"The River" is one of those great shows that you can't help but wonder what could have been. The show is about a famous explorer and naturalist, Dr. Emmet Cole (played by Bruce Greenwood) who mysteriously disappears without a trace in the Amazon. When he is declared dead, his son wants to move on. However, his mother, convinces him to come along with her to the Amazon to find the location where the Dr's beacon was last seen. There's a catch though. In order to be able to do this, they have to travel with a documentary film crew or else there will be no funding. This is where we get the Blair witch look and feel to the show, which should come as no surprise since Oren Peli of "Paranormal Activity" fame created the show. Unbeknowst to our heroes, the area where Emmet Cole was last tracked is a place where very few people have gone to and returned, for this area is controlled by the powers of darkness and inhabited by all sorts of ghosts, spirits, demons, zombies, and powerful shaman natives. All of this equals some pretty cool and spooky episodes. One episode that was particularly creepy was the one that dealt with the vengeful spirit of a little girl and her doll collection. When you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Along the way, we learn more about the Cole family and how things were not as perfect as they seemed, such as the strained relationship between Emmet and his son, Lincoln. There's also something shady about the expedition's security chief, though we never find out exactly what's going on. Which brings me to my next point, the fact that despite all of this, the show still got canceled. Perhaps this is one of those shows that should have been on cable, since such shows do not require as much ratings and often times deal with more dark subject matters than your typical broadcast network show. Then again, in this age of gutter reality TV shows like "The Jersey Shore", maybe people just don't know what good television is anymore. And that's something more terrifying than any ghost or goblin.
Review of The River
