Groundhog Daybreak

Pilot Opinion: Day BreakLet me explain what I call the Pilot Hurdle Principle: a series premiere always has too much weight to bear. Gotta introduce all the characters, all the conflicts, set the style and tone of the show, tell a story that’s powerful enough to hook you but still basically ground zero for where the show’s gonna go, etc.

Basically, there’s too much to do in 44 minutes, so pilots are mostly a mess. Jack of all trades, master of none, that sort of thing. So all a pilot needs to do is make me willing to watch the next episode. A bunch of the new season invariably fails this test miserably. Justice. Vanished. Standoff. Some succeed initially, but fall a few weeks later. Jericho. Smith. Runaway.

Day Break clears the pilot hurdle with reservations. Taye Diggs stars as a cop who wakes up to the worst day of his life… again and again and again. He’s framed for murder, his girlfriend gets killed, his partner betrays him, his dog chews up a shoe – the list of indignities is long and varied. When he survives the day, he wakes up the next morning as the clock ticks 6:18, back in the same place he started.

So it’s Groundhog Day, but you know, not funny. More Groundhog Day meets 24 meets… the way network executives assemble high concept shows. As Diggs repeatedly relives the day, he accumulates clues (and injuries) that will, presumably, help him to prevent all the horrible events.

That’s where the reservations – and potential – lie. Day Break seems a prime candidate for Laura Palmer Syndrome, where it’s hard to see how to sustain a whole season out of this premise, much less several. There’s an attempt to create a catchphrase – “Decision. Consequence.” that's a far cry from “Save the Cheerleader, save the world." Also, some of the digital clock close-ups smack of 24 too much.

But even in the slightly problematic pilot, there are glimpses of where the show can go. On the “first” day, he saves a woman from getting crushed by a bus; the second time around, he runs into her in the hospital, having followed a different path. By the third time, he sees her hurt again and mutters “gotta get better at that” to himself. Could be interesting to see them play the plot out further and further.

The show itself is eminently watchable – great production values, Diggs is always good, Mitch Pileggi plays sort of an evil spin on his X-Files character, and it’s nicely paced and directed. So I’m there, so far – beats Lost reruns, regardless.