For months, we’ve been hearing about Justin Theroux’s new prestige project The Leftovers, on HBO. We’ve mostly looked at it through the prism of Justin’s relationship with Jennifer Aniston, and how Justin had to spend so much time in New York during filming while Jennifer stayed away. But on Sunday, HBO released a full-length trailer for the new series just ahead of Game of Thrones. And it does look interesting. Here’s the NSFW trailer:
At the end of the day, this would have been something I could have watched. While Justin isn’t my favorite person, he seems like he’s doing challenging work here, and this looks like an interesting ensemble and the premise of the show is strange enough that I would have given it a chance.
So, what’s the problem? Why won’t I go near this show? It’s not because of Justin. It’s because of the writer/creator/producer Damon Lindelof. I sat through all of those seasons of Lost for nothing. I sat through the crap-fest of Prometheus for nothing. I am no longer interested in what Damon Lindelof has to say, because he has the odd ability of turning a fascinating premise into a malaise of daddy issues, incoherent ramblings about faith versus science and then adding unbelievably boring monsters on top of everything else.
I won’t watch The Leftovers because I can already see where it’s going: some major character will have some crisis of faith (probably Theroux). There will be some sex but not enough. Even though the actresses will do good work with the material they’re given, the bulk of the storytelling will be done through the white male characters. Characters will be killed off randomly, without purpose. People will utter inane, cryptic dialogue about the universe and God and we’re supposed to think it’s deep. I think I summed it up.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Justin’s character looks to be following the Jack Shephard, Matthew Fox model. Maybe he’s an alcoholic and has a mysterious tattoo.
If HBO would disentangle itself from Cable or other big business, big-packages -required providers, I might.
Yeah agreed after Lost I can’t or won’t. I think Theroux does good work in general though aside from his personal life but he isn’t really compelling enough to be a series lead IMO.
Nope – not a chance is hell even if Justin’s sugarmama Jennifer paid me to watch it.
I was going to give it a go because I like Liv Tyler but these trailers has out me off. Never liked Justin’s body (too short for me) so that would be able to get me to watch it either.
I stayed with Lost until the very end. This show is so appealing to me – I know I’m just gonna get hurt though…. polar bear will have eaten those people or something.
Why can’t I quit you Damon?!
Usually this kind of thing might interest me, but for some reason the trailer leaves me kind of “meh.” I think it’s because we’ve been exposed to such similar themes with “The 400”, “The Event (or whatever that thing was named before ABC yanked it), etc..The original book seems to have a following, though, so it may do well.
He mangled Lost.He mangled Prometheus.I hate this guy.
I never watched Lost but I know of the confusion and frustration people experienced… This looks like something I might watch but I am already getting frustrated at the trailer like i am going to go really crazy over those silent people in white… I did watch Prometheus because of the hopeful promise of it being awesome but it wasn’t. I will watch the next Prometheus though like a good little Alien fan-girl. :/
I still plan on giving it a shot AND I’ll say something nice (cold medicine will do that to you) JT looks good in the uniform.
Me too. The trailer makes it look interesting. Justin is a good actor and the rest of the cast seem to be doing a excellent job too.
Absolutely an improvement over the skinny jeans.
JT is sexy and charismatic- I am ignoring the haters. Like his voice too. This show looks creepy and demented-thus, successful.
@ Lauren…I agree about JT being sexy & charismatic. I also think he & JA make a good couple.
Agreed that they make a good couple but not for the reason you think, Cecilia. They both share the same morals and both deserve each other. JT is Aniston’s best match.
True but let’s face it, he had nowhere to go but up.
Ok I’ll be the first on the thread to emphatically say, YES I absolutely plan to watch this.
Me, too. I think it looks really good. We’ll see how it goes.
I don’t have HBO but I loved the book. I am encouraged the trailer is at least close to capturing some of the premise of the story.
ME THREE! Shoot when they had the talking too much showing very little trailer the premise snapped me right up
I’d watch it–if I had tv. If it ever pops up on netflix or amazon prime, then I will. It looks very interesting, and original.
Who are the people in white?
Same! While I’m disheartened by Damon Lindelof’s involvement, the trailer has me sold on at least giving it a shot. Since it’s based on a book, I’m hoping Lindelof has less of an excuse to revert to his same ol’ shtick… (although I’m saying that without ever having read the book). I think I’m most interested to see how Theroux does.
Yeah. I’m definitely going to check this out. I’m still mad the 4400 was cancelled.
I’ll watch it. The premise sounds fascinating….and yeah, I’m curious to see what Justin will pull off in the lead.
I loved the source material (Tom Perrotta’s novel The Leftovers). so I’ll watch. I sincerely hope Lindelof doesn’t stray too far from the original story.
“So, what’s the problem? Why won’t I go near this show? It’s not because of Justin. It’s because of the writer/creator/producer Damon Lindelof. I sat through all of those seasons of Lost for nothing. I sat through the crap-fest of Prometheus for nothing.”
PREACH! I don’t think I could sit through ANYTHING written by that man ever again, either.
I could not agree with you more Kaiser! When the trailer started, I was all, “Ooh…what’s this now?” Then I saw Damon’s name and I was all, “No.” Not going to bother since I know he’ll ruin it.
