Aftermath

Unfortunately Syfy has opted to put on shows written by people that apparently don't know much about writing - specifically continuity, plot devices, story progression, and any number of other things that actually make for good writing.

This show, much like Syfy's Van Helsing, features a very unbelievable former military character along with poor characterization that changes moment to moment - in ONE episode. For example, in an episode one of the daughters goes from being full of hope and gung-ho about another character's odds of survival, but not even 10 minutes later is saying that there is no hope at all for another character. The entire thing just comes across as unbelievably stupid, but that is par for the course in this series.

Amanda Tapping apparently helms this show and several others on Syfy, and it seems to me that they've given her license, but not creative license... This show, like many of their newest entries, all suffer from the same tropes, poor characterization, poor writing, and overall poor presentation. The effects aren't bad for low budget television, but the writing is sub-par at best.

Any show which explores the idea of time travel or something similar always intrigues me. I wasn't looking at the cgi so much, was interested in the story. What i didn't like is the stupid characters, people making stupid decisions, and these were many. Creates unnecessary plot which diverts from the main story. Just feels like lazy writing

I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic film/television; if I don't like your post-apoc thriller it must really be bad. I mean just epic awfulness. Aftermath fits that bill and more.

There is no plot to this thing, literally no plot. The characters have all been arranged at a starting line and then just randomly amble through to point A, B, C, and so forth as stuff happens, all the time displaying the emotional intensity of a plastic bag.

/mild spoiler follows/

The weirdest point was when the wife matter-of-factly says "the world is falling apart but at least we're all together" and then curls up in her chair like she's about to break-out the bon-bons and watch Oprah. Or, less than 12 hours after their son just gunned down a dude in the living room, the whole family has neatly moved on to trying to troubleshoot the text messaging on their cell phones. Or, after the gas station attendant waves a severed head at the family, they're "wow, that was - like - crazy!" as though they'd just seen a really good juggler.

I understand ScyFy has $25 to put these s*$#storms together but semi-decent writing and passable acting don't require a blockbuster budget.

Many other posters have described just how bad it is so I won't bother recapping things. Just accept it -- it's really, really bad.

But... it's so bad that it's funny in a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 sort of way. You just have to sit back and try to imagine which direction the next silly plot fork will go. Will the family really be stupid enough to do what the plot is leading them towards, or will they show some rare sign of above-70-IQ intelligence? Oh, it looks like the "smart" daughter is going to say something... how many different physical laws will her pronouncement violate? Oh boy, a big nasty is coming towards "mom"... will she waste it, reason with it, or run away. It really doesn't matter what happens, the chances are good that it will make no sense and lead to laughter along the lines of, "Who gave these people money to make this?" and "Maybe I can get in on the gravy train?"

This show is not perfect i'll agree. The first episode was quite bad. However, I decided to go ahead and watch another and to my surprise it did get better. This show is not supposed to be our "normal" zombies and is not about a disease outbreak from what I can tell. I would say this show is more supernatural than anything and I actually look forward to seeing the next episode. I'm not saying it should be rated a 10 or even an 8 but it is certainly better than a 4. Some characters are quite good while other are pretty poor. The story is actually pretty interesting and definitely not what I expected. When I started this show I thought it was going to be another outbreak zombie flick ( which is what was looking for). However it is not really about zombies at all, like the first episode leads you to believe. If you are into the supernatural or the biblical apocalypses I suggest you give this show a chance.