From "Under the Dome"

I am three episodes into the CBS summer series "Under the Dome," based on the novel by Stephen King, and I think it's time I wrote down some first impressions. I've been watching via the Amazon Instant service, which releases the new episodes for streaming every Friday after they broadcast.

One day at the end of summer, a little town in Maine called Chester's Mill is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible barrier, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. After some time, the residents discover that the barrier is a dome of unknown origin. Among the stranded are Dale "Barbie" Barbara (Mike Vogel), an ex-military man who was passing through the area on sinister business, local reporter Julia Shumway (Rachelle Lefevre), a teenager left home alone, "Scarecrow Joe" McAlister (Colin Ford), café owner Rose (Beth Broderick), radio station DJ Phil Bushey (Nicholas Strong), his engineer Dodee Weaver(Jolene Purdy), a disturbed young man, Junior (Alexander Koch), fixated on his childhood friend, the waitress Angie McAlister (Britt Robertson), and a lesbian couple, Carolyn (Aisha Hinds) and Alice, (Samantha Mathis) taking their troubled teenage daughter Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz) to a nearby reform school.

Finally, trying to keep the peace are Sheriff "Duke" Perkins (Jeff Fahey), Deputy Linda Esquivel (Natalie Martinez), and the lone remaining town councilman, "Big Jim" Rennie (Dean Norris). Duke and Big Jim, along with Reverend Lester Coggins (Ned Bellamy), are involved in a drug smuggling scheme and desperate to keep the truth buried. However, with the town in crisis because of the dome, and the residents being pushed toward extreme behavior, everyone's secrets are coming out and tensions continue to rise. After three episodes, these characters are all getting thoroughly tangled up in each other's lives and each other's lies. Violence has already reduced the recurring cast by a few members, and more are sure to follow in the weeks ahead. "Under the Dome" is yet another story about the secret dark underbelly of a small town being revealed by the supernatural, and the town is only getting smaller.

And so far, it's not bad. The show is well cast, and the scripting is decent. None of the performances stand out either as particularly good or bad, but the characters and their problems are interesting enough to hold my attention from week to week. The production values are great. Nothing about "Under the Dome" looks cheap or second rate. Though the special effects involving the dome are predictably limited to only a few instances per episode, they're a lot of fun. The dialogue is a little on the soapy side, and some characters go nuts a little too quickly for comfort, but not nearly as badly as I've seen other characters in Stephen King event miniseries fall to pieces in the past. I also appreciate that there's not too much emphasis on the supernatural elements yet. Doomsaying mystic characters are a regular fixture in King horror novels, but none have shown up yet. Instead, the show is keeping the focus on crisis management and deep dark secrets, only hinting at other forces at work. The residents of Chester's Mill and its visitors are doing a fine job of being their own worst enemies, and I hope it stays that way for the duration.

I haven't read the Stephen King book, but I know that there have been some complaints regarding the changes made to adapt it into a television series. New characters such as the lesbian couple and their daughter are a little too obvious, but they haven't been problematic so far. They actually help to keep the series feeling more modern, and not of a piece with the familiar Stephen King media of 80s and 90s. I'm more worried about how long CBS is going to try and keep "Under the Dome" going. Thirteen episodes have already been produced, but there are rumors that either the story has been changed enough that it will allow for additional seasons, or that they'll simply end with the story unresolved until the undetermined future. If the latter is true, there's a serious risk of the series wearing out its welcome, as I don't think this is a premise that can sustain multiple seasons. Thirteen episodes already feels a little long in the tooth.

So far, I think the show is worth keeping up with, as it's a well-made and entertaining mystery series. That's about all I want or expect from network summer programming. However, I can't help but be disappointed that this didn't ultimately end up on HBO or Showtime, as originally conceived, where I would know that it would reach a definitive ending within a finite number of episodes. Then again, CBS is doing a good job of maintaining a level of quality on par with cable, and I want to see how long they can keep that up.
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