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Invasion (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Invasion is an American
science fiction
television series
that aired on ABC
for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane
in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida
town and begin to take over the bodies of the town's inhabitants through a cloning process (first by merging with and then unknowingly replacing them). The show was produced by Shaun Cassidy Productions
and Warner Bros. Television
.
Due to Hurricane Katrina
in 2005 and the aftermath in the southern United States, early on-air promotions were quickly pulled by ABC. The advertising then switched emphasis completely to the alien invasion aspect of the series, while the hurricane received no mention. The premiere was also preceded with a warning that the show featured images of a fictional hurricane that viewers could be sensitive to.
Cassidy conceived the show for five seasons. Invasion is currently airing on Chiller.
The show was nominated on the 32nd Saturn Awards for Best Network TV Series and Best Television Actor for William Fichtner
.
on September 21, 2005, and aired for one season. The series included twenty-two episodes, which aired Wednesday evening at 10:00pm. After the show's cancellation there were reports of a possible move to The CW
, however, a deal never came to fruition. The final episode aired on May 17, 2006. On August 22, 2006, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
released the complete first season as a six-disc DVD box set.
In the UK, the show premiered as a double bill on Channel 4
, with the third episode shown shortly afterwards on 4's digital
sister channel E4. In Bulgaria
, Invasion premiered on February 21, 2007, on Nova Television
and in Romania
it premiered on March 10, 2009, on Pro Cinema
movie channel.
, the series premiere was able to attract 17 million viewers from another ABC show, Lost
. After the 10th episode, the series lost a total of 7 million viewers over nine episodes with the November 30, 2005 episode garnering only 10 million. In order to get the viewers back in for the 2nd half of 2005-2006 TV season, the show was put on hiatus until January 11, 2006, and it was replaced with another show already scheduled for cancellation, Alias
.
For the episodes shown on January 11, 18, and 25 the Nielsen Ratings only reached 9.7 million, 9 million and 9.3 million, respectively. It had lost nearly half of the first episode's audience, far behind CBS's CSI: NY
, which had 13.7 million, 15.5 million and 14.9 million, for the same period. The show was then put on hiatus for the second time, during which time it was replaced with The Evidence
.
for the 2006-2007 season. However, in May 2006, the CW had not picked up Invasion for its 2006-2007 program lineup.
, actor Tyler Labine (who played the character Dave Groves) relayed what creator Shaun Cassidy had planned for the following season, saying that Cassidy had said, "Larkin was going to be presumed dead. Russel and I were going to join forces against Tom. Tom was going to find out that his first wife was alive and running this whole military operation, and she was Szura's boss."
has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 & Region 2.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
that aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...
in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
town and begin to take over the bodies of the town's inhabitants through a cloning process (first by merging with and then unknowingly replacing them). The show was produced by Shaun Cassidy Productions
Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Paul Cassidy is an American actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is the eldest son of Academy Award winning actress Shirley Jones, and the second son of Tony award-winning actor Jack Cassidy...
and Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
.
Due to Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in 2005 and the aftermath in the southern United States, early on-air promotions were quickly pulled by ABC. The advertising then switched emphasis completely to the alien invasion aspect of the series, while the hurricane received no mention. The premiere was also preceded with a warning that the show featured images of a fictional hurricane that viewers could be sensitive to.
Cassidy conceived the show for five seasons. Invasion is currently airing on Chiller.
Cast and characters
- William FichtnerWilliam FichtnerWilliam Edward Fichtner is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on Invasion, as Alexander Mahone on Prison Break, as William Sharp in Armageddon, and as Ken Rosenberg in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.- Early life...
as Sheriff Tom Underlay - Eddie CibrianEddie CibrianEdward Carl "Eddie" Cibrian is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Cole Deschanel on Sunset Beach, Jesse Cardoza in CSI: Miami, Jimmy Doherty on Third Watch and Russell Varon in Invasion.-Early life and career:...
as Russell Varon - Kari MatchettKari MatchettKari Matchett is a Canadian television and film actress. She played Mariel Underlay in Invasion, Lisa Miller in 24, and Kate Filmore in the cult favorite science fiction movie Cube 2: Hypercube. She currently appears in the USA television series Covert Affairs.-Early years:Matchett was born in...
as Dr. Mariel Underlay - Lisa SheridanLisa SheridanLisa Sheridan in Macon, Georgia, is an American actress who has appeared in TV series Invasion, FreakyLinks, Legacy, Las Vegas, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Diagnosis: Murder and Journeyman....
as Larkin Groves - Tyler LabineTyler LabineTyler Sean Labine is a Canadian actor. His brothers Kyle Labine and Cameron Labine also work in the entertainment industry.-Life and career:Labine was born in Brampton, Ontario...
as Dave Groves - Alexis DzienaAlexis Dziena-Early life :Dziena was born in New York City of Irish, Italian and Polish descent. She attended the private Saint Ann's School alongside her Bringing Rain costar, Paz de la Huerta. She spent many of her summers growing up in the small South Jersey shore town of Sea Isle City...
