Dome Decree

Under The Dome is the new series from CBS, based on the Stephen King novel (which unfortunately came out just after The Simpsons Movie with the same plot was released). The first two episodes have rated well, though that's at least partly due to lack of competition.

The concept is pretty basic.  A mysterious dome, made up of some sort of energy force, suddenly drops down on a small town, and no one can get in or out.  The rest of the story, I assume, is how the people deal with it.

It can be seen as yet another Lost knockoff, with a large cast (there must be about twenty regulars) trying to figure out how they got in this situation.  Each has his or her own personal intrigue--one guy's an army veteran on a secret mission, another is a local politician who's involved in some sort of conspiracy, another is a disturbed young man who locks up the woman he thinks is his girlfriend, etc.  To be fair, Lost doesn't own the trademark on threatened people stuck in some situation. In fact, it's a regular feature of Stephen King's work--The Shining, Misery, Cujo, The Mist come to mind.

The characters aren't too compelling, not yet anyway.  But with nothing much else on, I'll keep watching.  At least another week.  Originally I heard this would be a miniseries, one summer and out.  Now I hear they might make it a regular show.  Don't like the sound of that. Thirteen episodes where the big mystery is cleared up and we have some resolution (I was going to write "a sense of closure" except that's what this show is all about) would be fine, but an ongoing series about a village under glass sounds boring.