Crisis

Crisis ultimately gets its priorities straight by giving viewers a reason to care--about the characters, outcome and mystery.

The story itself relies on a series of coincidences that may be improbable, but the character responses feel authentic.

Based on Sunday's pilot episode, Crisis has the potential to be one of the spring season's most addictive network offerings. It's intense and suspenseful.

The mood music in Crisis can be over-wrought at times--and downright over-bearing when a male vocalist breaks into “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” But the first two hours are nicely paced and eventful, with the ad hoc partnership between Marcus and an initially resistant Susie gaining traction as the stakes increase.

A little over the top--well, actually, a lot over the top--the pilot is filled with one eye-rolling surprise after another.

Crisis needs to lean more Blacklist: If you’re going to be dumb, at least be a good time about it.

You don’t have to take Crisis too seriously; it will happily do that for you, spreading its pompous misery evenly among a cast large enough to fill at least three or four mediocre TV shows, if you count all the teenagers.