Revolution

One of the new TV series this year is called Revolution. The premise is simple enough: At some undetermined point in the not-to-distant future (I'm betting around December 21st, 2012--Look it up), a worldwide electrical blackout falls over the entire planet. And when I say blackout, I mean BLACKOUT.

You see, just about everything in this world requires electricity. And if that is no longer available, our modern world falls apart. It's not just about the lights going out--it's about EVERYTHING going out. Cars stop because spark plugs don't work. Radio transmissions stop. Not one single thing that requires any kind of electrical based function works. The only "modern" conveniences that continue to function are those that work on chemical or mechanical functions. Cars stop. Airplanes drop from the sky like flies. Millions of people die.

The series picks up 15 years after the blackout. Modern civilization has disappeared. Cities have been reclaimed by nature. What is left of humanity has been reduced to an agrarian existence, and warlords who managed to stockpile the few remaining weapons of war reign supreme.

Behind all this, of course, are a few central characters who are obviously aware of more than what they seem to know.

It's an interesting premise, and it has the support of both J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau, both of whom are strong Hollyweird personalities. It seems to be strongly written and directed.

Nevertheless, I predict an early and painful death for this show. There may be several reasons for this.but the primary reason for this is the same reason that killed the CBS show Jericho: Nobody in today's world wants to be reminded of the future that could lie just around the corner for them.

Just in case anyone forgot, Jericho depicted a United States shortly in the future wherein a shadowy quasi-terrorist organization set off Nuclear bombs in 15 major American cities, and showed how the aftermath of that affected a small Colorado town.

Now, this new series depicts another post-cataclysmic world. And reminds us of just how close we could be to it.

And nobody I know wants to see that.

A few months from now, we'll see if I was right or wrong.