Two episodes in, Threshold is still holding my attention.
Another plucky female lead, this one a think-tank expert on disaster scenarios. She’s drafted into service by the government when one of the scenarios she has written is put into effect following the appearance of what seems to be an alien probe/artifact. To the surprise of no one who has ever watched television before, she gathers the usual team of brilliant oddballs, and together with a hunky soldier-type and a seemingly benevolent government official who may or may not have ulterior motives, they race against the clock to figure out what the aliens are up to.
As with most TV series, this one has its share of holes, not the least of which is that the main characters (who, we are to believe, are critical to the survival of the human race or some such) are consistently allowed to go in with the troops whenever alien danger appears to be lurking. Also a problem are the leaps of logic that move the plot along, wherein Our Heroes magically weave together random ideas with made-up psuedoscience in order to arrive at the next plot point.
In spite of those problems, the show is actually pretty good so far. The acting is pretty good (I’ll admit—it’s good to see Brent Spiner getting some work), and the alien threat is, at least so far, ominous and mysterious. I’m not sure where we’re headed, and frankly, that’s pretty impressive. The biggest problem I see with this show is one that plagues any story that is tied to a specific plot engine (e.g., aliens are invading), and that is the question of how to maintain the suspense without making the audience feel like they’re being strung along. X-Files managed to do pull it off for the better part of four seasons, but then fell apart. We’ll see how far this show gets.