Dallas Morning News – Roswell Article

Thanks to Leslie and Orion4 for sending this in. If you’re looking for ratings for Roswell-check out Zap2It tomorrow morning for the overnight ratings

Leslie says…This is from the Dallas Morning News. Its on page 5C with one of the season
two pictures of the Pod Squad (the one where Jason is wearing a blue shirt
and Brendan is wearing that brown shirt without sleeves).

‘Roswell’ may have revealed too much
10/02/2000

By Manuel Mendoza / The Dallas Morning News

In their first year, the teenagers of Roswell survived heartbreak, an FBI
hunt and shaky ratings. The same can’t be said for their looks.

Without naming names, two of the characters return for their sophomore season
with the kind of retro-trendy Hollywood hairstyles that are sillier than they
are cool. Compared to the funny makeovers, the new runway-ready wardrobes are
a minor distraction.

A bigger one is the convoluted mythology now at the show’s core.

When it first premiered last fall with one of the year’s best pilots, Roswell
focused on the relationships between a trio of teen aliens and the Earth kids
who learned their secret. The race to find out exactly where they came from
and why they’re here even as the feds closed in was the central plot
device. But it wasn’t what the show was about.

At its best, Roswell used their peril to illustrate what teens go through
during their formative stages. The alienation metaphor was rarely strained,
and the budding romance between Max (Jason Behr), one of the aliens, and Liz
(Shiri Appleby), the girl whose life he saves, was sweet and moving.

But the emphasis shifted as the producers sought to draw in the sci-fi
audience, tying up the narrative threads by season’s end. The aliens discover
they are exiled leaders of their home planet, where civil war has broken out.

The first two new episodes pick up in that same mode. Having spent the summer
worrying about the repercussions of killing the FBI agent who was after them,
Max, his sister Isabel (Katherine Heigl) and best friend Michael (Brendan
Fehr) have a new nemesis, a nosy congresswoman connected to the dead G-man.

There’s also the business of their enemies back home, who may be coming to
Earth for them. According to a fourth teen alien, Tess (Emilie de Ravin), who
showed up at the end of last season with a mysterious adult protector, she
and Max, as well as Isabel and Michael, are destined to mate.

None except Tess is so hot on the idea. Each has ongoing relationships with
humans, though last season’s finale tore those apart.

To viewers who haven’t seen Roswell, all this may sound ridiculous. Some
people don’t get Buffy the Vampire Slayer, either. Those who do are waiting
to see whether the producers can repair the damage caused by giving away too
much too soon and by getting away from what made Roswell such a great show to
begin with.

Manuel Mendoza

Roswell

Grade: B-

8 p.m. Mondays, The WB (Channel 33). Starring Shiri Appleby, Jason Behr,
Katherine Heigl, Majandra Delfino, Brendan Fehr, Colin Hanks, Nick Wechsler,
Emilie de Ravin and William Sadler. Created by Jason Katims. 60 min.ROSWELL