Why You Should Be Watching NBC's Siberia

Siberia Monday night is dominated by the Stephen King adaptation Under The Dome but on NBC another show's cast are fighting unknown forces. While everyone is waiting for Under The Dome show to wind it up a little Siberia is getting more and more gripping at the season goes on. The concept is so simple, a play on the found footage genre, it's hard to believe no one has thought of it before. A group of 16 would be reality contestants from around the world are dropped by helicopter into the Iberian wildness with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The location they have to race to as their first challenge was the location for the real life Tunguska event happened in 1908, their experience paralleling some described about the incident. The area, a settlement in which all of the fur trappers who lived there and mysteriously disappeared, never to be found again is the centre piece of the show. At the end of the first show a contestant is savaged to death by a mysterious force and suddenly it becomes less Survivor and more Lost. This show is full of the usual reality clichés, it has the challenge of finding items on a map and solo interviews straight to camera, it's so spot on that many a disgusted viewer ran to the internet to complain that NBC would air a reality show that contained such tragic content. The cast is full of the archetypes you'd expect from the narcissistic Aussie model to the ex-military Iranian and the knowledgeable yet scrawny geek. Redeye Summer 2013 Tv Preview 25 Shows Choose 0201 The first few episodes may lack the pacing needed but once the reality show rules are out the window and the contestants are left on their own things start getting interesting and you can't stop watching (and making theories). The show is littered with clues that link in with the Tunguska event; the paranormal, scientific experiments, monsters from cave paintings and the mysterious grainy images that pop up on screen subliminally for seconds. A quick glance at the in-depth IMDB message boards topics and replies shows what thought and research fans of this show do. It puts out a case for nearly every theory related to the incident and the fact the case and theories are full of fact gives this a chill factor. It's not always as slick or glossy as other shows, the acting is sometimes a little over the top and the fact the camera men keeping filming no matter how cold or close to death they are is a massive plot hole. The show has two episodes of its first season left and it's unclear if it's going to do a 'The River' and leave us on a never answered cliffhanger or get a second series but it's worth a watch. I feel many boycotted the show after feeling tricked by it's faux-reality show style (despite it being listed as sci fi), some still write on the show's Facebook page their disgust 10 episodes later. This is sadly a great, exciting if not low budget show which has been eaten up by the tv schedules. While it has its faults it ones of the creepiest, mind bending, jump out your skin shows made in recent years. If this show has ratings so shockingly bad it's never talked about again you still have to applaud the producers for trying a new concept.
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Bournemouth born journalist, radio DJ and fiction writer. A fan of loud music, quiet films, Doctor Who and trashy TV. Editor at http://dailyactress.tumblr.com/ email me at hillbourne2006@yahoo.co.uk