As a fan of classic, if trashy, 80's and 90's "good guys" series, I wanted to give this one a chance. I also think that Lundgren is somewhat unjustly dismissed as an actual actor. In the end, I wondered why he would have agreed to the project in the first place. It's hard to imagine he'd read the script beforehand.
The writing is completely predictable in its main plot points, highly unrealistic even to a layperson in its disaster and rescue elements, and ranges from ridiculous to embarrassing everywhere else. The bewildering dance scene comes to mind, and defines the term vicarious embarrassment. Or the 18-year-old girl, who talks to girl scouts in her care as if reading line by line from a first-aid manual. All the characters are stereotypical and flat. Only one storyline (hinted at in the rowboat scene) seemed mildly interesting to me. Hardly enough to warrant watching more of the show. Nothing can save a show from bad writing, and this is some of the worst I have ever seen.
The poor quality continues right through to the production aspects. Dialogue switches to-and-fro between lines recorded on-location and in a studio, with no attempt having been made at making them sound even remotely alike. Out of nowhere, a gearing-up montage clocking in at 2:20 minutes (I timed it) seemingly tries to bore people out of watching the rest of the episode, using the same footage and music as the title sequence, just stretched out to three times its length. The gratuitous post effects look like someone had a little too much fun playing around with After Effects example presets. It's so tedious it must have bewildered anyone watching it, and it's hard to imagine why the producers would ever get the idea to include it. Effects aren't anything to write home about either. Mattes are poorly done, and the supposed live radar screen actually shows the VLC Media Player software playing back a pre-recorded video file, hinting at the general lack of care put into the details. The actor cast as the guy in control of those systems, incidentally, doesn't look like he's old enough to have a job, let alone be coordinating a rescue team. All in all, the technical execution makes it feel more like some students' first experiments in filmmaking and post production rather than a professional project. It's not all bad: the cinematography, lighting and set design seemed okay for the most part.
Gregory J. Bonann, who serves as writer, executive producer, and occasional director on the show, was also deeply involved in Baywatch, Baywatch Nights, and Thunder in Paradise – some of the trashy-but-lovable 90's shows I hoped SAF3 would hark back to. Unfortunately, almost everything seems to have went wrong after the conception phase. I would have wished the actors on this show, many of whom are only just starting out, something better to cut their teeth on. I'm always cautious with criticizing actors when the material they're given is so poor, but Lundgren is the only cast member whose performance in the pilot had some believable moments.
I'm rating this show 2/10 because for a few moments, its many deficiencies fade far enough for it to evoke some nostalgic memories of the shows we used to watch as kids. Beautiful people, in beautiful places (although it didn't feel Californian at all), who, with team spirit, risk everything to help others. That's what I was hoping for. I think after some 15 years of drought in this genre, there would be an audience for it again. But it would have to be a massively better attempt than SAF3.
The writing is completely predictable in its main plot points, highly unrealistic even to a layperson in its disaster and rescue elements, and ranges from ridiculous to embarrassing everywhere else. The bewildering dance scene comes to mind, and defines the term vicarious embarrassment. Or the 18-year-old girl, who talks to girl scouts in her care as if reading line by line from a first-aid manual. All the characters are stereotypical and flat. Only one storyline (hinted at in the rowboat scene) seemed mildly interesting to me. Hardly enough to warrant watching more of the show. Nothing can save a show from bad writing, and this is some of the worst I have ever seen.
The poor quality continues right through to the production aspects. Dialogue switches to-and-fro between lines recorded on-location and in a studio, with no attempt having been made at making them sound even remotely alike. Out of nowhere, a gearing-up montage clocking in at 2:20 minutes (I timed it) seemingly tries to bore people out of watching the rest of the episode, using the same footage and music as the title sequence, just stretched out to three times its length. The gratuitous post effects look like someone had a little too much fun playing around with After Effects example presets. It's so tedious it must have bewildered anyone watching it, and it's hard to imagine why the producers would ever get the idea to include it. Effects aren't anything to write home about either. Mattes are poorly done, and the supposed live radar screen actually shows the VLC Media Player software playing back a pre-recorded video file, hinting at the general lack of care put into the details. The actor cast as the guy in control of those systems, incidentally, doesn't look like he's old enough to have a job, let alone be coordinating a rescue team. All in all, the technical execution makes it feel more like some students' first experiments in filmmaking and post production rather than a professional project. It's not all bad: the cinematography, lighting and set design seemed okay for the most part.
Gregory J. Bonann, who serves as writer, executive producer, and occasional director on the show, was also deeply involved in Baywatch, Baywatch Nights, and Thunder in Paradise – some of the trashy-but-lovable 90's shows I hoped SAF3 would hark back to. Unfortunately, almost everything seems to have went wrong after the conception phase. I would have wished the actors on this show, many of whom are only just starting out, something better to cut their teeth on. I'm always cautious with criticizing actors when the material they're given is so poor, but Lundgren is the only cast member whose performance in the pilot had some believable moments.
I'm rating this show 2/10 because for a few moments, its many deficiencies fade far enough for it to evoke some nostalgic memories of the shows we used to watch as kids. Beautiful people, in beautiful places (although it didn't feel Californian at all), who, with team spirit, risk everything to help others. That's what I was hoping for. I think after some 15 years of drought in this genre, there would be an audience for it again. But it would have to be a massively better attempt than SAF3.