I don’t watch a bunch of shows on television. Between my job and writing, I have to pick and choose what I take the time to watch. Surprisingly, most of what I view is dark or horror based. I have been disappointed on so many levels by so many shows. One show I revere and followed for years was X-Files.

This brings me to CBS’s new show Evil. On the face, it is a new X-Files. Mike Colter (Luke Cage) stars as David Acosta, a priest-in-training who has been tasked by the Catholic Church with investigating the enormous backlog of cases dealing with possession. His job is see if the case is caused by psychosis or if the person is truly the dwelling place for a demon requiring an exorcism. He is joined by Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) who acts as his tech and environmental guy. If there are questions about things being grounded in reality, Ben can figure out the technical and real-world side of the investigation.

Essentially, David and Ben are like Fox Mulder. David has the faith and conviction in his duty. Ben is along for the ride, and he has his own belief structure. Ben is Muslim and one interesting aspect of the show has been his sister’s reactions and interactions as he assists the Catholic Church on its mission to find the true causes of evil.

But, they lacked a Dana Scully. They find their version of her in Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers). She works as a forensic psychologist who is used as an expert witness in court cases by the DA’s office. David hires her to help determine if the case he is working on is possession or only the work of a psychopath. Kristen acts as the same check on David that Scully was to Mulder. She tempered David’s spiritual side of the investigation with the science of the mind. Kristen is also working to keep up with her four daughters. Her mother helps out, but the real mystery is what is really going on with her husband. The story told to viewers is he is out of the country working as a mountain guide The forth episode adds a wrinkle to it that should hopefully play out in the final three episodes of the season.

The show has aired four episodes and has been doing respectful in the ratings. Each week brings a new case and new twists to their investigations. There have been small plot threads teasing a larger story, but the tidbits have been less than revealing or disjointed. The initial episode order was for seven episodes, and it has yet to receive a full season pick-up. Maybe they are waiting to have the full seven episodes play out before deciding on its fate. They could also be finishing out the initial run and giving it a second season instead of ordering more episodes for this season.

Overall, the show is very enjoyable. The ending to episode 4 (Rose390), turned very dark and I found it very refreshing for a basic network show. The progressing season seems to want to take bigger risks by diving into a much darker world. I hope CBS will let the show to carry on and allow it to grow organically. Letting Evil get down and dirty with the root of evil and all it can do to people is how it needs to progress. The show has started to follow this path with the very talented Michael Emerson (Lost) as the questionable Leland Townsend. The man is all about evil, and there is plenty to explore with his role in David’s life.

If you haven’t watched it yet, it is worth seeing on a cool October Thursday night. I stated earlier it has had a decent ratings increase since it starting airing. I can only hope CBS lets the evil thrive and not let it be another victim to cancellation before it can really hit its stride (I’m looking at you NBC for cancelling Constantine).

Thanks for hanging our for something completely different. I’m going to start doing a few more things to spotlight what is happing in the horror world besides what I’m up too. We are a community and we need to support the genre any way we can. If not, networks cancel good horror-based shows and we get another NCIS or doctor show.

Well, until next time,

Brent