Deja Vu

Deja vu is the hot topic for the end of 2006. First we had Beyonce's song of the same name, then the Democrats reclaimed Congress last week, next up we have a new Denzel Washington movie, also of the same name coming out on Wednesday, and now Day Break, which could easily be renamed "Deja Vu." I was on the fence about this show for two reasons:

1. Disappointment that Lost had to go on a three-month hiatus; and
2. I'm not a fan of Taye Diggs

After last night's two-hour series premiere, I'm still not completely sold, but I'm willing to keep watching. It was very action-packed and I really felt like I was watching a motion picture film instead of a TV show. Of all the new shows this season that follow the serialized drama format with some type of mystery or hook to lure us in, I'm talking specifically about Heroes and The Nine, Day Break is the only one that did pull my interest. Heroes is just way too sci-fi for my taste and The Nine moves at a snails pace. However, in just two hours last night, we've already seen four versions of the same day. Memo to the producers of The Nine: I'd like to see you top that. How dare you still be on Hour 1 of the bank robbery six episodes deep into the season. What a disgrace!

But I digress...back to Day Break. Taye Diggs is very good as an action star - I wonder why no one else ever thought of casting him in this type of role before. I guess his pretty boy looks and charm would seem better suited to the world of romantic-comedies (The Best Man), musicals (Rent) and courtroom dramas (Kevin Hill). But his body is definitely built for action, not just love scenes, and it's obvious that Mr. Diggs has been hitting the gym. If he takes his shirt off at least once in every episode, I'll be right there, glued to my TV, every Wednesday at 9pm, for sure!

From the commercials and hype leading up to this show, I couldn't figure out how plausible it would be for a man to relive the same day over and over. Would we see the exact same things happening over and over? How dry and boring would that be? Instead, we see varied incarnations of the day, and the theme is "for every decision there is a consequence." For example, in Day #1 Hopper saves a woman (Bahar Soomekh from Crash) from being hit by a bus. But since he doesn't go to the coffee shop in Day #2, he sees her being wheeled into the emergency injuries with massive injuries from...you guessed it...being hit by a bus. I don't know how Hopper is going to juggle all these balls: keep Rita, his girlfriend/ex-wife of his evil ex-partner, from being killed; protect his sister (the beautiful Meta Golding who played Warrick's wife on CSI) from her abusive husband; find a key federal witness to a gang case; avoid being arrested for murdering an assistant D.A., and find out who is framing him for the murder. Oh right...and figure out why the day keeps repeating.

There are a lot of surprises here that keep the show interesting. What's really fascinating is that while people who die in one day live in another, like Rita, Hopper is shot in one day and wakes up the next morning bleeding from the gunshot wound. I was really impressed with Hopper's partner Andrea, who is going through her own drama, but has enough faith in Hopper to risk her life to save his. Who are those people at the mine who inject the needle into Hopper neck? Is that drug a hallucinogenic that is causing the day to repeat only in his mind? If 11 weeks later, Taye Diggs wakes up and this has all been a dream, I will be highly upset!

There's much to like here on Day Break. As long as they avoid getting too gimmicky with the deja vu stuff, I'll definitely be watching.