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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.
Defying Gravity
EMAILPRINTSERIES: ABC, Sunday 9:00p
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 80 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >
Show Info
Genre(s): Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Created By: James Parriott
First Air Date: August 2, 2009
Summary
Starring Ron Livingston, Laura Harris, Malik Yoba, Christine Cox, Andrew Airlie, Paula Garces, Florentine Lahme, Karen LeBlanc, Dylan Taylor, Zahf Paroo, Maxim Roy, Eyal Podell, and Ty Olson
A group of astronauts headed up by Maddux Donner (Ron Livingston) explore planets during their six-year mission.
Episode Guide & More Info: More about this show at TV.com
Also On The Web: Official Show Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser
Defying Gravity is taking its time to get off the ground, but I plan to tune in at least until Saturn.
Read Full Review >New York PostMichael Starr
Gravity has an intriguing premise and its pacing--the action cuts back-and-forth between the present and five years in the past--heightens the drama and foreboding.
Read Full Review >Entertainment WeeklyWhitney Pastorek
The first ep feels ridiculous; maybe it's the fact that despite being on a futuristic space mission, everyone acts like they're on "Private Practice." Then again, it's summer, and at least this isn't another cop/doctor show.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
If you're in the mood for some outer space, I wouldn't warn you away. Livingston and Harris work well together, and though it's too soon to know whether this will go anywhere interesting, it's also too soon to say it won't. I do wonder what's coming.
Read Full Review >Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Defying Gravity is a perfectly decent bit of sci-fi soap - some cool “Star Trek’’ futurism, plenty of pretty “Grey’s Anatomy’’ ensemble melodrama, and a twist of eerie “Twilight Zone’’ mysteriousness when characters refer to the high-tech spaceship as if it has a will of its own.
Read Full Review >Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Fans of relationship-driven story-telling might just get hooked on this silly, lighter-than-air summer series.
Read Full Review >VarietyBrian Lowry
All told, there's still plenty here to hold an audience through the first two hours. Fulfilling that six-year charter, however, will depend on exhibiting a clearer directional sense, because in both TV and space, gravity can be a real bitch.
Read Full Review >The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Defying Gravity, about four men and four women sent into orbit with entangled romantic pasts and removable libido-suppressing devices, has high-tech props and a spooky sci-fi mystery, but it is layered in feminine concerns and the mawkishly sentimental pop music that frames plot points on “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice.”
Read Full Review >TV GuideMatt Roush
Gravity may be weighted down by cliche, but it’s not without interest.
Read Full Review >PopMattersCynthia Fuchs
To ensure you understand the magnitude of all this emotional mayhem, Maddux helpfully narrates in generically navel-gazing voiceover.
Read Full Review >Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Defying Gravity--an international production with American actors--feels too slight, or silly, to treat as anything but the cheap, disposable summer programming it is.
Read Full Review >NewsdayVerne Gay
Defying Gravity is a glorious, glimmering glop of foolishness--a spitball magnet of the first order that elicits jeers when it wants tears and catcalls when striving for philosophical heft.
Read Full Review >Washington PostTom Shales
Unfortunately, Defying Gravity will have to be listed as one of its well-intentioned mistakes, another of the many peculiar oddities churned out by broadcast and cable every year, every week, every moment of our earthbound little lives.
Read Full Review >SalonHeather Havrilesky
While I can understand why Parriott and Co. might be tempted to simply swap out the high-pressure hospital setting with a high-pressure intergalactic setting, the stupidity of Defying Gravity really knows no bounds.
Read Full Review >Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Nonlinear storytelling, with so many flashbacks and flash-forwards and dream sequences that pretty soon you can't even remember the last time you saw a naked chick bobbing around the cabin. My advice: Rent Barbarella instead.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this show is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 80 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Acriminal Mind gave it a0:
Poor writing, poor acting, despicable characters, and a supremely unrealistic story. Designing a manned mission to multiple planets in the solar system would be a scientific miracle (even in 2050), let alone one manned mission to one planet within our century. The science advisors to this show have clearly never cracked a textbook - it takes 3min for light to travel from Venus to the Earth but our Astronauts can make instant phonecalls to their loved ones to argue about such trivial matters as why a spouse on Earth "lied" to them. They explain artificial gravity (again a ridiculous idea) but where is our explanation for Faster than Light communication? This show is full of self-serving religious BS and it suggests an unrealistic & unethical future where abortion is illegal, yet sexual promiscuity is clearly popular behavior. The on-board physicist brought his comic book collection on a journey through the solar system - time to grow up kid leave the comics at home with Mom - I'm sure this may appeal to an adolescent viewer but I find it hard to believe that these people are going to successfully land on Venus let alone circumnavigate the solar system on some pseudo-religious adventure. This show is laughable. If it lasts a second season I will be very surprised.
Nikhil gave it a2:
The actors were good but not good enough to overcome stupid writing and and stupid characters. Tedious pop philosophy that belongs somewhere in the 1930s in the Boonies was not just boring - it was insulting.
Paul R. gave it a10:
This show has the quality and production values of Lost, with the character driven Sci-fi mentality of Heros, combining to create the best new series on TV! A must see!
Boris K. gave it a1:
Vomitrociously poorly written claptrap, rivaled only by daytime soap Christmas specials. The creator of this overproduced and glossy insult to anyone's intelligence should consider a career in the food service industry. And all those meek sheep that vote this a ten..do these people really exist? Or have vote bots evolved to the point that they can actually leave written comments? I hope the latter is the case.
Grumpy P gave it a10:
Most critics are idiots with little clue for what the average people like. There are millions of science fiction fans out there who love this kind of show. And even more who can't stand the constant violent shows and shows that show common citizens as complete morons.
Annika L. gave it a1:
Totally full of Christian morality. So the fun-loving drug user dies is sick bay. The one night stand girl gets pregnant, has an illegal abortion that goes bad and now will never be a mother due to an emergency hysterectomy. The whole crew is on anti-libido medication. Who sponsors this thing? Some Christian Fundamentalist Church. Let's hope we are all a bit more evolved than this in 2050!
Bill D gave it a10:
The show is entertaining. Is that not what shows are for? When I want real science or social psychology I turn to the Discovery Channel or the like; but, this is entertainment like Webber or McCaffrey. There is real room for Sci-Fi that escapes the bounds of cowboys in space.
