Parents' Guide to Invasion

This series offers a decidedly different take on the familiar sci-fi tale of evil-doing extraterrestrials coming to Earth, focusing as much on personal relationships and drama as aggressive little green men. While it's an ambitious, sometimes welcome subversion of the genre, the approach often works to the series' detriment. The show features an interesting, diverse cast of main characters, each of which is depicted with depth and thoughtfulness. In fact, Invasion will initially pull you in with its stories of a respected sheriff who's reluctant to retire, a dedicated mother who's discovered her husband's having an affair, and a space station-bound astronaut missing her partner back home. And, when crossed with the occasional sci-fi strangeness -- from mysterious, mass nosebleeds to crop circles -- these character-driven arcs reflect the series' potential to put a fresh spin on the typical invading aliens story.

Unfortunately, the series leans too heavily in this direction, spending far too much time on its less interesting narrative elements and not nearly enough on the science fiction. The result is an often slow-paced affair that can feel more like a meandering soap opera than compelling sci-fi yarn. The occasional action sequence or mysterious moment will remind you aliens have indeed arrived -- and not peacefully -- but more often than not, their threatening presence on the planet can feel secondary to the show's more down-to-earth story-lines.