No Hope for The Cure

I admit it; I’m one of those people who like to fill out online surveys. So sue me.I like to consider myself a fairly savvy consumer and don’t mind sharing my experience and opinions if it can help make for better products and services. Every now and then, someone in the family is demographically targeted and we get sent a television pilot to sample.This week was my turn and I received a VHS tape containing the pilot for a new Fox series, The Cure. I had to watch it then go on line and answer a bunch of questions.Unfortunately, there was no mechanism for me to ask them questions, starting with which moron thought this should be green-lit for a series?In a nutshell, this unimaginative piece of drivel is House crossed with Mission: Impossible. Fox, which already airs House, should know better as should Warner Bros Television, which produced the series. Given their ability create ground breaking series such as ER and The West Wing, they should be ashamed of themselves.The lead character, Dr. House, er, whatever, is a maverick who stopped working for the big pharmaceutical companies to skirt the rules in order to bring cures to diseases to patients faster than the FDA and the drug companies will allow. To do this, he and his team of dedicated do-gooders, work on the edges. They find conveniently closed hospital wings to treat patients and work in a lab hidden in a warehouse.The trio of assistants match House: two guys (Anson Mount, Esai Morales) and a girl (Liz Vassey), just substitute the black character for a Mexican, portrayed by Esai Morales. Dr. House, er, whatever, is devoid of personality as are the cipher aides. The dialogue is flat, the characterization non-existent. The thrills and danger, such as will the hospital guard find the secret surgery in the closed wing before the patient is treated is lacking in any suspense since we know they will get away with it. At least on M:I we saw how they cleverly got out of the danger.Then, add in the hoary sub-plot of Dr. House, er, whatever, being blackmailed by someone, who hounds the team, takes away from disease-du-jour. And somewhere in the mix is a woman hoping for a cure played by Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon.While filling out the survey, I gave it mostly negative marks, from the lackluster music to the horrible storytelling. I only today found out this piece of crap will air on Fox, starting June 1. Save yourself the trouble and skip this.