Spring TV: Awake

This was one of the shows I was most looking forward to from last year's upfronts and I was disappointed that they decided to push it to midseason especially because I feel like it kind of already has an uphill battle to fight. It kind of has shades of last year's critically acclaimed instant failure Lone Star (it comes from the same creator, Kyle Killen) but at least this is on NBC, which is a bit less hasty with the ax than FOX is.  

Awake stars Jason Isaacs (um, Lucius Malfoy! Looks completely different without the long blond hair) as Michael, a police detective who is in a terrible car accident with his wife, Hannah, and his son, Rex. After the crash, Michael finds himself switching between two realities every time he goes to sleep: one where his wife survived the accident, and one where his son did. He returns to work in both realities, and has different partners (Steve Harris and Wilmer Valderrama), and also begins to see a therapist in each (Cherry Jones and B.D. Wong). Michael is unable to tell which is real and which is a dream, and doesn't necessarily want to find out as that would meaning losing either his wife or son forever.  

This sounds pretty depressing, and the gritty camera filter only adds to the grim atmosphere (everyone's pores look huge!) but the cast already has some great chemistry and I there's definitely story to tell. It looks like the show is going to have a procedural aspect to it, with Michael working on a case in each reality that for some reason share clues and details. I have no idea what this means, whether this is going to have any science fiction or fantasy leanings or not, but I'm curious to find out.