This looks interesting & Justin looks mighty fine in that uniform. I’ll give it a go but Lindelof has been a huge disappointment for me in the past. We’ll see.
I had no problems with Lost – overall I loved the show, but I can see why many were frustrated with it. I think it all depended what you liked about it and what you wanted to get out of it.
Promethus on the other hand, I really really disliked.
This looks pretty good, I will give it a shot. HBO has some great programming, and I think I saw that the author of the source material is an executive producer.
Co-sign! Seems to be the minority, but I ultimately liked Lost and would recommend it to people.
There was definitely a lot of head scratching wtf’ing and then ‘OH CRAP DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!’ I was one of the lucky ones to have discovered it way after its last air date on netflix so I could binge watch the series. I could see where and why people became frustrated with it. The ending still rips me to shreds.
Prometheus for me was ultimately about Fassbender who nailed it to a T with bonus Idris so I wasn’t coming in as someone who cared about the movie as a whole lol.
The only redeeming quality that might save this from being a Damon Lindelof load of turd is the fact that it is based on an actual book that has an actual storyline already written with an ending that is already mapped out. I haven’t read the book and haven’t been spoiled but I have heard that the book was very good. So does that make you want to watch it?
” it is based on an actual book that has an actual storyline already written with an ending that is already mapped out.”
good point. I was not a fan of Lost. I only watched a couple of episodes (bf was a big fan) and my take on it was that each episode didn’t resolve anything that happened in the story previously…it only made you ask MORE questions and go “WTF?!!!” it seemed that, after the initial weirdness/intrigue of the story that made you wonder what happened to the passengers, he didn’t know where to go with the story or how to resolve ANYTHING.
perhaps, with a story pre-written and mapped out, he’ll do better? I’m going to give it a shot because it does look good. I’ll keep my expectations low because there have been a LOT of shows that I had high hopes for but ultimately disappointed. (The Following, anyone?…)
NO.. but I don’t have HBO..
It looks very confusing. I think they are trying to show every person in the show.. not sure why.
I’m intrigued and will check it out for sure. Not sure about Theroux in the lead–seems too low-key or something–but we’ll see.
Justin is hot as hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m going to give it a try because of him. I have the worst memories from Lost. So much wasted time for that crap. It’s a shame.. I wasn’t crazy about Lost from the beginning, but I was watching it out of curiosity to see why so many people-critics were crazy about it. Then once I realised it was bullshit I stuck to the end to see wtf is going to happen. Maybe they will give us answers and blow us away. I couldn’t have been more disappointed.
For some reason I’m surprised at how good Justin looks in this trailer. I never thought he was all that in paparazzi photos. He looks a lot better when he isn’t dressed like an over the hill hipster. He would also look better without Jennifer Aniston. I thought he and Heidi were a much better fit. Too bad he threw that relationship away for a sugar momma.
He looks a million times better without that Ken doll, metrosexual look he had the first two years they were together. I think he dresses ridiculously (which also highlights how short his legs are, with his jeans and those ridic boots), but I’ve found him hot since Charlie’s Angels. His real voice is annoying though.
I am going to watch. I wish HBO would do more sci fi though. And no I don’t mean by picking up Firefly and continuing it as some like to dream lol just a proper sci fi would be cool.
Me too, although I would push for a space opera. Well, okay maybe just a lot of exploring the universe and planet hopping… ala Firefly. 😀 Or, they could do a proper mini-series length of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or an adaptation on Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, or the Dune series. There’s so much for them to mine from. Hell, if Syfy makes good on their promise to actually have more legitimate sci-fi programming in their lineup, that would make me happy too.
Got my fingers crossed for Syfy too.
Like him and like the premise, but I’m going to want some sort of guarantee that the network will air it all the way to the end.
There is way too high a tendency to suck people into these shows and then end them without resolving the questions. Lost is the obvious example, but I really got into Alcatraz and they canceled that with the main character shot and dying in the street and with no answer as to how the old prisoners were showing up in modern San Francisco. I’m done getting emotionally invested in these shows. Walking Dead is my only exception and I worry about that one.
BUT CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON IS IN IT. I’m watching for him and him alone, although JT is looking pretty good in a uniform.
I’m going to give it a try. It looks interesting. I watched Lost from the beginning to the very end. I was very disappointed with the ending of Lost.😴
I’ll watch this, and am hoping they won’t LET Lindelof deviate too far from the source material. He completely and utterly cocked up Prometheus, and I still can’t believe Sir Ridley allowed such butchery.
But I have at least finally figured out why the Engineers were so pissed off. They were all, “Yo, we created you in our image, and we are NOT THAT STUPID.”
That was a genius summary of what this series will be all about. I too am over Damon and his stupid, inane stories.
The book sucked. Can’t see why the show won’t. It’s no go.
meh….the trailer didn’t give me that must watch HBO thrill. It looks very David Lindelof and that’s not a good thing.
Meh, looks boring and been there done that.
And Kaiser, yes I think you summed it up perfectly (as always).
I watched the trailer twice and wanted to like it (because it’s HBO), but it just did not draw me in. I may watch the first episode to give it a chance but what I’m seeing so far doesn’t look very good.