- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Feb 5, 2000
Critic Reviews
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I’m not clairvoyant enough to know whether viewers will be too freaked to watch The Others a second time. Whatever happens to the show, there’s no doubt that it’s breakthrough television.
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The supernatural genre is one of the toughest to crack in TV, but The Others appears to be a sharper, better produced entry than most of its predecessors.
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The Others isn't an across-the-board success like The Sixth Sense. But it has its moments. And once you get past the sluggishness of the first episode, it's not half bad. [4 Feb 2000. p.1E]
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Billingsley brings a gentleness to the role, making the character believable, decent and a surrogate for the audience. He watches The Others with amazement, and so will viewers. [4 Feb 2000]
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Whether The Others turns out to be a great series remains to be seen. It is, at least, an intriguing one with possibilities.
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The Others makes glaciers look fast. [5 Feb 2000]
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It may sound like a third-, fourth- or fifteenth-cousin to Fox's "The X-Files"--and some of its producers did work on episodes of that series--but there's more to "The Others" than that. And its supernaturalism is rather good-natured, at least by comparison.
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To maintain any momentum, however, they're going to have to come up with something more than a ''dead guy of the week beckons from the other side'' premise. There's not much the Others are fighting against at this point, except short-lived skepticism on behalf of the bereaved. [5 Feb 2000, p.L3]
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While tonight's pilot episode is uneven, it does provide the building blocks for a solid foundation. There is promise here, and there is the potential for quick disintegration. Which way will it go? How do I know? What do you think I am? Psychic? [5 Feb 2000, p.1E]
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Needs more consistency if it wants to be as frightening as the movie.
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The Others is a show with a promising premise and a very interesting collection of characters. But it is also a show with a tragic dependency on feel-goodism and sentimental resolutions. Horror and schmaltz? They just don't mix well. [5 Feb 2000]
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It hasn't jelled yet as drama, judging from the two episodes made available for advance screening. Its basic elements feel out of synch. [4 Feb 2000]
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SPOOKY stuff happens in The Others. Windows open by themselves, ghosts spring out of walls, eerie sounds wail. Yes, indeed, it's spooky. It's spooky how script writers think this sort of stuff is actually effective after so many years of seeing these cues so many times in so many "horror" movies. [4 Feb 2000]
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Those who get excited by the mere mention of a sixth sense may get a few tingles out of The Others. But anyone hoping for something more -- something novel or clever or even spooky -- should look elsewhere. Even those of us who scare easily are likely to find this tired ghost story more silly and hokey than jolting. [4 Feb 2000]
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If NBC hopes to ride the wave generated by the movie The Sixth Sense, it has a way to go to catch it. The Others is a too-predictable curiosity adrift in a sea of aiming-to-scare-you special effects. [4 Feb 2000]
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Take the talking dead people from "The Sixth Sense," some otherworldly visuals from "The Matrix" and the team mutant concept from "The X-Men," and you get The Others, a pastiche of supernatural doublespeak that needs to worry less about aura and more about story and character.
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The intention only means so much, and it doesn’t make up for uninteresting people. While nobody’s expecting another Mulder and Scully, the roles here are one-note: no humor and no sparks, just a lot of paranoia.
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You have to wonder if Morgan and Wong learned anything from Chris Carter. With no semblance of an ongoing secondary story line, such as the government conspiracy of "The X-Files, The Others" boils down to a gaggle of flaky mystics who flit about applying their brand of drippy New Age closure. [5 Feb 2000]
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You would do better to go out Saturday night than settle for this sappy supernatural thriller. [5 Feb 2000, p.E1]
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The Others not only depicts the dead, it is dead...What they lack is a gift for sustaining an hour of drama
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