Reunion

[Modemouth]

I am hooked. Anyone else see this one?

[Tbarney]

Nope, what kind of reunions are they? Friends, family?

[Modemouth]

Soap opera-mystery 'Reunion' is a class act



BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC September 8, 2005





Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wang Chung tonight with "Reunion," a gilded palace of guilty pleasures that puts a cool new twist on the young adult soap opera when it arrives in beguiling style at 9 p.m. on Fox.



'Reunion' THREE STARS
out of four stars

9 p.m. Thu.

WJBK-TV, Channel 2, Fox

The setup is seductively simple: Six friends, one murder, nearly two decades.



After opening with the funeral of one of the friends in 2005, we do the time warp, zapped back to the spring of 1986 when the six emotionally bonded classmates are graduating from high school. They're full of hope, fun, mischief and romance, all of it set to the happy feet beat of 1980s pop songs.



So get ready to walk like an Egyptian or have a total eclipse of the heart when "Reunion" and its innovative story go sliding back and forth in time.



Fox has had great success with a time-bending narrative on "24." And it recently introduced the offbeat "Prison Break," another clever curveball that tells a dramatic story in an unconventional manner.



With "Reunion," Fox is hoping to do for the soap opera what "24" has done for the thriller. And that's entice viewers with something that's both fun and unexpected.



"I think different people will tune in for different reasons. Some for the mystery, some for the nostalgia, some for the soap opera," says series creator Jon Harmon Feldman ("Tru Calling").



So who's the dead friend in the casket? The murder victim's name will soon be revealed as "Six Feet Under" star Mathew St. Patrick pieces together clues and evidence as Detective Marjorino, the cop who is investigating the case in 2005, conducting interviews with the surviving friends.



Each week, "Reunion" flashes back to a key time in the characters' lives in 1987, '88, '89 and so on until we finally arrive in the spring of 2006, when the killer will be revealed. Of course, that's if "Reunion" sticks around long enough to solve its murder in a truly brutal time slot opposite "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "The Apprentice."



But "Reunion" is a smartly constructed new escapist playmate for "The O.C.," Fox's witty teenybopera of California culture that airs just before it at 8 p.m. Thursdays.



Its attractive young cast includes Will Estes ("American Dreams"), Amanda Righetti ("North Shore") and Sean Faris ("Life as We Know It").



And that appealing cast inhabits characters who may not always be what they seem.



"They have secrets," says Feldman. "They have something to hide, so I wouldn't take everything they say at face value."



Secrets, lies and love affairs haunt these friends, who each symbolize a different soap opera archetype.



We have the spoiled rich boy (Faris) who's planning a perfect Ivy League college life with his brainy perfect girlfriend (Alexa Davalos, "Angel"). Only he doesn't know she's pregnant after a fling with another of the friends.



The rest of the gang includes a lovelorn dweeb (Dave Annable), a promiscuous, Madonna-loving sex bomb (Righetti), an earnest, down-to-earth jock (Estes), and a romantically insecure plain Jane (Chyler Leigh) who surprises even herself with a life-altering decision.

Contact MIKE DUFFY at 313-222-6520 or duffy@freepress.com (duffy@freepress.com).

[Puddy]

I saw it and liked it. It sort or reminds me of Cold Case. Good show.

[Krissy]

I missed it but I want to watch it. Maybe they will rerun the first show again? Sounds like it will be good!

[jenagain]

I missed too and I was looking forward to this one.

[Leslie]

I watched the first episode but missed the second. WHat happened in it? Please update me. I think it's on tomorrow nite so I have to make sure I catch it. I think I need to live a list of "MUST WATCH SHOWS" here on my monitor so I can make sure I watch them.

[Modemouth]

No show last week because of Bush speech. It is on Thurs on Fox at 8 pm MDT...after the O.C.

[Leslie]

Cool! Then I didn't miss anything. Sounds good to me!

[Modemouth]

No more shows til 11/3!!! That sux!!!!!!!!!!

[Leslie]

damn, I missed it Thursday. I was working. What happend? Can anyone update me?

