In about three minutes, the premiere of the ABC series “Zero Hour" manages to squeeze in Nazis, Rosicrucians, a mysterious baby and mentions of the end times and biblical prophecy. It’s like speed-reading Dan Brown.
But by the end of the first episode, you may be wishing you could jump ahead to the last pages — I mean episode — of this silly and overwrought series. It has enlisted the beloved Anthony Edwards of “ER" as the main character, Hank Galliston, the publisher of a magazine called Modern Skeptic. He is also the husband of Laila, a clock maker and collector (Jacinda Barrett).
But! Laila! Gets! Kidnapped!
Sorry. This is the kind of show where everything seems exclamatory. I am already expecting a series of promos akin to those for “Scandal," promising that You! Won’t! Believe! What’s! Happening! Next!
Desperate to get his wife back, Hank and his magazine team (Addison Timlin and Scott Michael Foster) begin to discover things that connect to old plans and mysteries. Of course, we as viewers know that he’s about to be part of a big deal thanks to those first three minutes. Unfortunately, getting to that point has involved several dips into a pool of ridiculousness.