as Kira Underlay - Evan PetersEvan PetersEvan Peters is an American actor, best known for his roles as Tate Langdon in American Horror Story, Jesse Varon in the ABC TV series Invasion and as Cooper Day in The Days, also on ABC. He also had a recurring role in Disney Channel's show Phil of the Future as Phil's geeky friend Seth...
as Jesse Varon - Ariel GadeAriel GadeAriel Gade is an American child actress from San Jose, California. She made her first acting appearance on an episode of television’s Strong Medicine, and followed this with a performance in Barry Levinson’s Envy .-Career:...
as Rose Varon - Aisha HindsAisha HindsAisha Hinds is an American television and film actress, known for her recurring roles on the TV shows Dollhouse, HawthoRNe, Invasion, True Blood, and Detroit 1-8-7.-Films:* Assault on Precinct 13...
as Mona Gomez - Nathan BaeselNathan BaeselNathan Baesel is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as deputy Lewis Sirk on the cult favorite Invasion.-Biography:...
as Lewis Sirk (recurring guest star) - James FrainJames FrainJames Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. He is possibly best known for his role in the Showtime series The Tudors in which he appeared as Thomas Cromwell from 2007 to 2009, and for his role as vampire Franklin Mott in season three of the HBO drama True Blood, as well as his role...
as Szura (recurring guest star)
Episodes
| # | Episode title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|
Reception
Invasion received mostly positive critical reception. Metacritic gave the season a score of 72, making it generally favorable.The show was nominated on the 32nd Saturn Awards for Best Network TV Series and Best Television Actor for William Fichtner
William Fichtner
William Edward Fichtner is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on Invasion, as Alexander Mahone on Prison Break, as William Sharp in Armageddon, and as Ken Rosenberg in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.- Early life...
.
Broadcast history
The series premiered on ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
on September 21, 2005, and aired for one season. The series included twenty-two episodes, which aired Wednesday evening at 10:00pm. After the show's cancellation there were reports of a possible move to The CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
, however, a deal never came to fruition. The final episode aired on May 17, 2006. On August 22, 2006, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released the complete first season as a six-disc DVD box set.
In the UK, the show premiered as a double bill on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, with the third episode shown shortly afterwards on 4's digital
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
sister channel E4. In Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Invasion premiered on February 21, 2007, on Nova Television
Nova Television
Nova Television is the first Bulgarian commercial television network launched on July 16, 1994....
and in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
it premiered on March 10, 2009, on Pro Cinema
PRO Cinema
PRO Cinema is a Romanian movie channel that is owned by Central European Media Enterprises and launched on April 19, 2004. It was the first Romanian TV channel dedicated exclusively to movies, and as such it attracted a significant audience from its very inception, mainly in the 18-49 urban...
movie channel.
Ratings troubles
According to Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, the series premiere was able to attract 17 million viewers from another ABC show, Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. After the 10th episode, the series lost a total of 7 million viewers over nine episodes with the November 30, 2005 episode garnering only 10 million. In order to get the viewers back in for the 2nd half of 2005-2006 TV season, the show was put on hiatus until January 11, 2006, and it was replaced with another show already scheduled for cancellation, Alias
Alias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
.
For the episodes shown on January 11, 18, and 25 the Nielsen Ratings only reached 9.7 million, 9 million and 9.3 million, respectively. It had lost nearly half of the first episode's audience, far behind CBS's CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
, which had 13.7 million, 15.5 million and 14.9 million, for the same period. The show was then put on hiatus for the second time, during which time it was replaced with The Evidence
The Evidence (TV series)
The Evidence is an American police procedural drama that debuted on March 22, 2006 on ABC. The series starred Rob Estes, Orlando Jones, and Martin Landau.-Summary:...
.
Cancellation
Following cancellation of the series by ABC, there were reports that Invasion might move to The CWThe CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
for the 2006-2007 season. However, in May 2006, the CW had not picked up Invasion for its 2006-2007 program lineup.
Future plotlines
In the "August 14–20, 2006" issue of TV GuideTV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
, actor Tyler Labine (who played the character Dave Groves) relayed what creator Shaun Cassidy had planned for the following season, saying that Cassidy had said, "Larkin was going to be presumed dead. Russel and I were going to join forces against Tom. Tom was going to find out that his first wife was alive and running this whole military operation, and she was Szura's boss."
Soundtrack
The soundtrack became available on October 21, 2008 at moviescoremedia.com. The album features more than 60 minutes of carefully selected tracks from the series.DVD releases
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 & Region 2.
| DVD name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Ep # | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete Series | August 22, 2006 | September 4, 2006 | 22 | This 6 disc box set includes all 22 episodes of the series and 50 minutes of extras: a documentary, invading the mind of Shaun Cassidy, plus the gag reel and over 12 deleted scenes from several episodes of the series. |