Invasion

:

Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 21, 2005
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
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User Reviews

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  1. ChrisC
    Oct 20, 2005
    5
    I love the cast, but the storyline is too slow for my taste. There is more action in Threshold and I prefer the twist in the Threshold storyline to the "we don't know what's out there or who is possesed" premise of Invasion.
  2. Jake
    Feb 24, 2006
    5
    hollow characters and stupid writing, but it has a decent premise, which just isn't enough for me. ABC did well pairing it with LOST though.......and by the way, people who complain about not having a new episode each week need to settle down and be reasonable. You act like you've never watched a tv show before. It happens to all shows, that's just the way it is!
  3. NW
    Jan 4, 2006
    4
    Sooo melodramatic - Will they ever stop playing that dramatic music? The characters have no depth and show no chemistry. The writing reminds me of any day time soap.
  4. AlessioA
    Sep 6, 2006
    4
    Too bad that ABC has cancelled the series...So,at the end we have a mediocre show with dull characters (except for the sheriff),many plot holes and a not very well developed main story;oh,and the ending,even if it was meant to arrange the ground for a second season,is imho totally lame.
  5. Susan
    Nov 6, 2005
    6
    It started off okay, but now it's gotten waaay too slow. And there doesn't seem to be more than one mystery: Are there aliens, yes or no. That's the only mystery this show has. Not much else. The acting is okay, being the cute little girl is the best of them all, but that's about it. It's just okay.
  6. amy
    Nov 17, 2005
    5
    william fichtner is good (and creepy), but the show is kinda lame.
  7. StephenB
    Oct 17, 2005
    5
    I loved it at first but it just got slower and I'm just kinda iffy about it.
  8. SL
    Nov 15, 2005
    4
    Started slow, continued to be slow, and now it is too hard to watch. Some points are interesting, but it's just too dull to watch.
  9. cub
    Nov 19, 2005
    6
    dee r is dead on and i've watched every ep. they're all like that-- great atmospheric creepiness (as in american gothic), but just because 'lost' never puts out doesn't mean every other show gets off the hook.
  10. 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 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 showEver 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.    … Expand

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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
  1. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: David Zurawik
    50
    Borderline over-the-top moments threaten the sense of verisimilitude usually expected in prime-time drama.
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  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    80
    Like ''Lost"... the mystery is provocatively open-ended and, assuming the writing continues to be good, absorbing.
    Read full review
  3. 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.
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