The Librarians TV series is a spin-off of the Librarian trilogy of TV movies that starred ER's Noah Wyle made in 2004, 2006, and 2008. In the series, The Library recruits Colonel Eve Baird ( played by Rebecca Romijn), of the NATO Anti-Terrorist Unit to be the new Guardian, Ezekiel Jones (played by John Harlan Kim), a consummate thief, Cassandra Cillian (played by Lindy Booth), a brilliant scientist and mathematician, and Jacob Stone (played by Christian Kane), polymath, linguist, expert in architecture, art, art history, archaeology and world cultures of the past and present, including Native American cultures, and other fields too numerous to mention, including bar fighting, to be new Librarians. We discover that Cassandra, Ezekiel, and Jacob received invitations from the Library at the same time as the current Librarian, Flynn Carsen (played Noah Wyle reprising his role), but for various reasons didn't show up for their interviews. They work out of an annex to the library, aided by Jenkins, the caretaker of the Annex played by John Larroquette (of Night Court fame).
In the first season, Wyle is a recurring character (because of his commitment to the series Falling Skies), so he makes appearances here and there, but the focus of the series is on the new characters working out of the Annex. Jane Curtain and Bob Newhart reprise their roles as Charlene and Judson as well. The ten episodes are a mix of procedural case/mystery-of-the-week and a larger serial arc involving an evil organization called The Serpent Brotherhood. The themes of the show involve time travel, magic, dragons, and more.
For those who get the DVD set, there are actually quite a few extras. There are video blogs for each episode, each episode has a commentary track with some combination of the showrunners. director of the episode, and/or members of the cast, and then there is a gag reel. Given that the show did not have a wide appeal and aired on a basic cable network, the fact that it got a DVD release at all, much less with extensive extras is impressive.
Overall, the show is very good. It got in and out of the season quickly with the limited ten-episode run, and had a lot of twists and turns packed into the ten episodes. The acting and writing of the series were great, and the show had a good special effects budget to work with because the effects did not look too fakey as they do on some shows that do not get funding that shows that air on the broadcast networks get. All of the cast members seem to have very good chemistry and Wyle made the most of his appearances, easily stepping back into the character of Flynn.
So, if you were a fan of the TV movies this is definitely worth watching as it has a very similar vibe to those, yet stands on its own very well. It also has a great guest and recurring cast including Lesley-Ann Brandt, Matt Frewer, Tricia Helfer, Bruce Campbell, René Auberjonois, Alicia Witt, and Jerry O'Connell (who of course is Rebecca Romijn's husband in real life). It is definitely worth watching.
In the first season, Wyle is a recurring character (because of his commitment to the series Falling Skies), so he makes appearances here and there, but the focus of the series is on the new characters working out of the Annex. Jane Curtain and Bob Newhart reprise their roles as Charlene and Judson as well. The ten episodes are a mix of procedural case/mystery-of-the-week and a larger serial arc involving an evil organization called The Serpent Brotherhood. The themes of the show involve time travel, magic, dragons, and more.
For those who get the DVD set, there are actually quite a few extras. There are video blogs for each episode, each episode has a commentary track with some combination of the showrunners. director of the episode, and/or members of the cast, and then there is a gag reel. Given that the show did not have a wide appeal and aired on a basic cable network, the fact that it got a DVD release at all, much less with extensive extras is impressive.
Overall, the show is very good. It got in and out of the season quickly with the limited ten-episode run, and had a lot of twists and turns packed into the ten episodes. The acting and writing of the series were great, and the show had a good special effects budget to work with because the effects did not look too fakey as they do on some shows that do not get funding that shows that air on the broadcast networks get. All of the cast members seem to have very good chemistry and Wyle made the most of his appearances, easily stepping back into the character of Flynn.
So, if you were a fan of the TV movies this is definitely worth watching as it has a very similar vibe to those, yet stands on its own very well. It also has a great guest and recurring cast including Lesley-Ann Brandt, Matt Frewer, Tricia Helfer, Bruce Campbell, René Auberjonois, Alicia Witt, and Jerry O'Connell (who of course is Rebecca Romijn's husband in real life). It is definitely worth watching.
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