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Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and begin to take over the bodies of the town's inhabitants through a cloning process (first by merging with and then unknowingly replacing them). The show was produced by Shaun Cassidy Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

Due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the aftermath in the southern United States, early on-air promotions were quickly pulled by ABC. The advertising then switched emphasis completely to the alien invasion aspect of the series, while the hurricane received no mention. The premiere was also preceded with a warning that the show featured images of a fictional hurricane that viewers could be sensitive to.

Invasion is currently aired on the SyFy channel.

Cast and characters

• William Fichtner as Sheriff Tom Underlay
• Eddie Cibrian as Russell Varon
• Kari Matchett as Dr. Mariel Underlay
• Lisa Sheridan as Larkin Groves
• Tyler Labine as Dave Groves
• Alexis Dziena as Kira Underlay
• Evan Peters as Jesse Varon
• Ariel Gade as Rose Varon
• Aisha Hinds as Mona Gomez
• Nathan Baesel as Lewis Sirk (recurring guest star)
• James Frain as Szura (recurring guest star)

Episodes

Reception

Invasion received mostly positive critical reception. Metacritic gave the season a score of 72, making it generally favorable. ^[1]

Ratings troubles

According to Nielsen ratings, the series premiere was able to attract 17 million viewers from another ABC show, Lost. After the 10th episode, the series lost a total of 7 million viewers over nine episodes with the November 30, 2005 episode garnering only 10 million. In order to get the viewers back in for the 2nd half of 2005-2006 TV season, the show was put on hiatus until January 11, 2006, and it was replaced with another show already scheduled for cancellation, Alias.

For the episodes shown on January 11, 18, and 25 the Nielsen Ratings only reached 9.7 million, 9 million and 9.3 million, respectively. It had lost nearly half of the first episode's audience, far behind CBS's CSI: NY, which had 13.7 million, 15.5 million and 14.9 million, for the same period.^[2][3][4] The show was then put on hiatus for the second time, during which time it was replaced with The Evidence.

Some fans of Invasion have attributed poor handling on the part of ABC as one reason for the show's continued problems, citing two hiatuses and a three-week break all within one season—periods in which no repeats were aired. Throughout the show's run, these incidents became a topic of speculation and concern among its fanbase.

Cancellation

Following cancellation of the series by ABC, there were reports that Invasion might move to The CW for the 2006-2007 season.^[5] However, in May 2006, the CW had not picked up Invasion for its 2006-2007 program lineup.^[5]

Future plotlines

In the "August 14–20, 2006" issue of TV Guide, actor Tyler Labine (who played the character Dave Groves) relayed what creator Shaun Cassidy had planned for the following season, saying that Cassidy had said, "Larkin was going to be presumed dead. Russel and I were going to join forces against Tom. Tom was going to find out that his first wife was alive and running this whole military operation, and she was Szura's boss."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack became available on October 21, 2008 at moviescoremedia.com. The album features more than 60 minutes of carefully selected tracks from the series.^[6]

DVD releases

Warner Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 & Region 2.

Season releases

References

External links

• Invasion at the Internet Movie Database
• Invasion at TV.com