User reviews

Almost Human, Almost there.

They're almost there, but not quite yet. This show is a great mix of first and foremost action! Great action, Karl Urban is pretty much the most spot on cast for this role they could have ever made. The same is entirely true for Michael Ealy as Dorian. They make a perfect duo, and the humor they share is hilarious. It's great to watch. The other cast members are fine to watch too. Credit must also be given to the people who play the MX's. They are just as regular as our main stars :)

Those are the things I like, if not love about this show.

There are some things that could be done better though, some in the writing department, some in the character development department.

First, I would like to know some more information about some of the side-characters. Another agent called Richard Paul, played by Michael Irby is constantly trying to discredit Dorian, and I would like to know why. Maybe he blames an android/MX for something that happened in his past, that would be a nice concept. I'm not going to cover all the other cast members, but it would be nice to see something like that for them too. Special mention goes out to MacKenzie Crook as Rudy. I love that guy, great character actor.

My second point is the way in which they catch the bad guys. I like the parts where they confront the villain a lot, don't get me wrong. They are always entertaining to watch, although some bad guys, and i do say some, because there are just as many good ones, do feel a little bit on the lightweight side when it comes to the intimidation factor. The bad guys usually get caught through a simple phone pinpoint, shipping manifests, some crap like that. It really bothers me. It's 2048 and technologies can no longer be regulated. Yet when it comes to a simple phone scramble they haven't made that much progress, obviously. It feels as a convenient plot-device to move the story along. Other than that there is not a lot else I can think of.

Every week it is a pleasure to watch Almost Human, the action is great, the weapons and technologies are great, A bomb necklace, cool guns, Robot cops (MX's), insanely strong explosive devices, drones and so forth. And the civilian technologies are fun to watch too, IPad A'la 2048. Every day stuff of the future. They are well integrated into episodes. It does a good job of making it take place in 2048.

The makings of a great show, off to a very strong start and it can only get better. They've almost nailed it, and I eagerly wait to see what becomes of this show.

I want to give this an 8.5, but I will round it up to a 9, because I have the feeling it will definitely live up to it's potential.

Almost Human is probably one of the scientific TV series that comprises action, humor, thriller , almost everything packed into one. I came across Pilot just by googling about Karl Urban and knew he played a recent TV series. I checked the episode and it was perfect. The character I liked most is Dorian, who is an Android that can have feeling like a Human. Currently,I have watched all 3 episodes released and what i can infer is that the series is must watch by all the Sci-Fi Lovers. I get feeling sometimes that this is hosted by FOX, who are expert in canceling the sci-fi series, will have same fate as that of serenity. Please let it grow. I recommend this series to all those who likes to watch sci-fi series.

I really wasn't expecting much from "Almost Human". The ads made it look like a stylized action- drama, and recent J.J. Abrams projects haven't always panned out well.

But I'm pleased to report this is the real deal. Gritty, realistic sci-fi action. Yes, it's set in the future, not in a whitewashed Starfleet Federation world, but rather in a civilization where technological development has outpaced ethical considerations. In fact, it shares many similarities to "Fringe", which isn't surprising considering the number of ex-fringe producers, especially J.H. Wyman.

After the first two episodes, it's clear that the title "Almost Human" is more a theme than a name. Karl Urban's character has a synthetic leg, and his partner is an android, a model that was discontinued because of a tendency to have human-like emotional outbursts. Neither completely man nor machine, both characters feel like outsiders to the status quo.

I'm not sure what direction the show is going for the long term, but here's hoping it gets a decent run of a few seasons. Of course, with my luck this will be canceled by Christmas while "Revolution" will run for another 4 seasons....

Both the production values and script are excellent. Strong character interplay reminiscent of Alien Nation (so many years ago) If compared to any other shows or movies, think Blade Runner , Minority Report. I hope they can maintain both the production levels and build on the intrigue established thus far.

