“The Fien Print” on ABC’s THE ZERO HOUR

Take Me To The Pilots ’12: ABC’s ‘The Zero Hour’ – by Daniel Fienberg

The Pitch: Horologists, Nazis, Rosicrucians and Goose… Oh my!
Quick Response: In previewing “Do No Harm” last week, I mentioned that it was one of “three or four audaciously weird, wacky and possibly terrible (but possibly terribly addictive) new dramas” premiering at midseason. ABC’s “The Zero Hour” is another. Creator Paul T. Scheuring (“Prison Break”) is no stranger to seemingly unsustainable premises that may have been better suited to a miniseries format and I guess you could *kinda* argue that “Prison Break” found ways to regularly reinvent itself frequently enough to justify airing for four seasons, rather than for eight episodes as a Limited Series Event. But “Zero Hour,” with its tenuous and sometimes foolhardy alternate history involving the secret religious orders and scientific exploration and the Holocaust, is possibly even less suited for a long run and even more suited for a strictly capped episode run. Some stories aren’t meant to run for 200 episodes and I get the feeling that with its Rosicrucians, demon babies, underground clockmakers and 12-centric numerology, “The Zero Hour” should maybe run 10 hours, deliver answers and get out while the getting’s good.

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Oh, hell, we disagree with DF on this one. Because we believe that any show “involving the secret religious orders and scientific exploration and the Holocaust…[and] Rosicrucians, demon babies,” et al should run forever. Count us in on this one, baby. No matter what. (Well, there is one thing that could put us off: If it was produced or directed by Steven Spielberg and/or starred Tom Hanks. We’ll leave it to y’all to think on why.)

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