'Dark Angel' will beef up sci-fi angle
By Gary Levin
USA Today
Fox's "Dark Angel" seems to have sparked a trend in TV drama this season: the empowered young female action hero, evidenced in ABC's upcoming "Alias" and "Thieves" and three other new series featuring ensemble casts.
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But "Angel," which made a star of Jessica Alba, is fine-tuning its mission as the show moves to Fridays, installs a new executive producer and adjusts to the off-screen wedding plans of Alba and co-star Michael Weatherly.
Jessica Alba will get a potential love interest in this season's version of "Dark Angel."
"We're focusing a little bit more on the sci-fi and futuristic aspect of the show rather than politics" of Alba's resistance-fighter character, says new executive producer Rene Echevarria.
"Angel," co-created by James Cameron ("Titanic"), concerns a genetically enhanced human, conceived by the evil Manticore conglomerate, who escapes from her handlers and teams with cyberjournalist Logan Cale (Weatherly) to battle corruption.
In the first season's finale, Max (Alba) was recaptured. Logan presumed she was dead. But before she escapes anew, she discovers hers wasn't the only experiment: A new race of "transgenics," melding human and animal DNA, is discovered, as well as specially purposed soldiers.
"We were looking to add some additional sci-fi elements to the show and sort of beef up the peril for Max with some of the characters conceived at Manticore with her," says Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman. "We felt it would continue to grow the concept and keep it fresh, rather than having her battle the bad guy of the week."
New characters include Asha (Ashley Scott), who becomes a potential love interest for Logan; Joshua (Kevin Durand), a half-man/half-beast; and Alec (Jensen Ackles), a sexy but arrogant guy assigned to a reluctant Max as her "breeding partner." The biggest challenge facing the series this season, which begins Sept. 21, may be the new time slot, Fridays at 7 p.m., a spot where Fox has struggled to find its young audience.
But Echevarria points to successful Friday sci-fi series, from the first "Star Trek" to "The X-Files." As for the impending Alba-Weatherly nuptials, "Mike and Jessica are really committed to the show and each other," Echevarria says.