Do yourselves a favor and enjoy Almost Human for what is it and will become, and don't look for to many comparisons. Yes, it will be compared to so many other genre shows, as I have seen already in this forum, but the strength is in the portrayal of the characters. It is wonderful that FOX (of all networks) and generally free to air television are committing to such well written and produced fare for us all to enjoy

Not sure when this is coming to Australia, but I think it will be a success.

In an almost uncanny repeat of its mishandling of Firefly, FOX gave us Almost Human... and then taketh it away. This show was terrific, featuring an excellent cast, timely themes, and a near-future setting that was just enough "wow" without too much "whatever". The loss of this series just 13 episodes in left a tragic gap in current sci-fi television that has not been filled since.

Classic cop shows have always been about the lead characters, and whether they make a dynamic duo or not. This is well on it's way to be a modern, classic cop show. Karl Urban and Michael Ealy have a FANTASTIC chemistry on screen together. I don't watch it so much for the story, as I just want to see what kind of quips and laugh out loud humour I will see from the two of them.

I am a big sci-fi fan, and this series touches on all my favourites from Star Trek, to I Robot, and even Tek Wars. The effects are above standard for a TV series, and the stories told remain unique due to the fact that with sci-fi, any and all is possible limited only by imagination. I will keep watching this for sure.

Having watched through what has currently aired, 'Almost Human' promises to be one of those milestone sci-fi's that come along much like Firefly or Dark Angel.

The point in which it excels past other offerings like 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' currently on TV is it's cleverness. The premise of an era of rapidly advancing technology allowing for new and exciting tools and plot points. Synthetic police officer Dorian, an android, is used to shortcut usually dull moments (e.g. analysis of evidence), generating an exciting pace.

Sci-Fi's typically have large production costs due to special effects budgets. Whatever they were given, the show is very polished and clean. 'Almost Human' rides the line between TV series and movie in it's overall feel.

Karl Urban recently played the titular character in a new version of the Judge Dredd universe titled 'Dredd'. It is far and away one of my favourite comic films and mainly because of his gritty performance using nothing more than a gravelly voice and his chin. 'Almost Human' seems the perfect future-set sci-fi world to transfer into TV for Karl Urban, and has a lot more freedom to express himself outside of the Judge's helmet.

The show at times borrows heavily from some of the titan sci-fi's like 'Terminator', 'i-Robot', and 'Minority Report'. However, this is not done out of an attempt to rip off, but of a desire to learn from those films.

Fox would appear to have a winner on their hands. Now all I pray is that Fox don't slip into past habits regarding show selection/cancellation. This cannot be another Firefly moment.

Almost Human is a classic police drama infused with beloved science- fiction tropes. The crux of the series is right there in the title. It is asking what it means to be human in a world overwhelmed by technology. Often the most effective way to reveal what something is, is by examining what it is not. Android Dorian is in many ways more human than the flesh and blood men and women that surround him. Are the themes overly subtle? No. But the pilot is both impressive and enjoyable to watch. Ealy and Urban are charismatic leads, with great chemistry. Taylor is equally dynamic as their soft spoken, but stiff spined captain. It's easy to say, "This isn't Fringe." And it's not, that's true. Almost Human is its own animal. But lest we forget, Fringe wasn't Fringe either - not at first. It evolved, it grew into something truly special. It's still finding its feet, but this series has all of the elements, all of the potential to do just that.

Okay this series has a _strong_ beginning. The acting is competent, the buddy cop dynamic works well, the main characters are both relate-able and interesting. The mythology or ongoing story seems to have strong promise for depth and longevity, at least the way it is hinted, we can see that it is most likely a longer mystery story.

The backdrop of high technology is very Phillip k dick. It's particularly reminiscent of do androids dream of electric sheep/blade runner, and in a progressive way that actually adds something. In fact the setting here further explores the consequences and possibilities of higher technology, particularly obviously artificial intelligence, in a way that we have not seem either done, or done well in TV or movies for a long time.

The combination of this simmering back story, the thought provoking setting, the procedural buddy cop dynamic, are basically bound make a brilliant show.

You might see the whole concept is cliché, but actually its not. It's rarely well explored territory, and thus particularly the way its executed, very fresh and new. This is serial genre TV very worth watching. Also as others have said, it does have a high production value.

