ZERO HOUR...Conspiracy theorists unite!

Who killed JFK? Did President Roosevelt know the Japanese would attack before December 7, 1941? Did the US government fake the moonshot and create the whole thing in a Hollywood sound stage? Are there really alien bodies in Roswell, New Mexico? Did Charlemagne fake his death and bury his hunchback son in his place? (ok, I admit that last conspiracy came from my novel Long Live The King...shameless plug). The world is full of conspiracy theories and ABC's newest series, Zero Hour is the latest addition to that genre.

So far, only two episodes of the series have aired, but the show is already shaping up to be a standard conspiracy story. The villain is pure evil...he's even called the Angel of Death. The show has a reluctant hero who is a bona fide skeptic. There's a sexy FBI agent who insists on helping the hero even though he doesn't want her help. And there are two sidekicks who will do anything the hero asks of them. I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that there's a damsel in distress who is the hero's love interest (and wife), and the whole adventure started with history's ultimate bad guys, the Nazis.

Of course, we've seen these elements countless times in television, movies and books (the Indiana Jones movies, National Treasure, The Da Vinci Code and pretty much any book by Steve Berry or James Rollins), but that doesn't mean they're not fun. Audiences love a good conspiracy. If life as we know it is in the balance or, as in the case of Zero Hour, the world might actually end, then we love it even more. Conspiracies work very well as mini-series, two hour movies or books with a clear beginning, middle and end. But do they work as an on-going series?

At this point in Zero Hour the hero (played by Anthony Edwards) is motivated to pursue the bad guy because he is trying to rescue his kidnapped wife. But how long can the script writers keep that motivation going? I expect there will come a time in the near future when audiences tire of the villain's idle threats to kill the girl. If they shock us and actually have the bad guy bump her off, what then will motivate our hero besides revenge?

Another concern I have is that the clues can only unfold for so long. Audiences have short attention spans and they're going to want to see results for all the hero's hard work. I can see this story line being wrapped up by the end of the season, but what happens if there is a season two? Certainly, the show's creators can come up with another conspiracy, but the trick will be the hero's motivation. There will have to be significant character development this season so that next season the main character will pursue the villain without someone near and dear to him having to be kidnapped.

Those are just some of my concerns, but the bottom line is that I am definitely enjoying Zero Hour and I hope the writers can keep it fresh enough to maintain an audience because everybody loves a conspiracy. And the more shows like this that come out, the more alternatives we have to mindless reality television. So I say Viva la Conspiracy!