Day Break: March 11th

FUCK YEAH!

Molt, you're in for a treat. The show wraps up almost perfectly. I kept waiting for it to really stumble over itself and it never did. Forty bucks is steal for this thing.

Man, this IS good. I was intrigued by the concept, but didn't expect much. Instead, I got one of the most tightly plotted shows I've ever seen. I'll be buying.

Too bad we won't get season two. I have no idea what was supposed to come (and I don't know if the writer's did, either), but that was a great final shot.

Oh, hell yes. I'll be getting this day-of. And soon after that I'll be force-feeding it to many people.

"HOPP!"

That's cool and everything but I'm waiting for CBS to put out Smith. I never watched the unaired episodes on-line and the show was pretty interesting.

Spoilarz

So, what did you think of it? It's either a) to show that Rohner made it to the other side and got his life back on track or b) Rohner was behind the day repeating so Hopp could figure everything out, expose those who did Hopp and Rohner wrong, etc.

Initially, I thought it was feel-good meaning (a) but, in order to keep the show going (and not necessarily with the same lead every season), I think the stronger possibility is meaning (b).

Right, my take on it was this:

I wanted it to be a feel-good ending, but it felt ominous somehow. I don't think I can draw the conclusion that Rohner is bad, because nothing he does is anything but beneficial to "the good guys". That being said, I feel like we're supposed to view him as central to what happened, and that he most likely has more information about Hopper's situation than we were given. Also, like you, I think he was a framing device so that new leads could be cycled through.

Yes. No concerns there. You can easily view it as a fully completed series.

Yeah, I don't know if the filmed ending was planned from the get-go or somewhat hastily assembled after ABC uncerimoniously axed the show but the ending is great.

It would be awesome if, either in the last episode itself or as an easter egg, the producers could swap in the originally-planned song for the resolution montage.

It was advertised from day one as "being done in 13 episodes" or something like that. It was a response to LOST backlash....basically, concerns that these new continuity heavy dramas would never come to any satisfying conclusions.

Edit: not an exact response to gravedigger, but I think it allays concerns of being slapped together.

That's right, I forgot about that. That was one of the reasons I was so pissed that ABC canned the show after a few weeks for reruns of whatever "fat guy and a hot wife" sitcom they were running at the time.

This is good news. I'll be picking these up, not only to finish up what I missed, but to also share the wealth with my friends.

I watched the unaired episodes online and enjoyed the series finale but I'll never forgive ABC for cancelling this show - moron networkheads strike again.

Not to be negative, but these movies SUCKED.

I don't mean to be vulgar, but FUCK YOU.

Too bad it's a TV show.

This release has apparently been bumped back to March 25th BUT Amazon has it on pre-order for 50% off. Twenty bucks is highway robbery for this show. I pulled that link through the CHUD search so preorder there and kick 14 cents to the site.

That's fantastic, thanks for the link. Clicked and ordered.

I hope CHUD doesn't spend my $0.14 all in one place.
Thanks GD!

Ordered.

I ordered it too, monies for CHUD. I never really stuck with it when it was on the air, but I didn't have a DVR back then. I'm really looking forward to checking it out.

I got my Amazon by way of CHUD copy of Daybreak yesterday... Now, I need to find the time to watch it. I'm looking forward to it, and I like how all of the episodes are titled with variations on "What if..." In a way it's nice that it is a self contained show with a beginning and an end, but it sucks that it didn't even get to play out accordingly on the air and it makes you wonder how it may have gone if it hadn't been canned.

Got mine today. There are a lot of commentary tracks, each with a lot of participants. I hope they're not too bitter with how ABC completely disrespected the show. It's a bummer to look at the back of the box and see "Features seven episodes never broadcast on ABC".

The picture on these discs is fantastic. It will take some willpower not to watch the entire show in one run tonight.

I forgot just how much I enjoyed Moon Bloodgood getting up in the morning 2 or 3 times an hour.

The show's as tight as I remembered it. It looks like every ep has commentary, some with two tracks. Surprisingly nice package for a dumped-off series.

DVDTalk had a review up, gave it 3 stars. Since I disagreed, I dove in to see why. One of the reviewers complaints was that it never explained "Why?" I call bullshit to this. Yes, it would've been interesting to find out why, but I thought it was a far bolder choice to not explain. It just happened. So, in essence, what I'm saying, is fuck that reviewer, he's a dipshit. I don't think this was the greatest TV show ever, but it was lean and mean and having a protagonist that was SMART was a nice change of pace. No futzing around constantly, he had business to do and he did his best to get it done.

Not explicitly stating the "why?" is why the last shot is so awesome. That guy is obviously stupid but now I must read the review.

Greatest TV show ever? Nope, but one of rare quality that didn't deserve its fate. Like mediumdave said, the protagonist is smart, and the show wastes minimal time reacting to the... "phenomenon." Takes it and runs with it, like a detective's mind would. It's gratifying as hell that there's so few times I'm thinking, Why the hell doesn't he just do THIS? without Hopper eventually doing it (or doing it before I get there myself), or the show addressing why not. Almost none of the characters act in a way that doesn't make sense for them, to just push the plot along. For a high concept with endless potential for redundancy, there's hardly an ounce of fat on this show.

I wish I didn't know about it, cause all I could think of during the finale montage was, again, how incredibly great it would have been to have Johnny Cash playing as intended.

The cast and producer interviews on the last disc were obviously taped around pilot-pitching time, and the hopefulness makes em kinda awkward to watch now. Especially the "taking over the LOST time slot" questions. "That's a show for a smart audience, and so's ours, so if people stick with us..." Ouch. Haven't listened to any commentaries yet.

I liked Diggs' take that Hopper's kind of stuck in a repeating Choose Your Own Adventure book, every morning flipping back to page 1.

Here's the offending paragraph from the DVDTalk review. The rest of the review isn't very good or interesting.

I don't know if this guy is trying to act too cool for the room or what but a) it was somewhat of a surprise to see the reveal at first and b) it was a brilliant ending for reasons LD and I discussed above. Mouthbreather.