Lost”... “Invasion” is the most absorbing and least hokey.
  19. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Paul Brownfield
    70
    Unlike "Lost," which ended its first season twisted around itself with mystery and mythology, "Invasion" doesn't seem poised to madden you that way. Its ambition is smaller and more self-contained; weirdness will visit a town and change relationships among an extended, and messy, family.
  20. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Lee Siegel
    70
    The show moves swiftly and suspensefully.
  21. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    70
    None of these [new sci-fi] series matches Lost's mix of character, wit and story, but the grim Invasion at least has the story part down, and keeps the horror at a nicely restrained simmer
  22. The A.V. Club
    70
    Though the show has been tense and taut in the early going, creator Shaun Cassidy needs to figure out how to parcel out a narrative in episode form, with little stories playing out under the shadow of the big one.
  23. Orlando Sentinel
    Reviewed by: Hal Boedeker
    60
    The drama's murkiness becomes frustrating.
  24. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    60
    "Invasion" offers a few scares, but it's more a sense of dread and something subtly awry that gives this drama its creepy vibe.
  25. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    60
    The pilot is enough to make you curious -- if it holds your attention to the end, that is.
  26. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Ned Martel
    60
    "Invasion" is a step up from many new offerings on the Sci Fi Channel, but never quite as intricate or engaging as the ABC hit "Lost."
  27. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    60
    A child's quizzical utterance near the end of "Invasion" provides enough of a chill to warrant a return visit to what's otherwise a mildly intriguing pilot.
  28. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: David Zurawik
    50
    Borderline over-the-top moments threaten the sense of verisimilitude usually expected in prime-time drama.
  29. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    50
    There is something too pat, too telegraphed in "Invasion" to rile up the blood.
  30. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Sid Smith
    30
    The whole enterprise is a bit sophomoric and transparent, its behind-the-scenes political battles the stuff of canned Hollywood war movies.
  31. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    30
    Features vaguely uninteresting characters, flat scenarios and a less-than-intriguing alien/swamp thing.

Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Best TV Season of 2005
7
#7 Most Discussed TV Season of 2005
33
#33 Most Shared TV Season of 2005

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 239 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 196 out of 239
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 239
  3. Negative: 31 out of 239
  1. DarcyR.
    Oct 7, 2006
    10
    I can't for the life of me understand why such an OUTSTANDING show was cancelled. I feel as though I read a book with the last chapter I can't for the life of me understand why such an OUTSTANDING show was cancelled. I feel as though I read a book with the last chapter torn out and will never know the ending. PLEASE bring this show back on the air somehow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's very unfair to take it away when it had so many fans who were addicted to it and miss it so much!!… Full Review »
  2. Tss5078
    Aug 20, 2016
    6
    Ever since the popularity of LOST, ABC has been trying to find another strange, prime-time, sci-fi series to fill the void. One of the betterEver since the popularity of LOST, ABC has been trying to find another strange, prime-time, sci-fi series to fill the void. One of the better ones was Invasion. This show managed to last a full season, but just like V, Flash-Forward, Life On Mars, Persons Unknown, Surface, and so many others, it didn't last. Why not you may ask? The truth is that the network keeps using these great show ideas and either takes them off the air for months in order to air some lame reality show or in this case, they keep making it stranger and stranger until it's unwatchable. LOST was weird, that's what we loved about it, but that show was written by J.J. Abrams, not Shaun Cassidy. Some people can make weird work and some just can't!

    Invasion takes place in a small town bordering the Florida everglades, where a strange family dynamic is taking place. The Varon family has split up and the kids spend half the time with their father, Russell (Eddie Cibrian), a park ranger who is engaged to a local reporter, and their mother, Mariel, who is a Doctor and whom has remarried the town sheriff, who also has a daughter. Going back and fourth between fighting parents is hard enough, but in an area as dangerous as the everglades, it can be downright deadly. One night, a massive storm blows into town and people see strange lights in the sky and in the water. When things settle down, certain people are somehow different. Some, like Russell, are skeptical that anything happened, others like his brother-in-law to be, think the planet is under attack, but no one really knows what the truth is.

    This is a modern version of invasion of the body snatchers and a much more subtle version at that. The series starts off with a bang and is definitely binge worthy, but then it hits a brick wall. I mean it is the same thing around and around for about ten episodes and it is ridiculously frustrating. Things finally get going again, and it just becomes weird, they jump back to story lines they haven't mentioned since the pilot, they investigate things they never mentioned before, the show is really kind of all over the place and it just gets worse.

    Shows like this kill me, because it started out so good, the story was extremely promising, and best of all was the cast. William Fichtner best known for Prison Break and dozens of blockbuster films is one of my favorite actors, and he is amazing in this show, there are points in Invasion, where he keeps the whole thing together and I may have stopped watching, if I wasn't so interested in what his character was up to. Paired with Third Watch's hunky fireman, Eddie Cibrian, the pair make for perfect rivals and strange bedfellows, and oddly had terrific chemistry. Add veteran actress, Lisa Sheridan, and a sixteen year old future TV star named, Evan Peters, to the mix, and this cast was fantastic.

    The bottom line is this show should have worked, it should have lasted, but ABC wanted it to be the next LOST. Someone kept messing with the story at the last minute, until the point that even the writers were confused about what they were doing, and things just fell apart. It's a shame, the first few episodes of this show were as good as it gets, while the last dozen or so were a struggle to get through.    … Full Review »
  3. mavericken
    Feb 20, 2014
    10
    Years after it has been cancelled It's still hard for me to face it. The best and most exciting tv show I have ever watched. Fantastic actorsYears after it has been cancelled It's still hard for me to face it. The best and most exciting tv show I have ever watched. Fantastic actors and the show has a great plot.… Full Review »
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