La Brea

One of the characters says it seems like they’re in an episode of “Lost,” and unfortunately, “La Brea” is the latest TV show to borrow from the “Lost” playbook.

If “La Brea” [flies off the rails like CBS' Zoo], it just might find a loyal audience of people willing to go with it to the ends of the bizarro earth and back. If it remains determined to take itself very seriously, though, the bland procedural lurking underneath just might swallow it up.

As great as the series is at raising new questions, however, it’s not at all clear how good it’ll be at answering them. ... La Brea feels too middle-of-the-road to make much impression at all.

While the pilot doesn’t have the immediate adrenalin rush of the first “Lost” (almost nothing on TV does), it does set up just enough to keep viewers engaged. ... There’s also the sad news to report that “La Brea” doesn’t look very good. Now, the cheap effects could be improved by the budget that usually balloons from pilot to second episode, but “La Brea” needs to lean into its insane concept to work.

The shark-jumping occurred in Happy Days' fifth season. But a critic who waits five years to declare a shark jumped these days probably won't have a show left to declare dead; three and a half seasons is now considered a healthy lifespan for a TV series. So let's give mad props to NBC's La Brea, which vaults the Selachimorpha in precisely nine minutes when it debuts next week.

Instead of warding off Sleestaks, they run from CGI wolves. Back in L.A., bureaucrats appear to know more about the sinkhole than they let on to the public.

The characters are cutouts, and the primordial predators aren’t remotely frightening because the CGI budget isn’t high enough. It’s not a good show, but perhaps it’s not trying to be – this is popcorn entertainment that will keep you reasonably amused as it barrels along in its own silly way.