I always like science fiction, because you can always put your imagination to work and there is no limit to it. The movie with android is not a new idea, but with enough work and effort this series should be enjoyable to kill your free time. However, as in the usual case with most of science fiction movie about the future, there is always a problem when it comes to give a picture of what the technology will look like in the future. True enough, there is no time frame being mentioned in the movie, but based on the android technology, the situation should take place not in the near future. Maybe another 50 years from now ? Given the time frame of the computer technology development for the past 10 years, it would be a bit silly to see a present technology being use in the future. We can not even find 3.5" floppy disk anymore now, but you can still find that 50 years from now people are still using memory stick ? Why not be creative and invent something else ? A good movie is not only about the story, but also how good the details being applied to the scene. With all the advance tech that are shown on the series, having a memory stick as part of the tech is really an insult to our intelligence. This little glitch should not damage the whole movie if more attention and creativity be put into work.

JJ Abrams is a gifted and talented creator and Almost Human has definitely all the elements to be a very great show. The cast is strong, the visuals compelling and the procedural aspects not too obvious. But I regret that none of the creators acknowledged they took inspiration from the Swedish show "Äkta människor" (Real Humans). We're only 2 episodes in but clearly they did this show so they could use elements from the Swedish series. And I'm not talking about minor elements... Real Humans deals with the integration of human like robots in the society. It features prominently "sexbots" and lots of robot medical engineering . It also plays heavily on how hard it is to distinguish humans from robots. So even if the concept of Almost Human is very different and much more sci fi oriented, I find it takes way too much from Real Humans. Especially considering they take themselves as a truly original show! I don't mind US remakes of European shows (like they did with The Killing or The Bridge and are doing right now with Broadchurch) because they are sold as remakes. But I find it cheap when a big and supposedly highly creative director as J J Abrams comes up with a show that pretends to be all new when it's so much inspired by a another and much more original show. It's still a promising show but I hope Almost Human will grow its own strong and interesting universe so I can forget those annoying similarities.

I began watching this show almost entirely on the acting credentials of Urban. I've liked him in every role I've ever seen him in, and now that I am familiar with him - I'm seeing him in stuff I've seen before.

Saying that, one of the best things I can say about this show is - my wife loves it, and she generally hates sci-fi. In fact, the only other sci-fi show I persuaded her to watch - that she also loved - was "Firefly". So I think it goes without saying, she probably knows a good show when she sees it. We recorded the whole season and watched all of it in a few days.

The two leads are great together. They could lose the rest of the cast and still be a great show. I suspect this show only fails in ratings - because people haven't given it a chance. Like "Chuck" - another show we thoroughly enjoyed - you have to give it a chance at least ONCE, and then you're hooked.

I have read dozens of articles, as well as all of the comments, regarding this show, and I can say that 110% of the viewers 'want' to see a season two of 'Almost Human'. There is so much that can be explored with all the characters, so many twists and turns, that this show can be, no doubt, one of the greatest SF shows to ever be seen on TV. I myself am a huge fan of many shows and films dealing with how mankind handles the future of AI, of machines gaining their own consciousness, to be seen as 'lifeforms', to be feared by those that created them to be what they are, responsible for what they 'want' to become, and the aftermath of what human fear and the need to exist will take us. 'Almost Human' has a great blend of many great SF/Anime like 'I, Robot', 'Ghost In The Shell', 'terminator' and 'Blade Runner'.

It is my hope that FOX will hear the fans, and grant us another season that I 'know' will be far better than the first.

Thank you, Markus Allen.

I don't watch much television, I cannot remember when I sat through an entire one hour show in one sitting - they bore me - I get this feeling I've seen it all before. At 60 years plus, I probably have. But, the first two episodes of Almost Human had me watching. I especially like the narration that was prevalent in the second episode. Instead of contrived (and boring) sequences (like a one sided phone conversation) to explain where they characters are going now, someone tells you. Genius! Love it! And a great job of narrating.

