TV Review-----AWAKE

Every now and then, Television Executives surprise me. Hard to believe that the same overpaid people who give the greenlight to shows like FEAR FACTOR and WIPEOUT sometimes have the bravery and smarts to give shows as complex and dangerously clever as AWAKE a chance. AWAKE has one of those premises that in the wrong hands could be a complete cluttered disaster. A police detective is in a car accident with his wife and son. In one of his realities, his wife died in the accident. But when he closes his eyes at night, he dreams a reality where his wife survived, but their son was killed. Thus begins the pattern....each time he wakes up it's one or the other of these "dreamstates" and we, as an audience, along with him don't know which is the "real" life and which is the "dream" life. It sounds confusing, but the writing makes the situation crystal clear. Jason Isaacs is both star and producer. His performance is the driving force of the show as he was in every single scene of the pilot episode. His love for both wife and child is heartbreaking and by the end of the hour, we understand and sympathize with his plight. He doesn't want to know which of the situations is real and which is not, because that means he would have to let go and accept the death of one of his loved ones. The added brilliance to the show is that in both realities he has two separate psychiatrists played by the wonderful BD Wong and Cherry Jones. He also has two different work partners in each reality. A twist to the normal "procedural" is that both of these dreamstates that he enters somehow assist him in solving the same crime. This is the sort of show that you would more likely find on A&E or HBO. Hard to believe that the bigwigs at NBC were willing to take a shot at something this quirky and artsy for Primetime. But we are the lucky ones to benefit from this leap of faith. AWAKE is immediately absorbing. My hope is that it develops an audience that is willing to take this thought provoking ride. Bravo NBC!