What’s the name of the show? Proof
When does it premiere? Tuesday, 16 June, at 10pm EST on TNT
What is this show? An internet billionaire (Matthew Modine) who is dying of cancer offers a heart surgeon (Jennier Beals) his entire $10bn estate if she can scientifically prove that there is life after death.
How exactly is she supposed to do that? I have no earthly clue. I have no heavenly clue either. Can’t she just make something up and fleece him of his money?
Wait, wasn’t Proof a Jake Gyllenhaal movie? Yes, 10 years ago, but that was about math not dead people.
What’s the show’s pedigree? Rob Bragin, a TV veteran who worked on Murphy Brown, Greek and Lipstick Jungle, wrote and created the show. Kyra Sedgwick serves as an executive producer.
What happens in the premiere? Dr Cat Tyler (Beals) saves a gunshot victim who was declared dead. Then she is sent to meet with Ivan Turning (Modine) who tells her that he wants proof that there is life after death so he can prepare for the eventuality of his demise in just a few short months. He provides her with a file to investigate and she ends up looking into a young child who had a near-death experience and has drawn all of the spirits of relatives she met on the other side. The child falls ill once again but her parents refuse to treat her because they think this is just Jesus finally calling her home. Oh, and did I forget to tell you that Cat also has a near-death experience of her own as well as a teenage son who died recently?
That does all seem very coincidental. Let’s not forget that her ex-husband is also a doctor who works with her in the same hospital.
Is this show any good? You know those Christmas episodes of sitcoms where a kid learns that Santa Claus isn’t real but then, right before the credits roll, something magical happens to restore his faith? All of us at home play along and accept that in the universe of the show, Santa is a real thing. But we don’t live on sitcoms, we live in the real world, and there is no Santa. So finding proof that there is Santa on a TV show is kind of pointless. Inspiring, sure, but pointless.
Proof has the same intellectual problem. Even as Cat is investigating a bunch of Carol Anns who haven’t gone into the light and other seemingly paranormal activity, she might find something that comes close to truth. However, even if she can prove it to Ivan and collect her $10bn, it will never be true for us. This is sort of a false quest all around and because the audience knows that proof will never exist, it’s hard to buy that much into Proof.
It is an interesting thought experiment, but this seems like a much better idea for a movie-of-the-week rather than an ongoing series. How many people seeing a bunch of old acquaintances right before they’re brought back to life can we tolerate? Not that many, to be sure.
To make it even worse, the pacing here is dreadfully slow. It seems like Cat’s investigations are drawn out so that there can be enough plot to flush out a full hour of television from this paper-thin and easily dogged format. Proof might be trying to earn its PhD in heaven and hell, but it doesn’t pass the test of being an even decent television show.
Which characters will you love? Jennifer Beals actually does a great job in the lead role, but she is playing that stock character of an unfriendly professional who is a jerk to everyone but is forgiven because she’s good at her job. It’s House all over again, and the character has the clarity and originality of a fax of a Xerox of a copy of a document. Modine’s character is actually the same guy, but a dude and rich and on the internet. They’re not bad characters, but will someone stop using these quirky and stunted characters?
What’s the best thing about it? This show could easily have gone the way of Touched by an Angel or The Ghost Whisper and been either far too religious or far too supernatural. It’s commendable that it tries to stay on the side of science and, as the title hints, proof. However, the show has the classic X-Files set-up where Cat’s team believes in the afterlife more than she does, so the spiritual tries to balance out the scientific. This makes a good engine for a show, but it’s one that is all too familiar.
What’s the worst thing about it? The pace is so lax and the stakes so low (yes, even with $10bn on the line – we know she’ll never meet the burden of proof) that you can fall into a boredom hole very easily.
Should you watch this show? No, not unless your idea of heaven is being bored senseless.