Acting is very good, effects are more than adequate. A bit of a "Blade Runner" feel to the show. A touch of humor in (so far) the right places to lighten things up. I look forward to the next episode. Keep up the good work everyone.

I just seen the first episode and I gotta say I'm really hooked on this show that's filled to the brim with human drama, action, humor, suspense, and mystery. But it's the human interactions between the two leads that makes the show very interesting and really thought provoking as well. Karl Urban(of Star Trek, Lord of The Rings, and of course, the utterly stellar "Dredd" fame) is really great in the role of a hard-as-nails cop who doesn't take too kindly to synthetic androids; one in particular, played by Michael Ealy, who is the complete antithesis of Urban. Ealy's character, Dorian, despite being an android, is very believable and convincing; conveying emotions that are(no pun intended) almost human. It'll be really interesting to see how their relationship plays out in subsequent episodes.

There's a lot of mystery and intrigue going on in this show so much, thankfully kept at the minimum to keep the audience guessing at the true motives of some of the characters while also giving the proceedings a heavy dose of suspense in a fantastically realized world and though it draws heavy inspirations from classic science fiction films, it weaves it's own plot and twists to keep things interesting and fresh. There are some plot points that I felt were rushed, but overall, this was a great episode to kick off the entire series. Be warned, there are some bloody scenes that are really intense, but the special effects, for a TV series, are really good and has a sense of hyper verisimilitude that, ironically enough, isn't too far-fetched. How long will it be before life-like androids begin to roam among humans in everyday life? If you don't think it's possible, then check out Raytheon, or DARPA, which are actively researching and developing this cutting edge technology. More importantly, there are lots of moral issues that should be discussed such as technology being too powerful, being replaced by androids, and as well as finding out what it means to be human and what separates man and machine.

I'd say "Almost Human" is an intelligent and thought-provoking series that within it's narrative, raises lots of questions, and though there's really no easy answers, the journey to find them is an exciting ride for those willing to undertake. I'm already anxious to see what's gonna happen next. Here's hoping that the show is successful for an entire season.

After 1st episode I was very excited about the show but that evaporated quickly.

It became painfully obvious this is not cable show but just another light network entertainment. There is no meta-plot, everything is clear cut good or bad, black and white. It is supposed to be dystopian future but everything is so clean, perfect, even "bad" neighborhoods. Government isn't even mentioned (like democracy is at optimum efficiency, no problems there whatsoever, go USA), corporations work for the benefit of the society, cops are the thin blue line that protect people from criminals... just really naive little kids show story setting.

And the plot is getting weaker and weaker, just dumb 1 episode long cop drama. No character development at all, things happen they shrug it off by the end of the episode and that's it, everything is fine and the same as it was no need to worry.

Si-Fi aspect turned into a gimmick that's getting really old really fast. Sometimes they obviously try to send "Bladerunner" vibe but it just feels forced and fake. It is as if "I, Robot" was trying to be cool like "Bladerunner" and failing miserably. Just whole android thing offers so much room for character development and exploration of social and ethical consequences of artificial life forms walking among us, but noooo they are there, no one cares, we're gonna do cop drama deal with it.

If this was cable show it could've been glorious, but it's not and now we have "Starsky and Hutch" in not so distant future.

This is a really great example of smart science fiction, particularly of speculative science fiction where the writer takes what is happening in the news and asks where it will lead in the near future. It pays silent homage to Isaac Asimov's robot novels with the unwilling teaming of detective John Kennex with Dorian, an advanced model android who is probably the detective's superior in almost every way. Kennex was badly injured in a firefight which left him feeling like he and the combat model androids had failed his human friends. Now he resents the android partners, which he illustrates in one moment of black humor. Then his boss, Maldanado, teams him up with an advanced model android designed to think, feel, and act like a human on dangerous space missions. The interaction of these begrudging partners with the prejudices of their colleagues is both entertaining and enlightening.

I was highly sceptical to this TV-show. After all it's a difficult genre to succeed in. I'm not a fan of Karl Urban, nor am I a fan of Michael Ealy, so both of those two were big ? for me. But I was very surprised when not only had the show a really good setting in the future, but also Urban has up:ed his game a lot since I last saw him. I have to be honest about Michael Ealy, haven't seen much of him, but he's really decent.

