I didn’t know very much about “Defying Gravity” before taking the plunge and watching the two hour movie premiere on ABC. I actually DVR’d it, because True Blood was on at the same time and I love sexy vampire chicks.

So I went into “Defying Gravity” blind. Big network Sci-Fi shows scare me. You have to imagine the production meetings of a big four Sci-Fi series. There will be dudes in suits shaking their heads sadly everytime a character in the show utters something even remotely sciencey. You expect a Sci-Fi series on network T.V. to be homogenized, sterilized and lobotomized. This is somewhat true in Defying Gravity. What the writers and creator James Parriott do successfully in Defying Gravity is just not go there. Where some shows like Fringe use made up science where they could just as easily use real science, DG doesn’t talk about science much at all. There’s some effort made to explain artificial gravity on the show, something about nano magnets or some such, and it did not totally insult my intelligence. It’s just about impossible to make a show like this or even a movie in an accurate microgravity setting. I was waiting for their explanation about the fact their feets were solidly on the deck and it was not totally lame. I had some early hopes that the spinning habitat pods were where the crew did all their business. Instead, it’s where they sleep. This is pretty good science. They don’t even explain why they sleep there in the simulated gravity created by the spinning habitats. I respect this approach. Instead of saying something stupid, or overly simplified, they just leave it alone.

Defying Gravity is pretty and glossy. The special effects seem good, something easier and easier to achieve these days. I’ve been told that future episodes look as good. Sometimes the budget is blown in the pilot and after that you can get poorly sanded miniatures or you might be able to see the strings holding the spaceships up over the poorly painted backdrops.

I was really happy when I saw who the male lead was in DG. Ron Livingston has been in a lot of things. He’s really good. Of particular note was his role as Capt Lewis Nixon in Band of Brothers on HBO.  That series is all a fella really needs on his resume. The rest of the cast in DG is really quite excellent. DG has been labeled Greys Anatomy in space. I loath Greys Anatomy. It absolutely heaves. I didn’t really see any of Anatomy in DG. For one, I did not have to rip my eyeballs out like I want to when I even see an excerpt of Anatomy. I guess people use the comparison because of the soft fuzzy focus and relationship heavy, character driven writing in DG. Defying Gravity did not activate my gag reflex in any way. You can rest easy. The shows are completely different.

Ok, here’s what the show seems to be about. Big 6 year mission to a bunch of planets. First up, Venus. Big beautiful ship called the Antares. Ethnically diverse crew. No supermodels. LOST style flashbacks used to fill in character histories are a big narrative force these days and for good reason. It works. It’s interesting. We only get a small slice of background in the premiere and only on a couple of characters, namely Ron Livingstone’s character flight engineer Maddux Donner and Laura Harris as ship’s geologist Zoe Barnes.  There is general astronaut training stuff that gives us a nice glimpse of the whole crew. I am still not gagging. I fast forward through the DVR’d commercials. I have no attention span for bad Sci-Fi. The Internet has ruined my mind generally. Defying Gravity is pretty good.

The drama begins when a couple of the astronauts have to be replaced. They both come down with the same exact, super rare heart issue. They are replaced with Ron Livingston and Malik Yoba as Ted Shaw, now the commander of the Antares. What begins to be unveiled, in a subtle and cloudy way, is that something, some mysterious, perhaps alien thing, is behind the reason that the Antares is on the mission in the first place. This alien boss, or whatever it is, is also responsible for picking who got to be on the mission. Interesting. I have still not turned it off. There is other stuff. Strange baby noises. Frisky Russian Astronauts. Washout hefty physics dude. Douche-bag Earth-side mission commanders. Bad memories of failed past missions. Oh and there’s something sketchy in Pod Number 4, something that gets in your head. Defying Gravity will be a series. ABC didn’t care how the premiere rated before they gave it time on the summer schedule. I smell confidence. Defying Gravity starts it’s regular run this Sunday at 10 Eastern. In Ron Livingston I trust. I’ll be watching.

Directed by David Straiton and Peter Howitt

Created by James Parriott

The Entire Cast.

* Andrew Airlie as Mission Control Commander Mike Goss
* Christina Cox as biologist Jen Crane
* Paula Garces as pilot and on-board documentary producer Paula Morales
* Laura Harris as ship’s geologist Zoe Barnes
* Peter Howitt as BBC journalist Trevor Williams
* Florentine Lahme as pilot Nadia Schilling
* Karen LeBlanc as scientist Eve Shaw
* Ron Livingston as Antares flight engineer Maddux Donner
* Ty Olsson as grounded mission commander Rollie Crane
* Zahf Paroo as grounded flight engineer Ajay Sharma
* Eyal Podell as psychiatrist and medical officer Evram Mintz
* Dylan Taylor as theoretical physicist Steve Wassenfelder
* Malik Yoba as Antares commander Ted Shaw
* Maxim Roy as flight surgeon Claire Dereux