As supsected, one of the 2 new fox hour-long shows is getting blasted. I predicted Dark Angel would fall before Freakylinks, but it looks like it's the other way around. I just read this off the wire:
(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Ever since Fox moved "The X-Files" from Friday nights to Sunday, they have been looking for another show to capture the sci-fi nerd audience that stays home on Friday. First there was "Millennium," then last year was "Harsh Realm." This year Fox tries again with "Freakylinks."
Co-created by "Blair Witch Project" producer Gregg Hale, "Freakylinks" follows the adventures of Derek Barnes (Ethan Embry, "Can't Hardly Wait"). But first, the backstory: It seems two years before the show starts, Derek's twin brother Adam started a Website called "OccultResearch" to investigate supernatural phenomena. Derek is not really interested in the occult, but he agrees to work for Adam because Derek is "a surfer trying to keep Corn Flakes on the table." (Derek's a surfer. Adam's a web-surfer. Get it?) One night Derek is talking to a hot girl at a strip club while investigating a case involving exploding lap-dancers (I kid you not). He gets a call from Adam, who is in need of help. Derek blows him off because, well, he's talking to a hot girl at a strip club. Derek then looks in a mirror, has a strange vision and later finds Adam dead in bathtub filled with pinkish-colored water. Freaky.
Derek feels somewhat responsible for his brother's death, so he decides to carry on with Adam's work. He keeps the Website going, but changes its name to "freakylinks." Derek, for whatever reason, thinks the new name is much cooler and not cheesy at all. He gets help from his suave new partner Jason (Karim Prince) and the geeky Webmaster Lan (Lizette Carrion). Everything is going smoothly until more freaky-ness occurs two years later. Derek gets an e-mail containing video footage of Adam at an ATM. The video was shot just two days ago. Freaky!
Now Derek has a new quest: Find out exactly what happened to his brother. (Wow! It's just like Fox Mulder's search for his abducted sister! Freaky coincidence!) He gets help from Adam's ex-fianc�e Chloe (Lisa Sheridan). She tells Derek about the case Adam was working on before he "died," which involved the strange disappearance of some early American settlers. Chloe also reveals that she too received an urgent phone call the day of Adam's death and she also had a spooky vision. Did somebody say "freaky?"
Fox is hyping the connection between "Freakylinks" and "The Blair Witch Project," so if you're looking for Blair-Witch-esque moments, you'll find them. Does "Freakylinks" have several minutes of home-movie type footage? Yes, it does. How about spooky footage shot in the woods? Yep, got that too. What about someone breathlessly remarking, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry?" Why yes, "Freakylinks" has that as well. I've never even seen "Blair Witch," and I still caught these similarities. There are also some X-Files-esque moments on "Freakylinks." They don't have a Tobacco-Chewing Man or a Coffee-Drinking Man, but they do have an Insane-Man-with-Tattoos named Vince Elsing (Dennis Christopher). Vince is a psychiatric patient who seems to know exactly what happened to Adam, but he is reluctant to give details because, well, then there wouldn't be a show. Of course there's the whole sarching-for-a-sibling plot of the show. At least "Freakylinks" refrains from using Mulder-and-Scully sexual tension between Derek and Jason. But maybe I shouldn't speak so soon.
"Freakylinks" did have some scary moments, but mostly it borrowed moments or moments too implausible to suspend disbelief. In a couple of months "Freakylinks" will probably end up just like Adam. However, unlike Adam, there won't be much mystery as to why "Freakylinks" disappeared.
(C) 2000 Michigan Daily via U-WIRE