CW 100 So Far Lacking

Wednesday night was the premier of the CW's The 100.  Unless it improves greatly, I for one will not be watching it for long.  The show last night was the pilot episode, so I will give it a couple of episodes to find its footing.

The premise is simple and fairly trite.  One hundred years following a massive nuclear war the surviving humans send down their teen "criminals" from the Ark, a space station, to the Earth.  The Ark is failing, and children under the age 18 who have violated the law are sent to see if they will survive.  Anyone over the age of 18 that violates the law, no matter how minor, is put to death or "floated." So minor teen offenders to the worst ones, 100 in all, are sent to Earth. This will buy the Ark perhaps a month to repair; a month it does not have. Of course the 100 do not land where they are suppose to land, and not just the environment of Earth is deadly.

The problem is there is really nothing original.  The teens are stereotyped and either angst ridden teens or goody-two shoes but very clean and attractive.  There are no real teens or even close to them among the 100.  The lead is played by Eliza Taylor, and the character she's been given is a sort of a weak version of Katniss Everdeen.  The adults are really noble good guys who will sacrifice it all to save the best of humanity or power hungry politicians who will do anything to make it seem like they want to save humanity so they can stay in power.  It is this lack of originality with no surprises, a trite plot, and weak effects that hurts the show. Hopefully, the plot will improve, but with so little in the way of strong, original plotting and solid characters, it doesn't look good.