[Modemouth]

Here is a recap of 11/4 episode. I love this show!!!

http://www.fox.com/reunion/recaps/

[debbieg]

Its confusing to update because it goes back and forth so much...and its been awhile since its been on....But I'll try my best (I just can't remember names except for Sam, Amy and Will). Sam is planning on marrying the "rich kid". Will is the best man. Will was went to meet the quiet girl (karla - I think) and she had Amy with her...Will was talking to her by this lake and Sam walks up and it got her thinking she should tell Will that Amy is their daughter. She said it she never thought she'd see him like that with their daughter. The Feds end up arresting the Rich kids dad at the rehearsal Dinner. Will admits to the "rich kid" that he had something to do with it, but didn't have a choice...the Feds made him. He wasn't going back to jail for something he didn't do. The rich kid got mad and threw Will out. But will decides skip the friendship....he WANTS Sam, so he goes back the day of the wedding to talk to her. And try and get her back. The quiet kid that moved to Seattle was going to go to the wedding and take the Waitress that he hooked up with there. But she broke up with him when they were getting ready to leave. (Which if you ask me, they made it sound like she was pregnant) She was nauseaus and he said she was in the room and he had to go back and check on her but thought she'd be fine by the rehearsal dinner... But then in the end, he admitted to the girl that always had a crush on him (Amy's nanny) that they broke up. So they slept together and then she admitted to him she was a virgin. He wanted to "be together" but she said it wouldn't work out. Amy's adoptive mom left the adoptive dad and things kinda look strange with the dad. So I think they may be setting it up for Will and Sam to get Amy back. The dad told the nanny (I think her name is Karla??- Sam's friend) that he was really going to need her now. So I don't know if something will come of those two. The actress/model girl promised (karla??) the job as photographer but then her agent had booked the calvin klein photogropher and said....YOU DON'T WANT TO MESS THIS UP...He'll NEVER WORK WITH YOU AGAIN. So she opted to use him. But told Karla she pushed for her. But had never showed him Karla's portfolio.
Karla was mad when she found out (she talked to him at the rehearsal dinner) and told the actress/model girl she didn't like what she's become. She said we are friends....friends back eachother.

I'm sure I left out alot...but I'm not sure you want this much info. I did watch the whole thing...so if there is somebody I left out...let me know.

[debbieg]

Here is a recap of 11/4 episode. I love this show!!!

http://www.fox.com/reunion/recaps/

Or that would have been a lot easier!!!!! lol :donno:

[Leslie]

thank you!

[Modemouth]

This one got canned Nov.29th. I liked it but Fox messes with scheduling too much IMHO.

[debbieg]

will they finish what they started? or leave us hanging? I kinda figured it was geared toward a limited "group" of people. Those of us that graduated hs in the 80's. I didn't think they'd have a second season...but hope they finish the first. I want to know, who and why....and why they'd cover it up.

[Puddy]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I want answers!!!

[Modemouth]

This just stinks IMHO!

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Failing Grads The cancellation of ''Reunion'' leaves viewers guessing -- Mandi Bierly looks at what's next for the nixed Fox drama by Mandi Bierly

var mainImgWidth="";We've felt the joy of serialized dramas like Lost and Desperate Housewives, and now we feel the pain. Case in point: Fox's Reunion. The just-canceled whodunit aimed to span 20 years in the lives of six high school friends, one of whom is possibly murdered (Alexa Davalos' Samantha) by another. But how do you tell a mystery mapped for 22 episodes — with each basically covering a single year — when the network pulls the plug after only 13 (all are due to air by early February)? Seems you don't. ''Because the events of Samantha's murder are partially reliant on characters we haven't yet met — and events we haven't yet seen — there is no way to solve the mystery without being able to complete the full arc of our story,'' creator Jon Harmon Feldman says in a statement. And despite online protests by some of the show's 4 million viewers, there are no current plans for a TV movie, DVD release, or website to offer closure. As Samantha might have said back in 1986, you've been hosed.
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[debbieg]

That's a bummer. I liked that show. They should offer some kind of ending for those of us that watched for the 13 weeks. After giving them 13 hours of our lives, they could give us answers.