As I said the setting done quite well, they've pulled of the future concept really good. The script is a bit cheesy, a bit "uuh" sometimes, but in general it is decent and does it's job. The show overall is exciting, and they've managed to introduce us to the season's story. However it's to early to say anything about that.

The main characters seem they're really good. It's nice to see Urban's character development and his relationship with his synthetic(robot) partner. Though beyond the two main characters I haven't really gotten to know anyone else. There's the stereotypical office douche, the pretty face but zero character woman and so on. Hopefully it'll evolve into something more.

As a fan of Fringe, which this show does remind me of, I'm very glad that this has been made. It also has received good reviews from most parts.

However, the potential for a very good series is all here. Already we have mystery among the main characters, very good chemistry, Sci fi, good acting, cryptic backgrounds among the supporting staff and most of all, humor. Add all of that to the Hi Tech Scifi anything goes possibilities, and this show could be an endless well of new ideas for story telling.

Did someone lock all the network execs in a closet somewhere? Because so far this is year, the number of good shows has shocked me. This is one of them. I loved these first two episodes and would gladly give it a 10 but dialed back to a 9 out of caution. Too early to tell, but all the ingredients are here to make this a show we all will miss if it ends. We shall see. But so far it has been a good few weeks in TV hows(Blacklist, Dracula, Agents of Shield, Tomorrow People), color me surprised. The only thing that could make network TV better next season would be to cancel all the reality shows at once. But I will settle for this for now.

It's 2048 and scientific advancements have led to new drugs and higher crime rates. The police force is using combat androids with every human officer. John Kennex (Karl Urban) hates the robots after an earlier incident where the androids left him and another cop in a firefight. He is severely injured and when he returns, captain Sandra Maldonado (Lili Taylor) pairs him up with one of those androids. He throws it out of the car. Then he is given an older DRN model eventually called Dorian (Michael Ealy). The older DRN model is more humanlike and found to be too unstable. Other recurring characters include the eccentric android technician Rudy Lom (Mackenzie Crook) and fellow detective Valerie Stahl (Minka Kelly) who turns out to be one of the genetically refined "Chrome".

It's a sci-fi show that tries to tap into the same audience as 'Fringe'. For the most part, it does exactly that and never more. While 'Fringe' squeezed by and grind out 5 seasons, this one couldn't squeeze through the biggest hurdle and gets canceled after the first 13 episodes.

Looking back, there were a few minor missteps. Using sexbots in the second show seemed a little desperate. The third one is a complete ripoff of 'Die Hard'. Despite a bit of logic problem, it was a bit of fun. The show probably needed more of a female touch. The wooden acting from Minka Kelly doesn't help although it's explained by a later show. It did get better over time. However the wall idea seems out of left field. I do like Mackenzie Crook as the wacky science nerd but he could do with a female sidekick. Lily Taylor is a great actress but she isn't allowed much room here. The chemistry between Urban and Ealy is good and getting better as the show develops. That chemistry is the most important part of the show and it's too bad that Fox cut it short.

Put two cops, one human and one android, and let them solve crimes in technology heavy future. Let them be Karl Urban and Michael Ealy and you've got fan. Well if it only was that easy.

Don't get me wrong, this is more of an action-oriented show than a detective show. This show has a good premise and in theory they have many venues to explore, but so far the main plot (which is clichéd) has been non existent except for in the first episode. Perhaps a loosely serialized cop show is your cop of tea, but not mine.

The actors don't have a lot to work with and their dialogs seem forced. After 10 or so episodes they still act as two teenage brats who fight about who gets to drive the car.

The crimes they solve and the technology they show is sometimes interesting and inspiring (future bank robbers take notes). But after a few episode I'd rather read a tech news paper or a Discovery channel documentary. The Black Mirror Scifi show does a much better job at exploring this subject.

Anyway, they promised a lot in the first episode, but I'm here to warn you that the show you're waiting for is not coming.