I have just finished watching “Scorpion” (no I will not do the psudo code they decided stylize the title with, it isn’t even right!!!). I think the premise is great; “Smart people are recruited by the Government to solve problems that they can’t handle on their own”. However, if the pilot is any indication, the show is going to be crap. Let me list the flaws:
- WiFi is a great thing, but any 12 year old worth his salt can set it up, and the time it takes to set it up won’t be worth much money.
- The most important thing to take into consideration when needing to connect to someone via the Internet, is the speed of the Internet Service, not that the place has “reliable WiFi”, because any tech worth their salt, will use a hard wired connection, when something is mission critical.
- On top of that, how does a shitty little diner have enough download, let alone enough upload for real-time video of the LAX tower.
- On that same vein, Installing an operating system is a serious job, can rarely be executed remotely, and certainly can’t be done by clicking a link in an email.
- Operating Systems are often several Gigabytes in size, or at least 1, given the stated age of the system. To transfer a file that size would take several minutes to several hours, and they have less than one (down to a few minutes in the end).
- If you could override security by sending a power spike, that would defeat the point of security.
- Also, would not the power spike also spike the servers.
- It would have been easier to disconnect the Internet service, that takes seconds.
- While Analog Phones have a greater range than Digital Phones, Analog Phone have not been in use since 2009, when the FCC required all carriers to disable their Analog Transmitters in the US (much earlier other places).
- Airplanes do no have 25′ to 50′ of Ethernet cable just bundled next to the data rack.
- There are few planes with the ability to get you from the passenger cabin to the cargo deck during a flight. The 747 and the A380 are the only two I’m aware of, and neither of those planes were used in this show.
- There is no hatch from the cargo hold to the wheel well.
- At 200 MPH you couldn’t physically hold on to the landing strut.
- It is impossible to get an automobile up to 200 MPH in the time and space allotted. Not even The Stig can do that.
- Sure, worry about data speeds when you are on an Ethernet connection, but don’t think twice about WiFi being Instant.
That is just a small set of issues with just the Pilot episode. This doesn’t include the stereotype that smart people look or act dumb, that genius can easily be confused with mental deficiencies, or that parents don’t have the ability to learn about their children in order to relate to them, especially when they care as much as this one seems to.
At the end, I did find who the Executive Producers and Writers were for this show…. Kurtzman and Orci. The same geniuses that Rebooted and destroyed “Hawaii 5-O”, rebooted and bungled “Star Trek”, and numerous other shows and movies. If I was a CBS stock holder I would be demanding that their development deal be burned, and they kicked out onto the streets and blackballed from Hollywood until they can learn to write things that don’t leap to conclusions like the “Leap to Conclusions Mat”.
Now, I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and give them a few episodes before rendering final judgement, but this isn’t a promising start.