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.

Look the only reason why ill give this show a chance its because two reason,first the last season i followed "Hunters" and i dunno before i realized i want to drop the show it was too late i was then in the 7/8 episode so i went all the way and at the end that show was at the most a solid 5 so if i went thru that why not thru this? besides its promessing or at least more than it was hunters so im staying lol, and the second reason is there are at least two or three shows of SyFy that im having a really hard time to find online starting with dominion so ina certain way i don't wanna miss a "potencial" show that this channel could offed u know? Some good Points in this first episode -The teenagers actor are really cute especially the blonde guy -Alot to explain so a good team of writers could make a good juice of it

If i could just ask to improve one thing will be the photography i mean get a really good secuences of the ambient.

Another thing i found interesting is that at least four shows that i am gonna stick with this season are just getting six epidodes and are a lot more better and promessing than this one and yet this is getting 13 lol... But oh well...Im stayin :D sorry for bad English

The Copeland family finds themselves struggling to survive the end of the world. The world faces a seemingly endless number of calamities. The father Joshua Copeland (James Tupper) is a cultural history professor. The mother Karen Copeland (Anne Heche) is ex-military. With their three teen kids, Matt (Levi Meaden), Brianna (Taylor Hickson), and Dana (Julia Sarah Stone), they try to stay together and escape various dangers in their RV.

This show is a mess of sci-fi monsters of the week. The characters are simply there and so is the apocalypse. After a few episodes, the show started losing me with the mounting mess. There seems to be no rules or stability. Everything is up for grabs. It takes until episode 9 when the characters come up with an explanation. The girls start wondering if time itself is screwed up. It's like an idea about the show suddenly lit up. The show is a mess because the world is suppose to exist in a mess. The mess itself makes perfect sense. This apocalypse is a world of chaos where it would be impossible to understand and survival is the only good outcome. The problem is that it needed almost the entire first season to get a hold of this show and by then, almost nobody is watching.

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?"

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.