ABC’s Resurrection Keeps Me Wanting More #ABCTVEvent

I don’t watch a ton of TV.  Up until recently, my schedule had me working in an office outside of the home during the day and then blogging at night with balancing family time in between.  So when the pilot episode of Resurrection arrived for me to watch prior to my trip out to LA for a press junket including meeting and interviewing the Executive Producers Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, I was excited to see what this new fantasy drama was all about.  This is now a show I will be watching every Sunday night.

ABC’s Resurrection Keeps Me Wanting More

Taking place in Arcadia, Missouri, Resurrection is loosely based on the book The Returned  by Jason Mott, and the basis of the story is about the reaction of the people of Arcadia when their deceased loved ones return.

The pilot episode begins with a young boy, Jacob Langston (Landon Gimenez), waking up in a China field, and it’s evident that he isn’t supposed to be there and so begins a journey of, who is this kid, where did he come from, and why is he in China?  He is then sent back to the US and only knowing his name because it’s written in his shirt and he responds to the name.  After a bit of time with Agent J. Martin Bellamy (Omar Epps),  a former cop who is currently an agent with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he figures out that Jacob is from Arcadia.  To add to the mystery, Arcadia’s authorities say there are no missing boys named Jacob…and here is where the story begins.

We soon find out that Jacob died 32 years ago.  As you can imagine, the re-introduction to his parents, Henry (Kurtwood Smith) and Lucille (Frances Fisher) Langston is one that gets the mind stirring with questions and even some unimaginable emotion.  Jacob isn’t the only one that returns, but I don’t want to give away more, for I really encourage you watching the first episode yourself.  And lucky for you it’s available online via Hulu.

Intriguing?  Yes.  So much so that after watching the first episode, it brought a lot of dialogue between Donnie and I, for his daughter passed away almost 20 years ago.  The what ifs are so unbelievable and yet heart wrenching to go there.  How would you feel?  What would your reaction be?  I mean, we all have lost someone in our lives, whether it be someone close to us or not.  So the story is one that will easily make anyone think, what if?  And to watch Lucille go through a trunk full of Jacobs belongings (second episode spoiler), one just like Donnie still has to this day, it just is something I can relate to, yet also never relate to…if you can take a second to try to make that make sense.

After watching the second episode, we had the opportunity to sit down with the Executive Producers Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas and had the chance to ask some questions as to where the story may go.

One of the big questions was, are we going to find out why these people are coming back?

T: That’s one of the central questions of the entire series.

M: As writers, one of the things we try to do is we try to answer some questions, but like anything when you get 1 answer, it kind of makes you have more questions.  And in some ways, it’s almost beside the point because they’re back now.  Regardless of how they came back.  And it is something that Marty and Maggie are investigating and trying to figure out.

In the meantime, these people are still here.  Much of the drama comes from,”What do you do now that you have this 8-year-old boy?  How do you deal with that?  Henry’s got a very complicated reaction to this.  He feels like “If I embrace this boy as my son, am I betraying the memory of the child that I lost.”

Why is it happening is a question, but that’s not the central theme of every single episode.

Q: Are more people coming back?

M: I think it’s safe to say yes.

Q: Just in that town?

M: We focus on just Arcadia for those 8 episodes.  It’s 8 episodes including the pilot.  We have certainly planned more and there’s a cliffhanger at the end of the season that hopefully makes people want to come back for the second season.

Jacob’s like a stone that’s thrown into a pond and the kind of ripple effects he has upon his return and how it affects Fred and Maggie’s relationship upon his return.  These characters are all affected by his return in different ways, some good and some bad.  As more return, we kind of multiply it.

Q: Are we gonna get some idea of how they’re coming back?

T: There are some answers but we don’t answer everything.  We still want to have an investigative drive.  Do we know yet?  The way we pitched this is…there are several questions.  Why here?  Why Arcadia?  Why is it happening?  How is it happening?

When we pitched the season to ABC, we pitched them the last scene of the last episode of the series.  So we know where we want to go.

Q: The music is great.

T: If you listen to it there’s an underlying weirdness, there’s some weird creepy thing, just even if it’s the tone that he puts in there.  Even in the sweet scene between Francis and her son, it’s like, “this kid is dead.”  So it’s never going to be like a normal thing.  He’s amazing.

A question I asked, having a boyfriend that lost a daughter almost 20 years ago, watching this is a little heart wrenching, thinking of the what ifs.  What kind of reactions are you expecting from viewers that may take it more personally than others?

M: There’s something interesting about men with this show too because I showed my husband just the trailer for it.  And he’s like, “that looks great! I will never watch that show.”  Because it really does get to you.

Q: LOST an influence?

T: Absolutely.  I don’t think you can do a show like this without having some influence.  I feel very strongly that this show shouldn’t be more than 13 episodes a season, because my favorite seasons of LOST were the shorter seasons because they could be so much more.

M: When you’re building these continuous storyline episodes, you can’t jump around, you have to sort of build them in order.  And if you change something back here, it sort of affects this.  So that’s why we really liked having a smaller number of episodes, so you can really craft it and be smart about it, versus just kind of filling space.

They mentioned too that they are trying to keep it 13 episodes per season, with the span being about 2 and a half weeks.  So each episode will be about a day and a half of time.

With a “LOST” like undertone, where there’s a darkness to the script, yet not in a way that makes you turn away, but actually draws you in, I really hope my readers give it a chance and share with me what they think!

Resurrection airs on ABC Sunday nights SUNDAYS 9|8c.

*I was invited by ABC to share Resurrection with my readers.  As it’s easy to see by my post, I truly love this show, and as always, my opinions are my own.

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Trippin with Tara

Tara began her blog in 2012 and quickly became an Online Influencer in Travel and Entertainment. Trippin' with Tara is a lifestyle blog covering all things entertainment and travel, but don't be surprised by some great food and product reviews in the mix.
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